Political Quotes

“I would like to say just briefly that I was here when the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Natcher] came, when he was sworn in, and he has been a gracious and distinguished Member since that very day, been courteous to everybody, fair to everybody, and well respected by spouses. In fact, Mr. Speaker, my wife said this morning that she wanted me, if I saw Bill Natcher, to tell him that we still loved him. Now that is the kind of impact he made on people. Now I want to give my colleagues one bit of other information: While he was probably the most distinguished Presiding Officer that we had, other than our elected Speakers, he did confide in me one day that having a perfect record was probably the worst mistake he ever made, and I fully agree because I do not have a perfect voting record. I have missed several quorums, four or five Journal votes, and every now and then I believe I missed other votes that were not critical. So I just want to say to my colleagues, "I warn you. Don't think you can emulate this because it's not a good deal, and he would have told you, and probably would still tell you, that trying to have a perfect record is almost impossible and a tremendous burden on yourself."”