Political Quotes

“for a variety of reasons, turnover in the Senate has been more rapid recently than at almost any other time in our history. For some of us, the turnover has been the result of elections. For some, it has been the result of the passing of Senate legends Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd, and as a result, as well, of filling Senate seats once held by our President, Vice President and the Secretaries of State and the Interior, while most of us--I think I saw a number of my colleagues from the freshman class here earlier listening to my good friend and colleague from Delaware--got here through the ballot box. We have been blessed to serve with some extraordinary individuals who were appointed to serve in this body. Perhaps no one stands out more in this regard than our colleague for the past 21 months, the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Ted Kaufman. But I think most of us have come to know Senator Kaufman's service to this body extends well beyond the 21 months he served as a Senator. In fact, as we just heard from his comments, and he is oft to remind all of us freshmen, he actually has spent most of the last 20 years serving previously as a Senate staffer. No matter how accomplished--I think we have former Governors, former State senators, folks who have been superintendent of school boards--no matter what our background was before we got to the Senate, we all have had a lot to learn about the peculiar institution rules, morays, and the flow of this body.”