Patrick Leahy: “it is hard to put in words what I feel as I listen to my good friends, Harry Reid and Arlen Specter, Bill Frist and…”

“it is hard to put in words what I feel as I listen to my good friends, Harry Reid and Arlen Specter, Bill Frist and Mitch McConnell, saying such nice things. They are friends. We work together. Harry--I should say, following Senate protocol, the distinguished Senator from Nevada, Senator Reid--was kind enough to first and foremost mention my wife Marcelle. There is no conceivable way I could have accomplished any of this without Marcelle. She has been my guiding light for well over 40 years. Nothing I have done could I have accomplished without her. Senator Specter was kind enough to hold up the picture of the latest member of our clan, Patrick Lucas Jackson. I think of that because I came here holding the actual pictures in my mind of my three children, Kevin, Alicia, and Mark, and their spouses, Carolyn, Lawrence, and Kristine, but also the pictures of four wonderful grandchildren: Roan, Francesca, Sophia, and now Patrick. To have them mentioned I realize there is another generation, and I hope their children will be proud of what their father does, but I especially hope the grandchildren, who will be the hope of our future, will feel the same way. Bill Frist, the distinguished Republican leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the distinguished deputy Republican leader, were kind to speak of the landmine issue and things we worked out together--both of them being Senators who have done so much in that same area.…”