Alan Simpson: “I enjoy, obviously, the Senator from Massachusetts because he does his work with a--down there, always--a crinkle in his…”

“I enjoy, obviously, the Senator from Massachusetts because he does his work with a--down there, always--a crinkle in his eye and a twinkle. I know that one. I have seen it many times. This is, really--this is theater. It is Shakespeare--minor, minor, I can assure you. It is street Shakespeare. I do it, too. I will be Lear, raging into the wind, and Senator Kennedy will be Puck. Let me tell you, the minimum wage, when the Democrats had the control of this body and the House of Representatives and the Presidency, never appeared in this Chamber under any scenario from the wings--not once. Not once did President Clinton ever suggest we deal with the minimum wage. And since it became something that appeared in the focus groups, or the Knight tracking polls, it has been mentioned 47 times by the President. So it is theater. But, really, if you stay in this game long enough-- and I have been legislating for 30 years and obviously love it, but I am ready to do something else--if you play with the wheel with the fanny kicker on it, it will come around and get you.”