[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4527-S4529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      CIVILITY IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, there has been considerable media 
discussion lately about the decline of civility in our public 
discourse. I agree that political rhetoric often seems quite harsh 
these days. I have also observed that the people who report on 
politicians, and who are often among the first to decry the incivility 
of politics, seem more inclined lately to allow their reporting to 
cross from tough to cruel.
  That said, I cannot claim with certainty that manners in either 
politics or the press have truly degenerated to new lows. I suspect 
that every American generation in our history has had occasion to be 
repulsed by unnecessarily mean attacks from within and upon politics 
that are unavoidable in a free society. Political cartoonists, for 
instance, have throughout our history spared few public figures from 
ridicule. Often the ridicule is earned. Sometimes it is not. Sometimes 
even the license given cartoonists cannot excuse an especially 
malignant attack.
  Such was the case last Sunday when Mr. Garry Trudeau decided to use 
his comic strip to scorn the military service of the majority leader, 
Senator Dole.
  The author of the comic strip ``Doonesbury,'' Mr. Trudeau has made it 
his business to lampoon not only Republicans, but anyone whose devotion 
to the looniest of left wing causes he suspects is less robust than his 
own. His increasingly strident attacks have forsaken whatever humor 
might have once distinguished his cartoons from the silly rantings of 
your garden variety conspiracy theorist. Even former admirers of his 
comic strip tell me that he has become decidedly unfunny in recent 
years.
  For this singular contribution to American culture, Mr. Trudeau feels 
he should be permitted to dispense with the encumbrances of good 
manners. Apparently, artists of his caliber cannot be burdened by the 
bonds that hold most of us together in our disparate society--bonds 
like honor and respect.
  Ordinary Americans, of course, feel it appropriate to show gratitude 
to Americans who have ransomed their life to the defense of their 
freedom. Ordinary Americans would recoil from the suggestion that there 
is humor in ridiculing the sacrifice borne by an American 
[[Page S4528]] who took up arms to defend them, and sustained grave 
injury in that cause.
  Ordinary Americans, Mr. President, would honor a service rendered to 
them at such great cost.
  But not Mr. Trudeau. His is far too important a calling for it to be 
constrained by humility, gratitude, or ordinary good taste. I do not 
want to dwell too much on Mr. Trudeau. He is not
 really worth the ink used to ridicule him. Suffice it to say that I 
hold him in utter contempt. I hold him in contempt for his small heart, 
for the cruelty he inflicts on others to obscure the weaknesses in his 
own character, and for his immense ingratitude to those who have had 
the strength of character to protect Mr. Trudeau's right to pollute--
for profit, of course--political debate in America.

  I would rather talk a little bit about Bob Dole. Anyone who has read 
Richard Ben Kramer's book, ``What It Takes,'' knows what kind of man is 
Bob Dole. He answered his country's call to take up arms in a war for 
the future of the world. He helped save that world. Of course, he did 
so in a time when even political cartoonists believed such service to 
be honorable.
  As a proud young man of great promise and an excellent athlete, Bob 
Dole went to Italy. Like others of his generation, he paid a dear price 
for his love of country. He was gravely wounded. That he recovered at 
all from that wound is testament to the extraordinary courage that 
defines Bob Dole, and that sets him apart from others.
  Bob Dole bears the discomfort and the challenge of that wound today, 
50 years after he sustained it. He bears it with a quiet dignity that 
is--in every respect--worthy of our utmost admiration. I have known him 
for a long time now. I have never--never--heard him complain about his 
injury even though I know not a waking hour passes when he does not 
feel that pain. Neither have I ever heard him use his injury for 
political advantage, although he is--as he should be--proud of his 
service. Most people--indeed, almost everyone save Mr. Trudeau--is 
proud of him for his service and for the dignity with which he has 
accepted its consequences.
  The problem for Mr. Trudeau, I suspect, is that he has never done 
anything for which he can be proud and therefore cannot understand how 
other people could take pride in the moment when they answered their 
country's call.
  Mr. President, I am the son and grandson of admirals. Military 
service has been my family's business since the American Revolution. I 
have thus been blessed to have spent much time in the company of 
heroes. I know what they look like. I know how they act. Bob Dole is 
the genuine article. Duty and honor are not relative concepts to him. 
They are absolute standards. Thank God, ours is still a country that 
knows the worth of such men even if the odd cartoonist does not.
  Mr. President, I have a hard time maintaining self-restraint when I 
contemplate the injustice of Mr. Trudeau's disrespect for the brave 
service of a young man who left his family and friends in a small town 
in Kansas to defend his country's interests on foreign soil, and who as 
a consequence of his courage helped make the world safe--even for 
cartoonists.
  It is a pity Mr. Trudeau never bothered to wear the uniform of his 
country. The experience would have no doubt improved his manners. Since 
little is likely to improve the poverty of his manners now, perhaps he 
could just limit his cartoon to a subject better matched to his skills 
and his character--perhaps the O.J. trial. At a minimum, if Mr. Trudeau 
cannot find it in himself to honor the service of people like Bob Dole, 
I would hope he could just remain silent. I think he will find that 
fewer and fewer people are listening anyway.
  Mr. President, I would like to yield at this time to the Senator from 
Nebraska and possibly at the end engage in a short discourse with the 
Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. KERREY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I must state at the beginning I normally 
read, when I have the opportunity, Mr. Trudeau's comics or cartoons and 
find much humor in them. In this one, however, not only did I find no 
humor but I found in it great sadness and much in fact to be ridiculed.
  First, let me say that I have only on a number of relatively small 
occasions been moved by the words of another politician. I say that 
straight out. I sometimes say that I was moved. But it is rarely the 
case where I am genuinely and deeply moved.
  One such occasion was in, I believe, 1988 when--it might have been 
1987--Senator Dole announced his intent to run for the Presidency in 
Russell, KS. I watched him on television and watched him recollect his 
homecoming to Russell, KS, and the kindness that was expressed by the 
people of Russell, KS, to him, and he could not go on.
  Now, this is a man whose persona is, to say the least, a tough 
persona. This is a man, as the Senator from Arizona has just said, who 
never complains about his injury. At least he has not complained to me, 
he has not complained in my presence, and he has not complained in the 
presence of anybody that I know. This is a man who does not talk about 
his injuries and does not talk about his injuries easily when he does.
  For the cartoonist to portray Mr. Dole as sort of playing upon his 
war wound is a lie on its face. It does not happen. Quite the contrary, 
Mr. President. Senator Dole, as I indicated, feels great warmth and is 
moved by people who saved his life. I have heard Senator Dole talk 
about the people who restored his life and put his life back together.
  On a second occasion when I was moved--I must say I find it odd that 
Senator Dole, who is supposed to be one of the meanest guys in politics 
today--that is his reputation anyway--has on two occasions moved me so 
deeply.
  The second one was I believe the Larry King interview, or it might 
have been--it was not Larry King. It was one of the other journalists 
who was interviewing Senator Dole at length, and he began to talk about 
his father coming to visit him while he was in the hospital.
  On many occasions when asked how is it that I could admire Bob Dole, 
since he is the Republican leader and I am a proud member of the 
Democratic party, how is it that I could admire Bob Dole and like Bob 
Dole, my answer almost always begins with a declaration that this man 
loves his country and is a patriot.
  It guides him, in the end, to make decisions that sometimes are not 
in his best political interest. He did not serve in World War II as a 
consequence of calculating what was going to be in his best interest. 
It did not turn out to be in his best physical interest.
  He started to describe this moment when his father came to see him 
and described the swollen ankles of his father. He, once again, could 
not go on. He was moved, not by his own suffering, Mr. President, not 
by his wound.
  He did not go before this journalist, he did not stand before an 
audience in Russell, KS, and say, ``Pity me for this wound.'' Quite the 
contrary. What he did on both occasions was say, to a certain extent: 
Pity the audience. My sympathy goes to them. My appreciation goes to 
them. My respect and admiration go to them for what they did for me.
  I have great personal respect for Senator Dole and admiration for his 
patriotism. And, above all of the things, his ability to put his life 
back together, his capacity to put his life back together, I admire 
deeply.
  He has never worn his war record or his injuries in front of the 
public as if it was some sort of badge of honor. I have never heard him 
talk about, never heard him express that. Quite the contrary.
  So I, like the Senator from Arizona, am deeply offended by this 
cartoon. It says something about Americans who served that is 
reprehensible. And it says something about a great American patriot 
that is particularly reprehensible.
  Very often those of us who have been wounded are described that way. 
``Bob Kerrey, wounded in the war in Vietnam.'' I do not ask to be 
described that way, but that is how it occurs. We are described that 
way.
  And in today's modern journalism, the way things get beat around 
electronically, very often that comes back and somebody says, ``Well, I 
saw you 
[[Page S4529]] made a statement that says you were wounded in the 
war.'' I did not make a statement. And Senator Dole does not talk about 
his injuries, but he gets labeled with it.
  Unfortunately, today, in modern politics, the tendency is to look for 
the worst. And in Senator Dole, not only do we not have the worst, we 
have the best impulses of human beings and of Americans--an American 
who was willing to serve and willing to come back and not with 
bitterness say, ``You owe me,'' but an American who was willing to come 
back and say, ``The debt is still on my side. I feel compassion to 
those in Russell, KS, who welcomed me home. I feel compassion and 
respect for my father, who did the same. I feel compassion and respect 
for all Americans who continue to try to struggle not just with their 
lives but to overcome adversity, as well.''
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I would be pleased to engage in a colloquy with my friend from 
Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I just want to thank my friend from 
Nebraska for stepping forward.
  We cannot do anything about someone like Mr. Trudeau, but we intend 
to try.
  I do believe that when something as egregious and outrageous as this 
is--and, frankly, Senator Dole would not like to hear me say this--but 
it has to hurt when one's service and sacrifice to one's country is 
demeaned and denigrated in this fashion.
  I am grateful that someone like Senator Kerrey would step forward and 
condemn it. I do not know if it stops this kind of thing. I do not know 
what beneficial effect it has. But I do know this: For Senator Kerrey 
and me to remain silent in the face of this outrage would be a 
dereliction of duty on our part, if I may use a phrase from our 
previous incarnation.
  So I want to thank Senator Kerrey for saying this.
  I do not intend to belabor the point, and I know Senator Kerrey does 
not, but I hope the American people know--and especially Bob Dole 
knows--that the cynicism and sarcasm of Mr. Trudeau is not shared by 
the overwhelming majority of the American people.
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, if I could add one additional thing.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, the public should not view this as a 
couple of old veterans wandering down here to the floor to defend 
another old veteran that got beat up by a cartoonist.
  Senator Dole has the capacity to make fun of himself, as I do and as 
does the Senator from Arizona. This is not saying our skin is so thin 
we cannot take a cartoonist's deprecating comments about us. Lord 
knows, it happens all the time. It is hard to pick up an account of 
something you have said or done and not find something being said in a 
deprecating fashion. I do not mind that at all. I do not object to any 
cartoonist or journalist that wants to take some foible of mine, a 
weakness of mine, and magnify it and have some fun with it.
  But that is not what is occurring in this case. There is a deep 
offense given, as a consequence, to isolating something that, in fact, 
does not occur. Senator Dole does not wear his wound out in front of 
the public. He does not try to use it to gain some kind of advantage. 
Quite the contrary is the case.
  I am here this morning to say that I admire that. Indeed, beyond 
admiring it, I believe that it is sort of something that Americans need 
to emulate--to emulate a man who says, ``I may be suffering, but my 
concern is for my friends and neighbors who welcomed me home. My 
concern is with my father who made a trip to Chicago to visit me. My 
concern is still with others who are struggling in their lives.''
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. McCAIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I see the managers are waiting. I would 
like to make one additional comment on a different subject.

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