[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 121 (Friday, September 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S9251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE VICE PRESIDENT

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I want to say a few words this morning 
about the Vice President of the United States--a man with whom most of 
us in this Chamber have served either in the House or here in the 
Senate.
  Right now, the bright glare of the public spotlight is on Al Gore. I 
think all of us know that public spotlight can sometimes be very harsh 
and unforgiving. Sometimes it can distort. But I don't believe the 
frenzy of the moment is going to diminish the achievement of two 
decades.
  Al Gore has spent 21 years in public life--and it has been a 
distinguished 21 years by any standard. Before his career in the 
Congress, he was an investigative reporter for the Nashville 
Tennessean. Prior to that time, he was a student at Vanderbilt's 
Divinity and Law Schools. And prior to that, he served this country 
honorably during the Vietnam war.
  People sometimes make a caricature of Al Gore's reputation for 
seriousness and honesty. But the truth of the matter is that Al Gore 
earned that reputation by immersing himself totally in his 
responsibilities as a lawmaker.
  In the House, he mastered the subtleties of the arms control debate 
and made internationally recognized contributions to stabilizing the 
nuclear arms race. In the Senate, he devoted himself passionately to 
protecting the environment. He was one of the first in this body to 
appreciate the potential of Federal Government supercomputers and the 
backbone that ultimately became the information superhighway. There's 
every likelihood that he will be remembered as a parent of the internet 
just as his own father is remembered as one of the founders of the 
Interstate Highway System.
  By almost all accounts, Al Gore has been the most influential and 
effective Vice President in modern American history. His Reinventing 
Government Program has literally revolutionized the executive branch 
agencies, reducing the size of bureaucracies, cutting out red tape, and 
building a more business-like paradigm for the delivery of vital 
services to the American people.
  That litany of achievement is real and familiar. I only run through 
it to give some sense of proportion to the charges that are now 
dominating the news. And my point is simple: we know Al Gore in this 
Chamber. The American people know him. The hearings we've had here in 
the Congress have revealed nothing to alter what we know. And I don't 
believe that insubstantial charges based on ambiguous law are going to 
count for anything against Al Gore's solid and unambiguous record of 
public service.
  I'm confident that, ultimately, a dispassionate and fair-minded 
American people will put the issues raised in the last campaign in 
their proper perspective. And I'm equally confident that, at the end of 
the day, Al Gore's reputation for public service and integrity will 
emerge absolutely intact.

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