[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 151 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11679-S11683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WISHING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD A HAPPY 85TH BIRTHDAY
Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, let me observe, if no one has, as of
yet, it is the 85th birthday today of our colleague from West Virginia,
Senator Byrd.
I gave him a note a few moments ago, not only wishing him a happy
birthday but, on this last day of this Congress, saying to him how much
all of us appreciate the fact he has given so many years of public
service to our country.
[[Page S11680]]
I pointed out--if I might just continue for a moment--in a note to
him that as I read the book about John Adams by David McCullough, John
Adams seemed, as they were trying to create this country, to write to
Abigail, plaintively asking: Where will the leadership come from? Who
will emerge as the leaders of our great country?
As they put this country together, of course, the leaders were there.
John Adams said: There is only us--George Washington, Mason, Madison,
Ben Franklin, and so on.
For over 2 centuries, the question before this democracy has been:
Where will the leadership come from? Where will the leadership emerge?
This country has been enormously blessed by having leaders emerge
throughout its history. A significant part of that history here in the
Senate has been blessed with the leadership of one Senator Robert Byrd.
So today, on his 85th birthday, let me join his colleagues in wishing
him, on behalf of a grateful Nation, a hearty, happy 85th birthday, and
many more.
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, will the Senator yield so I can join in
those well-deserved accolades?
Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I yield to the Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. I thank my colleague.
Madam President, I am very heartened by that news of the Senator's
85th birthday. I proudly have attained 75, and I am hopeful I can
someday stand here at 85, to not just stand but pursue my duties as a
Senator, if that case may be, with just half the vigor and strength of
mind as displayed by our esteemed colleague from West Virginia, for
whom I share the greatest affection, as he well knows.
We have adjoining States. There is a little line drawn between
certain areas which at one time was all Virginia. Nevertheless, we have
people so much alike in their needs. I often work with my colleague to
meet those needs. I thank him very much for this opportunity.
I thank my colleague and wish him well, he and his lovely wife.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I deeply thank my colleague from North
Dakota for bringing this matter to the attention of the Senate. I thank
my friend from Virginia for what he has just said.
With respect to my birthday, I shall have more to say about that
later. But let me say, at this moment, I have listened to the
distinguished Senator from Virginia extol the virtues of Senators who
are leaving.
The Senator from Virginia is a gentleman. I have always felt that of
him. Being from the State of Virginia, he certainly exemplifies that
title: A gentleman. I have always thought that about most men from
Virginia.
Let me say, with reference to something that the distinguished
Senator from Virginia said a moment ago--he spoke, I believe, about his
daughter. He spoke glowingly about his daughter. That struck a note in
my memory.
It was on July 11, 1804, that a duel took place at Weehawken, NJ--a
most fateful duel at a time in our history when many fateful duels were
fought.
On this occasion, Alexander Hamilton, who was only 30 years of age at
the time of the Philadelphia Convention--the Constitutional Convention,
in which he, Alexander Hamilton, took part--he was only 30 at that
time. Madison was 36. Franklin was 81. Jonathan Dayton, whose relative,
whose kinsman, sits from time to time in that chair before the Senate--
the kinsman of whom I am thinking is named Mark Dayton, a Senator from
the State of Minnesota--that kinsman of Mark Dayton was named Jonathan
Dayton. He was the youngest man at the Convention, 26 years of age.
Charles Pinckney of South Carolina was 28 or 29. But Dayton was the
youngest man at the Convention. Hamilton was 30.
Hamilton sat at that Convention. Hamilton went on to fight this
terrible duel, and he was mortally wounded in that duel on July 11, one
week following July 4. In that day and time there were no anaesthetics;
the marvels of medicine had not come along as we know them. Of course,
Harvey, that great Englishman, had discovered the circulation of the
blood. He had discovered how the blood circulates through the veins and
arteries. That was his theory.
But now back to this awful night of July 11. There with his seven
children about his bed and his weeping wife, the little children
weeping throughout that awful night of pain when the blood from the
wound gathered in his stomach. There he lay. The next day, that great
man Hamilton died, on July 12.
The man who was the Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr,
was the man who won that duel--Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United
States. I have often referred to him as the great enigma, Aaron Burr.
I remember he said when he left the Senate, when he walked out of the
door of the Old Senate Chamber, down the hall here, for the last time,
he said to his fellow Senators: This house is a sanctuary, a citadel of
law, of order, and of liberty. And it is here, it is here, here if
anywhere, in this exalted refuge will resistance be made to the storms
of political frenzy and the silent arts of corruption. And if the
Constitution be destined ever to be at the sacrilegious hands of the
demagogue or the usurper, it will be witnessed on this floor--meaning
the death of the Constitution--if it be destined ever to succumb to the
sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, may God avert, its
expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor.
Now, why do I refer to Aaron Burr at this moment? Aaron Burr had a
daughter. And the Virginia Senator's words about his daughter brought
this to my mind. Aaron Burr had a daughter. Aaron Burr went on to go
over to West Virginia to connive with an Irishman over there who lived
in the area of Parkersburg. The Irishman's name was Blennerhassett.
There is an island over there named Blennerhassett Island. And Aaron
Burr talked with Blennerhassett, this wealthy Irishman, about setting
up an empire in the Southwest.
In any event, Aaron Burr was arrested and brought to trial. And
Thomas Jefferson, his mortal enemy, had a great deal to do with that
trial. But that is a bit here and a bit there.
What I am remembering especially about Aaron Burr is he had a
daughter. Here was this man who had killed Alexander Hamilton. He was a
murderer. He intended to kill; no doubt in anybody's mind, he meant to
kill Hamilton. Hamilton did not intend to shoot to kill in that duel.
Hamilton intended, it is widely believed, to fire into the air, not to
kill Burr. But Burr intended to kill, and Burr did kill Alexander
Hamilton.
We look at that dark side of Aaron Burr, this enigmatic brilliant
man, Vice President of the United States, that dark side of this
mysterious man. But there was a good side to this man. He fairly
worshipped this daughter, Theodosia. And she loved her father very
deeply. And upon this particular occasion, she left Georgia in a boat
or a ship, and there was Aaron Burr, expecting her to arrive, looking
forward to her arrival, loving this daughter as he did. She never
arrived.
The ship encountered a storm and was never heard of again. And so
died Theodosia, the daughter of Aaron Burr. And Aaron Burr, after that
dreadful happening, this man who had killed Alexander Hamilton, one of
the great founders of this country, Aaron Burr for years would go down
to the seashore and stand for hours looking out upon the sad and solemn
sea, seemingly to be looking for that ship that never came in, the ship
that was carrying his daughter. He stood and looked out on the sea.
When Aaron Burr came to his last days on this Earth, he, while lying in
his bed, positioned himself so that he could see there on the wall in
front of him a picture of that daughter, Theodosia.
When the streams of early sunlight first entered into his room, there
was Theodosia in front of Aaron Burr, that loving father. When the
shades of night had fallen and night, with her sabled robes, had closed
the light of day for the last moment, he could see in the dim light the
picture of that daughter, Theodosia.
Well, that was a side of Aaron Burr that not many people know about.
A good many years ago, I went to the Library of Congress and went to
the rare books section and sought out this bit of material because I
was researching the life of Aaron Burr. I had intended to put such a
chapter into my ``History of the Senate, 1789-1989.'' I intended to put
a chapter on Aaron Burr, the great enigma, in that book.
[[Page S11681]]
There were two chapters I wrote that I never put into the book. That
was one. The other was about two great West Virginia Senators, Senator
John Kenna--it is a very interesting story about John Kenna and what he
had to do with the location of the Capitol in Charleston. I will not
tell that today. The other great Senator from West Virginia I wrote
about was Henry Hatfield, a Republican. So I wrote about one Democrat
and one Republican.
In writing those chapters, I went into the rare books section of the
Library of Congress, and among those tomes I fished out this story, and
many more, about Aaron Burr. It was there that I discovered that this
man with such an evil, mean spirit, with the lust to kill Alexander
Hamilton, because he hated Hamilton--he challenged this man whom he
hated to a duel, and Hamilton, being a man of honor, charged Burr with
having said things concerning the honor and patriotism of Burr. In
those days, they fought duels about honor.
How many men in this Chamber would die today for honor? Well, in
those days they did.
The thing I want to say again is, here was this man, this evil
spirit. I can envision his lying awake at night thinking of how he
would like to kill Alexander Hamilton--and he did kill him. But there
was another side to Burr--a very tender, loving side. He loved his
daughter Theodosia.
So the Senator from Virginia, when he spoke of his daughter--I have
two daughters also, but when he spoke of his daughter, it reminded me
of Aaron Burr, that great enigma, and how he, too, had a daughter he
loved and treasured.
Mr. WARNER. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. BYRD. Yes.
Mr. WARNER. I enjoyed that story. I have a great and abiding love for
my eldest daughter. I think at that point, I depart from the background
of Aaron Burr and his other features, but I would not suggest in any
way that you were drawing an analogy. I found the story fascinating.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, that is a given. What the Senator talked
about the love for his daughter, that is a given. I wasn't attempting
to connect the Senator from Virginia with Aaron Burr in that respect.
The Senator spoke of his daughter, and it awakened memories in my own
mind. Burr was a great man, a brilliant man, Vice President of the
United States. He killed one of the Founders of this Republic of ours--
not this democracy, but this Republic. And he meant to kill him. In
those days, they fought duels to kill.
Well, enough about dueling.
(Mr. Barkley assumed the Chair.)
Mr. DASCHLE. Will the Senator from West Virginia yield for a moment?
Mr. BYRD. Yes.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I was watching the monitor in my office
and noted that Senator Byrd was speaking. Senator Reid and I noted as
we were watching on television that while the Senator from West
Virginia celebrates his 85th birthday, he looks today like a man 25
years younger than 85. He looks youthful, vibrant, and rested. We all
remarked as to how it would be possible for him to look as good as he
does after the weeks he has had, the hours he has spent on this floor.
He has regaled us with yet another story and has reminded us that,
while on birthdays it is commonplace in our country and traditional to
give gifts to those who are celebrating, it is another reminder of what
a gift he is to us. He is a treasure, and we love him for so many
reasons, but we especially acknowledge that treasure on this day, given
his physical appearance, his eloquence, and his lessons from history. I
thank him for that.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I am grateful indeed for these encomiums
being said by my colleagues. I deeply appreciate what the distinguished
majority leader has just said. I appreciate his friendship on this day
and the friendship of so many of my colleagues. I shall always treasure
the words he has spoken on this day.
Oh, to be 70 again. The Lord has blessed me. I see his blessing in
each of us. He has blessed me extraordinarily. Plato thanked the gods
for his being a man. He also thanked the gods for his being a Greek.
And he thanked the gods for having permitted him to live in the age of
Sophocles. Well, I thank God on this day for what he has given to me.
And I don't deserve it. I don't deserve the things God has given to me.
But for God, but for Him and his gracious mercy, I could have been in
a penitentiary today; I could have been dead today many times over. It
was a mother's wish that I be given to the wonderful couple who raised
me. That mother died on the night of Armistice Day, November 11, 1918.
I was just a week short of being a year old.
To go on, I thank God for a wife of more than 65 years. I am trying
to think of a great Greek. The name starts with an A. He was a great
orator. It was not Aristides. It was a very common name in ancient
history, but when he in a speech could not think of the right word, he
paused until the right word came to his mind. He paused.
He was not like today's speakers, many of whom when they cannot think
of a right word they say: You know, you know, you know. That is a mind
that is not in sync with the tongue--you know, you know, you know. Not
this man, a great--Alcibiades. No. Anyhow, I thank God for having
spared my life on many occasions and for giving me the opportunity to
serve in this body.
I say to the distinguished Senator in the Chair, who has been here
only a few days and who will be with us but a few days more, I could go
home today, and I could write a letter to the Disbursing Office and say
I am retiring tomorrow. I doubt that I would know the difference in my
check that I get every month, twice a month. I doubt that I would know
the difference between that check after I had gone home and sat down
with my wife of 65 years, who is probably worrying, and in some manner
of thinking that is where I ought to be, but I would get practically
the same amount of money I would receive as a Senator. So I am not here
today for my payroll, and I probably could earn much more money not
being Senator or go on some board or be a lobbyist, if I ever deign to
be one. I could probably get a lot more money. I do have grandchildren,
and my wife and I have great-grandchildren. I probably ought to try to
leave them as much money as I can leave them. But that has never been
my desire. Wealth has never been a goal of mine.
My only goal is to serve this country, and I have been here 50 years
come this January 3. Having studied the history of the Romans, the
Greeks, the Persians, the people of the British Isles, and our own
colonial forebears, my roots of love and admiration and respect for
this country's Constitution, this country's history, colonial history,
our forebears is so deep with me. That is why I am here.
I want to say that in the vote last evening, of which we had nine
votes--who saw the same thing as I saw at the end--I saw on TV this
morning that four of those nine were the oldest in seniority Members of
the Senate: Byrd, Kennedy, Hollings, and Inouye, the four oldest and
senior. Paul Sarbanes, our dear friend from Maryland among the nine,
but these are the four senior Democrats, and they voted as I did.
Do you think we collaborated about that? Does the Chair think--I am
not asking for an answer; the Chair cannot respond--but does the Chair
for a moment think that these nine Senators talked ahead of the vote
and said: Will you vote this way? I am going to vote this way. I hope
you will vote this way. How are you going to vote? Never a word. I
never knew who those Senators were going to be and did not know who
they were until after the vote.
I say that to say this: I serve here because I want to serve here and
because the people of West Virginia want me to serve. They do not all
agree with me. I do not seek to curry favor at home or here. But I do
what I think best, and I like that Constitution. I want to compliment,
I want to express my deep appreciation to those other eight Senators on
this side of the aisle, one of them an Independent, Jim Jeffords of
Vermont. These men gave up something when they did that. They are going
to meet that vote down the road probably one day when they run for
reelection.
Did it deter them? No, not for a moment. Nor did they do it because I
asked them to do it. I would not have had the temerity to ask them to
do it. I would have no business asking them
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to do that. I spoke my mind, they spoke theirs, and they voted their
way.
Some of the Senators came to me afterward and while the vote was
going on and said: Senator, I have been with you down to this point,
but I am going to vote for this bill. They were kind enough--they did
not have to do that. They did not have to come to me and tell me they
were going to vote that way.
I had them come right here to me and say: Senator, I am going to
leave you on this one. I have been with you thus far, but looking at
the overall picture, I am going to vote the other way.
It was nice of them to do that. I thought it showed a tremendous
respect for my viewpoint, and they did it on their own. They did not
owe me anything. They did not need to tell me how they were going to
vote. But how good of them to come to me and say: I am going to vote
the other way.
Does the Senator from North Dakota wish to speak again? I will be
happy to yield. I have said about everything I want to say.
I am going to yield the floor now, but I just want to pay homage to
these other eight Senators. I am sure it was more difficult for any one
of them to vote against the homeland security bill than it was for me
because I cut this out in the beginning. I saw where it was going. I
was determined not to be for this kind of thing because it was shifting
power from the legislative branch to the executive branch. I am not for
that. I was not at the beginning when I first said we ought to have a
Department of Homeland Security.
That was the course I took. If it meant standing alone, that was all
right. I did not mind being the only vote against it. But I never did
it with any thought that my speeches would change anybody's mind. That
was not it.
Why did I speak that way, knowing that this was almost a foregone
conclusion? Not because I was trying to convince any of my colleagues
or believing that my speeches would. I spoke for my grandchildren, for
my grandchildren's grandchildren, and for future Senators who will be
in this body. The record that was made will be a record until the crack
of doom, be it 1,000 years, 10,000 years, or a million. If this
Republic still exists, those words will be there. That is not my words
so much that count, but these were words in support of the Constitution
of the United States and of the institution of the Senate. That was my
total feeling.
I was well rewarded, exceedingly well rewarded, with the supporting
votes of eight other Senators, and the supporting thoughts and words of
Senators on this side even beyond that. So I was well paid. I pay
homage to these Senators who stood on their feet and reached this
conclusion themselves.
I yield the floor.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I know the able Senator from North
Dakota has been waiting, but I want to take a moment, with his
indulgence.
I take this opportunity to wish the very able and distinguished
Senator from West Virginia, and my good friend, Robert C. Byrd, a very
happy birthday. There is no doubt that this institution is a better and
stronger place because of not only his presence but his leadership and
influence in helping to shape the Senate over decades. We are all
enormously appreciative and grateful to him for that.
He carries the Constitution in his pocket. He understands the
constitutional structure of our Nation and the role of the Senate
within that constitutional structure. I have always greatly admired the
fact that he is what I would call a constitutionalist. He understands
that we have to have strong institutions in order to make
representative democracy work. Without those strong institutions, we
are in great danger of losing our liberties and the balance that has
served this Republic so well for more than two centuries. I join my
colleagues and pay respect to him today on his birthday.
In today's New York Times, there is a wonderful story about the
distinguished Senator. I ask unanimous consent that the article be
printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. SARBANES. It is headlined: ``Byrd, at 85, Fills the Forum With
Romans and Wrath.''
They should have gone on and added one other thing. They should have
said ``and wisdom,'' because that is exactly what he has provided to
all of us. We are appreciative to him for it, and we wish him a happy
birthday, and many more.
Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, before the distinguished Democratic whip
speaks, I feel I must say this, and I must say it now, right at this
point. Here is a true son of Athens. This is a true son of Sophocles,
and Socrates and Plato and, yes, one more. I had it on my tongue just a
moment ago. Not Alcibiades, but a man whose name I was trying to think
of earlier. It came to me while the Senator was speaking. I am sorry
because this really is ruined by what I wanted to say. That great Greek
who left Athens and who went to the--what was that other part of Greece
that had the emphasis always on----
Mr. REID. Sparta?
Mr. BYRD. Yes, went to Sparta. He went to Sparta. But anyhow, I just
wanted to make reference to that and how this man who has been here--we
have worked together so long, and now he said these things. I keep
being bothered in what I am saying. I am trying to come up with the
name. It will come to me.
Mr. REID. Make one up. We would not know the difference anyway.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator from Maryland.
Mr. REID. I asked the Senator to yield because I wanted to, through
the Chair, mention a word about you.
Mr. BYRD. The name that keeps bothering me is Aristides. But this was
Alcibiades. He was a great speaker, and when he could not think of a
word, he paused. He just stopped. He did not say, ``you know, you
know,'' or, ``ah, oh, ah, you know, ah, you know.'' He paused.
I thank the distinguished Senator from Maryland very much.
Mr. SARBANES. I thank the Senator.
Mr. REID. Through the Chair, I wish Senator Byrd happy birthday. But
I also want to say the Senator from Maryland, as we all know, is a
Rhodes scholar. Being a Rhodes scholar is a tremendous distinction.
Those of us who work with the Senator from Maryland know he deserved
that academic opportunity, and certainly he has fulfilled anything that
they thought could be done or should be done, and he is still doing
such great things.
I am not a Rhodes scholar. I am a Byrd scholar. I have been trained
for 20 years being a Byrd scholar. I have so far to go. I do not know
many of the Greek names. I have listened intently to the speeches given
on this Senate floor on the fall of the Roman Empire. As my
distinguished friend knows, a professor who has since retired taught a
course at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas on the Byrd speeches
dealing with the Roman Empire. I have picked up a few traits from the
Senator from West Virginia. I have my Constitution with me every day.
I have had a wonderful life, but this life has been made so much more
full as a result of having become a Byrd scholar.
Exhibit 1
[From the New York Times, Nov. 20, 2002]
Byrd, at 85, Fills the Forum With Romans and Wrath
(By John Tierney)
Washington, Nov. 19.--As his colleagues hurriedly tried to
give the president a domestic security bill, Senator Robert
C. Byrd took the floor this morning to tell them of a ``truly
great'' senator from the first century A.D. named Helvidius
Priscus. One day this Roman was met outside the senate by the
emperor Vespasian, who threatened to execute him if he spoke
too freely.
``And so both did their parts,'' Mr. Byrd said. ``Helvidius
Priscus spoke his mind; the emperor Vespasian killed him. In
this effeminate age it is instructive to read of courage.
There are members of the U.S. Senate and House who are
terrified apparently if the president of the United States
tells them, urges them, to vote a certain way that may be
against their belief.''
Mr Byrd, of course, is not one of those timid souls, and
his recent speeches have been extraordinary even for the
maestro of senatorial rhetoric, who turns 85 on Wednesday.
While his colleagues have debated the fine points of the
domestic security bill, he has been virtually alone in asking
the larger question: Why is this new department suddenly so
necessary? What will the largest and hastiest reorganization
of the federal government in half a century do besides allow
politicians to claim instant credit for fighting terrorism?
``This mon-stros-ity,'' Mr. Byrd has been calling the bill,
repeatedly lifting its 484 pages above his head with
trembling hands
[[Page S11683]]
and flinging them down on his desk with the fury of Moses
smashing the tablets. Mr. Byrd used to be known less for his
distaste of federal bureaucracy than for his love of federal
aid--he once vowed to be West Virginia's ``billion-dollar
industry,'' while his critics crowned him the ``prince of
pork.'' But now he is riffing against big government.
``Osama bin Laden is still alive and plotting more attacks
while we play bureaucratic shuffle-board,'' Mr. Byrd told the
Senate. ``With a battle plan like the Bush administration is
proposing, instead of crossing the Delaware River to capture
the Hessian soldiers on Christmas Day, George Washington
would have stayed on his side of the river and built a
bureaucracy.'' Mr. Byrd imagined Nathan Hall declaring, ``I
have but one life to lose for my bureaucracy,'' and Commodore
Oliver Perry hoisting a flag on his ship with the rallying
cry, ``Don't give up the bureaucracy!''
It would not be strictly accurate to say that Mr. Byrd's
speeches have fallen on deaf ears in the Senate, since the
chamber was mostly empty when he spoke. But thanks to C-
Span, his recent oratory has won this traditional Democrat
new allies across the political spectrum--from Barbra
Streisand to Phyllis Schlafly, according to the letters
his office has received. While liberals have hailed his
opposition to the president on Iraq, which generated more
than 50,000 letters, conservatives have joined him in
warning of a threat to privacy from the domestic security
bill.
As he was waiting to speak on the floor yet again this
afternoon, Mr. Byrd sat in his office and marveled at the
rush to pass the bill.
``That Department of Homeland Security will not add one
whit of security in the near future to the American people,''
he said. ``In the meantime, the terrorists are going to be
very busy. I'm concerned that in our drive to focus on the
war in Iraq and the Department of Homeland Security, we're
going to be taking our eyes off what the terrorists may do to
us.''
Mr. Byrd advocated slowly creating the department, with
Congress overseeing the process, and he pulled out the ever-
present copy of the Constitution from his breast pocket to
make his point. ``We're being recreant in turning over to
this president the power shift that is included in that
bill,'' he said.
One Democrat senator who voted for the domestic security
department said he and his colleagues were exasperated by Mr.
Byrd's delaying tactics on this and other measures.
``More and more of our members feel he's dragging it on and
on ad infinitum, which is not necessary,'' that senator said.
``Make your point. Have a vote. And move on. He's not willing
to do that. He's from a different school. At some point you
have to say, `Enough is enough.' ''
That senator, acknowledging that Mr. Byrd is a powerful
colleague, declined to be named publicly, saying, ``I'll get
killed.''
Mr. Byrd's long speeches have irritated some of his
colleagues anxious to adjourn, but he has his defenders even
across the aisle.
``I don't happen to agree with Senator Byrd's position on
homeland security, but he deserves to be heard,'' said
Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska. ``Some senators
think we ought to be on a bus schedule, but I don't have any
sympathy for people whining about being delayed. This is our
job. I agree with Senator Byrd that we sometimes need to
spend more time considering issues as important as this.''
Mr. Byrd, who will celebrate his 50th anniversary in
Congress in January, said he had no illusions that his
oratory was going to change the outcome of the final vote. So
why was he on the floor day after day? What was he
accomplishing?
``To me, that question misses the point, with all due
respect to you for asking it,'' he said. ``To me, that matter
is there for a thousand years in the record. I stood for the
Constitution. I stood for the institution. If it isn't heard
today, there'll be some future member who will come through
and will comb these tomes.''