[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 508-509]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MITCH McCONNELL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, for more than 25 years, the State of 
Kentucky was represented in the Senate of the United States by a 
terrific man and a great legislator, Wendell Ford.
  Senator Ford was known by all as a moderate, deeply respected by both 
sides of the aisle for putting progress ahead of politics. Senator 
Ford, some said, was not flashy. He did not seek the limelight. He was 
quietly effective and calmly deliberative.
  In 1991, Senator Ford was elected by his colleagues to serve as 
Democratic whip, the No. 2 position in the caucus. For 8 years, he 
struck the perfect balance as an advocate for Kentuckians and also a 
national Democratic leader.
  When Senator Ford retired from the Senate in 1998, I had the honor of 
replacing him as the Democratic whip.
  Wendell Ford is not only a genuine Kentucky legend, he is a wonderful 
man, and I continue to enjoy his visits back to Washington, DC.
  Until this week, Senator Ford was the longest serving Senator in the 
history of the State of Kentucky. We have had some outstanding Senators 
from the State of Kentucky.
  Now that honor belongs to my friend, the Republican leader, Mitch 
McConnell.
  Senator McConnell came to the Senate 2 years after I came to 
Congress. In 1984, he was elected to the Senate in a historic election 
still famous for its advertising--the most memorable of the spots 
featuring some real bloodhounds, always in search of the opponent of 
Mitch McConnell, the incumbent Senator from Kentucky. Today, if you go 
to a seminar on politics, almost always they will show that ad as being 
one of the classic political ads in the history of our country.
  Senator McConnell won that first race by a razor-thin margin, but he 
quickly became a leader among his Republican colleagues in the Senate 
in general.
  Senator McConnell chaired the Republican Senatorial Campaign 
Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles, served as 
Republican whip following the 2002 midterm elections, and now has 
served as the Republican leader since 2006.
  I became the Democratic whip in 1998 and have been the Democratic 
leader since 2004. Our careers in the Senate have been very similar. 
During this period of time I was majority whip; he was. Back and forth, 
there was a lot of changing going on. So I have had a lot of 
interaction with Senator McConnell because of our respective jobs.
  It is well known that in our positions as minority and majority 
leaders--both as whips and as the leaders--he and I have had 
disagreements at various times. Behind the scenes, though, it is a 
different situation. In places where the cameras do not record our 
discussions, in private conversations, as we have to have, we are not 
only friends but determined partners in the legislative process. We get 
a lot of work done very quickly.
  We just completed a meeting that took about 20 minutes, where I think 
the record will ultimately reflect that 20 minutes was truly well spent 
working out some of the problems of this Senate.
  So I say, we are not only friends but determined partners in the 
legislative process of the Senate. That does not mean we always see eye 
to eye. Everyone knows that is not the case. But in the words of 
President-elect Obama, we are able to disagree without being 
disagreeable.
  We respect each other's commitment to making our country stronger, 
and I think we have a special understanding of the unique challenges of 
keeping our respective caucuses together and striving toward the same 
goals.
  At the University of Louisville, Mitch McConnell has worked with 
faculty to create a center for public service, to educate and prepare a 
new generation to answer the call of public service.
  A little more than a year ago, Senator McConnell invited me to be a 
guest at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. After a 
terrific program with young and aspiring academics, he presented me 
with a real Louisville Slugger baseball bat, with my name inscribed on 
the ``sweet spot.'' That is where these great hitters have used these 
bats for generations to hit the ball as far as they can and as sharply 
as they can.
  On that day at the McConnell Center, Senator McConnell and I spoke 
frankly and openly about the joys and difficulties of our jobs to these 
faculty

[[Page 509]]

members and these students. I, in fact, told the students an old story 
about President Lincoln that has been told many times, but it is always 
important because he sets the standard for what politics is all about 
as far as getting along with people, as finely written about in some 
detail in the ``Team of Rivals,'' this best-selling book. What 
President Lincoln said, when he was being criticized for being 
solicitous of members of the Confederacy, was: ``Am I not destroying my 
enemies by making friends of them?''
  Well, Senator McConnell and I both understand that through friendship 
and mutual respect we can find common ground to achieve common goals 
and to reach for the common good of the American people--common ground, 
common goals, common good.
  My wife Landra and I are pleased to call him and his lovely wife--and 
that, certainly, is an understatement--Elaine Chao our friends. Elaine, 
of course, is a national leader in her own right, having served for 8 
years as our Nation's Labor Secretary and also formerly as the Director 
of the Peace Corps. I have such great respect for Peace Corpsmen and 
especially someone who is able to lead that very elite group. So I have 
only high regard for Mitch and Elaine. They are a wonderful couple and 
do so many good things for our country.
  So I congratulate the Republican leader, a Kentuckian whose love of 
his State and its university athletic programs is well known and who 
now adds the distinction of being the longest serving Senator from the 
State of Kentucky to his long and impressive career.

                          ____________________