Senate Proceeding on Sep 10th, 2009 :: 4:16:35 to 4:29:00
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4:16:33 to 4:16:53( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: of those who cannot fight for themselves. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york is recognized. mr. schumer: i thank my friend and colleague, senator murray

4:16:35 to 4:29:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Charles Schumer

4:16:54 to 4:17:14( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: for his heartfelt words and all of my colleagues. the love we all felt and feel for ted kennedy is genuine. it's person to person because that's how he was. there is so much to say.?? i know we are limited in time. we could speak forever. every one of us could speak

4:17:15 to 4:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: forever about ted kennedy because he had s many interactions with each of us. it's amazing that every person has a long list of stories in this body and thousands of people in massachusetts and thousands more throughout america you would think there were 20 ted ken

4:17:36 to 4:17:57( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: he had so much time for the small gesture that mattered so much such as the hug going out of his way to go to a reception and hug patty murray's mom. it happened over and over and over again so we could each speak forever. our time is limited, we are going to shut off debate soon and others want to speak so i

4:17:58 to 4:18:19( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: will put all of my remarks in the record and touch on a few things. but i could speak forever about ted kennedy. i thought of him every day while he was alive and i think of him every day that he is gone and had a deem about him the other night where, typically, he was taking me around to various places in boston and just

4:18:20 to 4:18:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: explaining a little bit about each one with a joke, with a smile, with a remembrance. there's also nothing that we can say because nothing is going to replace him. no words can come close to equaling the man. mr. president, you read about

4:18:41 to 4:19:03( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: history and you read about the great people in the senate, the websters, the clays, the lafayettes, the wagners -- what a privilege it was for somebody like myself, a kid from brooklyn, father was an exterminator, never graduated

4:19:04 to 4:19:24( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: from college, and i was in the presence and was actually a friend to a great man. i think, you know, you can't say i don't think i could say that really about anyone else. and it's amazing. what i want to tell the american

4:19:25 to 4:19:46( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: people, you all read about it and there were the good times and the bad times and the brick bats that were thrown at him -- not so much recently but in the early days -- but when you are in the senate you know people personally and within you are in our walk -- when you are in our walk of life you know people

4:19:47 to 4:20:09( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: personally and you meet a lot of famous people. some are disappointing, the more you see them, the less you want to know them. with ted kennedy the more you saw him the closer you get, the better he looked. he had flaws but he was flawless.

4:20:10 to 4:20:30( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and he was such a genuine person and such a such an honorable and decent man that i just wish that my children had gotten to know him, that my friends had gotten to know him that all of my 19 million constituents got do know

4:20:31 to 4:20:52( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: him the way i did. what a guy. there are so many stories and so many memories. one day ted and i sat next to each other, i used to sit over there, and it was one of the vote-a-ramas, a long session.

4:20:53 to 4:21:13( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: i said to ted, and we koiblly occasionally went to the hideaway to talk, and i said why don't we bring some of the freshman -- a couple of years ago and i regret you, mr. president, and the senator from oregon and the class of 2008 did not have that experience -- and we want to the hideaway and he wou tell us stories and talk about the

4:21:14 to 4:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: pictures on the wall an each person in really caring detail what he picture meant, what he replica meant. he would tell jokes and laugh. and his caring for each person in that room -- these were the

4:21:36 to 4:21:59( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: new freshman --as genera he did it regularly. these were freshman members of the senate. ted didn't really need them. he could get whatever he had to get done and they would support him. but he just cared about them. as if they were almost family. and then whenever we had a late night we would sort of gather and i would be the emissary and

4:22:00 to 4:22:20( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: go to ted and say, can we go upstairs? of course. and amy klobuchar and sherrod brown and bob casey, their faces would lloyd up and up we would go to hear more stories about the past, the senate, and the individuals, a memory none of us will ever forget.

4:22:21 to 4:22:44( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and ted kennedy would size people up early on and care about them. he was very kind to me but he also knew that i was the kind of guy he had to put in his place. i would get hazed by ted kennedy and jay rockefeller went through the same thing. he knew who i was but he deliberately would not mention my name. we would be standing together

4:22:45 to 4:23:06( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and he wouldcy, senator mikulski, will do this and accept harkin you will do this and senator conrad you will do that and i was the last one and he said the others will it was fun, he did it with a twinkle in his eye and we loved, he and i, the give-and-take, brooklyn-boston.

4:23:07 to 4:23:28( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: the first year i was here, the red sox were pleaing th were playing the yankees in playoffs game. ted and i made a bet. he said the loser will have to hold the p

4:23:29 to 4:23:50( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: time offer his hea "casey at the bat," on capitol hill and we had the bet, the yankees won and he was faining fear, this man who had been through everything. we went out on the stops he was hiding behind me, i have a picture of it on my wall and we were joking and laughing and he

4:23:51 to 4:24:11( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: did his duty. and i was just a freshman senator, sort of like patty or anybody else, he went out of his way for all of us. he would tell me to remember the birthdays and the individual

4:24:12 to 4:24:33( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: happenings in each senator's life and go over and say something to them. it was his way of teaching me and done like a father. 12 an amazing -- he was an amazing person. the closer you got to him the better he looked as a legislator and as a giant in our history

4:24:34 to 4:24:55( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and all the history books recorded and people have referred to his accomplishments but i just want to share with people how it was in person, just on one-on-one, you could be a senator or two guys on the street corner and he was fun and he was caring and he was loving he was a big man but his heart

4:24:56 to 4:25:17( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: was much bigger than he was. he loved almost everybody. he saw the good in people and brought it out. he saw the faults in people and in a strong but gentle way tried to correct them. he was great on the outside and he was even more great on the inside.

4:25:18 to 4:25:41( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: i see my colleagues are waiting so i will part with this million i. ted and i became good friends and, you know, spent time together in many different ways. when he got sick i felt bad like we all did and would call him every so often.

4:25:42 to 4:26:02( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: and this was october of last year he was ill know, still i strong health. and i called him a couple of days before it was said we have a dsc event in boston and i thought i would call and say hello and let him know i would be in his territory and he said, what are you doing

4:26:03 to 4:26:24( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: before the event and he said why don't you come out to the compound at hyannis. so i did. he picked me up at the ain't. i flew -- at the airport. i flew in, on a little plan he was in his hat and happy as

4:26:25 to 4:26:47( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: could be, full vim and vigor, and it is obvious why he wasn't afraid of death. you know yourself and you know you have done everything he has done on both a personal basis and as a leader you are not afraid of death. anyway, he wasn't at all talking about that. we were supposed to go out sailing but it was too windy so

4:26:48 to 4:27:10( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: we clam chowder and he lived in the big house on the compound the one you see in the pictures. but he took me to the house by the side. that was the house where?? president kennedy lived because when he was president, joseph p.

4:27:11 to 4:27:32( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: kennedy, ted's father, lived in the little house. for about three hours he opened all these drawers and closets on the walls and in each one, in loving, teaching, detail talked

4:27:33 to 4:27:53( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: to me about the history of the family and of boston and what happened from mayor honeyfitz through his father and ted growing up, laughing and reminiscing and about president kennedy as he was growing up and

4:27:54 to 4:28:16( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: then, as president, in this little house, and all the way through to ted. and he was sort of passing on the memories and he did it again

4:28:17 to 4:28:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: out of just subsequent rost generosity, spirit and friendship. he was just a great man. and every one of us know his greatness was not just in the public eyes but in the private, one on one, a great man. the term is overused. there aren't many. he was one.

4:28:41 to 4:29:03( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: i was privileged to get to know him, to get to be his friend, to stand in learn from it a just enjoy it and to love him. so ted, you'll always be with us. they may take those flowers off