‘May His Memory Be A Blessing’: Susan Collins Honors Late Sen. Joe Lieberman

3 months ago

During a memorial service on Wednesday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) remembered the late Sen. Joe Lieberman.

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Transcript

00:00Prime Minister, I'm used to people walking out when I get up to speak.

00:07Laughter and applause.

00:16Hadassah, family, friends, distinguished guests, colleagues,

00:25it is such an honor to join you in celebrating the life of a truly great American, my dear friend, Joe Lieberman.

00:39On the day that Joe died, I was speaking at a middle school in Western Maine.

00:47An eighth grader got up and asked me this question.

00:54Of all the senators that I had worked with over the years, who was the one that I accomplished the most with?

01:06After carefully noting that I had worked with many great senators, I answered the question, Joe Lieberman.

01:20Later that very same day, shortly after I got home, I learned that Joe had died.

01:30I was stunned for only hours before I had been touting his virtues to the students of Maine.

01:42If you ever wonder if one person can make a difference, just look at the legacy of Joe Lieberman.

01:53He was a prolific legislator who authored so many significant laws.

02:02There was landmark legislation to reorganize and strengthen our intelligence community in the wake of the attacks of 9-11.

02:15His work to repeal the discriminatory don't ask, don't tell law was a profile in courage.

02:25The bill to reform FEMA after the woeful response to Hurricane Katrina was another, yet another, of his lasting accomplishments.

02:40Working with Joe was so satisfying because his nonpartisan persistence repeatedly yielded results.

02:54But Joe wasn't only a brilliant legislator.

03:00As Vice President Gore said, he was a mensch, a person of integrity, honor, compassion, and warmth.

03:11I saw those qualities time and again in his embrace of the families who lost loved ones on 9-11,

03:23in his determination to do what was right regardless of the political consequences, and in his love for his family, his friends, and his country.

03:40Joe also had a constant twinkle in his eye that reflected his marvelous sense of humor.

03:51How well I remember a lengthy conversation that Joe and I had on a long journey to Afghanistan about the relative burdens of Jewish guilt versus Catholic guilt.

04:12Joe finally won that argument.

04:17He said, my people invented it, your people perfected it.

04:26Vintage Joe.

04:29We laughed so hard that we woke up John McCain, who was the leader of the CODEL.

04:39It's so difficult for me, as I know it is for so many of you, to accept that Joe is no longer with us.

04:51Just a week before he died, Joe and I agreed with one another.

05:06Joe's legacy will continue to learn so much from him.

05:16The prophet Isaiah said, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

05:26Joe is engraved in our hearts forever.

05:32May his memory be a blessing.

‘May His Memory Be A Blessing’: Susan Collins Honors Late Sen. Joe Lieberman

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