Senate Proceeding on Feb 3rd, 2011 :: 4:34:20 to 4:41:45
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4:34:18 to 4:34:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: earth and the last, best hope of mankind. thank the chair and i yield mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the remarks of the senator from connecticut. glad i had the opportunity to hear them. i, too, am here to celebrate ronald reagan's life, born 100

4:34:20 to 4:41:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lamar Alexander

4:34:40 to 4:35:01( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: year, but also his nearly 50 years of influence on american public policy. and i would begin in this way: a few years ago when he was president of the united states, president reagan attended one of the many washington press dinners that are held here. i think it was the gridiron dinner.

4:35:02 to 4:35:22( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: it is we will-known that 90% of the people in the audience, the members of the press, had a different point of view on politics than he did. but they liked him anyway and they respected him, just as he respected them. and i remember that evening that he strode into the gridiron dinner and smiling and looking like a million dollars.

4:35:23 to 4:35:43( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the press rose and smiled back and applauded him, and president reagan stood in front of the media until the applause subsided and then he sthaid: "thank you very much. i know how hard it is to clap with your fingers crossed." and the media laughed. they had a wonderful time with

4:35:44 to 4:36:05( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: president reagan. the first thing we think about, those of us who had a chance to know him -- and that was a great many of us -- is that ronald reagan was a very friendly man. he was a congenial man. an easy person to know, the kind of person you would enjoy spending time with. he was very comfortable, as we

4:36:06 to 4:36:26( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: say, in his own skin, and what you saw in private was what everybody else saw in public. but ronald reagan was about more than being friendly and congenial. and each of us has a personal story of his or her connection

4:36:27 to 4:36:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: to president reagan, and i have mine. and i'd like to use as an example this: 16-year-old this month i stood as a great many members of this body have on the front porch -- or on the front porch of my hometown courthouse. in my case was merryville,

4:36:48 to 4:37:10( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: tennessee. u.a.e.nnounced his candidacy for president of the united states. it was an offer that the people of the united states didn't accept. my preacher brother-in-law said i should consider that political defeat as a reverse calling, and i have, and i've gone on to other things. but as an example of the influence that president reagan

4:37:11 to 4:37:33( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: had on my generation and other generations, let me give you an example of what i said 16-year-old. 30 30 years ago i said then, ronald reagan, before he was elected to any public office, made an address called "time for chootion." he said in america freedom sour greatest value and then there

4:37:34 to 4:37:54( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: were two great threats, commun i abroad and big government at home. looking back over those last 30 years, i was tock talking in 1995, quks i suppose we could say one down and one to go. communism, the evil empire, has virtually disappeared, but big government at home has become an arrogant empire, object noxious and increasingly irrelevant in a telecommunication

4:37:55 to 4:38:15( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: telecommunications age. in every neighborhood of america, the government in washington is stepping on the prosm american life. the government in washington, the new american revolution is about lifting that yoke from the backs of american teachers, american farmers, businessmen and women, college presidents, and homeless shelter directors

4:38:16 to 4:38:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: and giving us the tbreem to make decisions for ourselves. ronald rairks" said in 1994, "phut this way when he spoke in 1964: quote -- 'this is the issue of the lerks whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the american revolution and confess that a little

4:38:37 to 4:38:57( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives forbe us better than we can plan ourselves.' "that was also the issue of the election in 1994. it will be the issue of 1996, i said, and for years to come. it took 30 years of unfashionable principled leadership by the last

4:38:58 to 4:39:19( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: republican outsider who became president to help collapse the evil empire. now is a good time to give another republican washington outsider the opportunity to help put some humility in an arrogant empire in washington, d.c. " so, you see, that the issues of 1964, the issues of 1994, the

4:39:20 to 4:39:41( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: issues of 2010, most likely the issues of 2012, 2016 and beyond have a lot of similarities, and over that half-century, ronald reagan was the finest spokesman for that point of view, the finest and the most persuasive.

4:39:42 to 4:40:03( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: mr. president, we americans say that anything is possible, and nothing symbolizes that more than the american presidency. we see it in president obama today. we saw it in president lincoln, we saw it in president truman, we saw it in president eisenhower, and we saw it in ronald reagan. no president symbolized that

4:40:04 to 4:40:24( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: more in the last half-century than president reagan did, though. he reminded us of what it means to be an american. he lifted our spirits, he made us proud, he strengthened our character, and he taughtes a great many lessons. we celebrate the centennial of his birth and the half-century

4:40:25 to 4:40:45( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: of his influence in public life. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include at the end of my remarks ronald reagan's speech "a time for choosing" made october 27, 1964, which was the beginning -- which launched

4:40:46 to 4:41:06( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: him into public debate in the united states. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: i ask unanimous consent following that to include remarks i made in orange county, california, on october 28, 1994, on the 30th anniversary of the speech "time for choosing." the presiding officer: without objection.

4:41:07 to 4:41:24( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: mr. alexander: and fine amly, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include in the record remarks that i made in tribute to president reagan in june of 2004. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexa chair.