senate or when running for higher office, the bitterness that he sometimes felt because of the hand that fate dealt him, would eventually melt away, and he would deal with other people as human beings. and so i thought that tom dashl s eulogy, the fact that one of bob dole s closest friends was bob strouse, chairman of the democratic party, and the other many examples of him reaching across the aisle, of what his true legacy is going to be. and eugene robinson, when we think of bob dole, we think of the service. how much he sacrificed. yes. how he fought back and was recovering for years in the v.a. hospital in grand rapids, michigan. uh-huh. or battle creek, michigan, i
i said bob, you don t have to worry about me. there s no footprints behind you. i don t want your job. and i ll go over the hill with you. you lead. you lead. i ll go over the hill. and over the cliff with you. so we would talk about something, something missing in the young people, especially congressmen. they don t know the discipline of the military. and we talked about a draft. well, that would have been a shock thing. boy, that will win you a lot of votes. but we often talked about public service. what would a kid do? something involuntary this or get into something, though there were various aspects of organizations that did that. bob talked often about the fact that for the first time in your life, you really don t want to do what you want to do and by
and to the love of that life, dearest elizabeth. i know how deeply you grieve your beloved, how sweet was the company you kept for nearly 50 years. how you will miss the humor and charm of your dearest companion. i also know of your deep faith and of his, and that connection between you is eternal and unbroken. it is how you will hold hands with him until you meet again. over the summer, i called to wish the doles a happy birthday. they re both july babies. and i was just about to leave for tokyo to cover the summer olympics. senator bob told me, keep your eye on the quarter miler. his old track event, the 440 yard dash. 98 years old, long-confined to a wheelchair, he still remembered his best time that kansas racetrack was not far from mind. as i thought about that this
this memorial built. a memorial that should have been in the town sooner than it did, but thanks to bob dole, it is here now. and it follows a funeral service at the national cathedral which ended up a few moments ago where the late senator was remembered by some of his former senate colleagues from both sides of the aisle. among them, president bide whon served in the 25 years. he called on lawmakers still serving to follow dole s example. we served together for 25 years. we disagreed, but we were never disagreeable with one another. not one time that i can think of. i found bob to be a man of principle, pragmatism, and enormous integrity. bob was taking his final journey. he is sitting back now watching us. now it s our job to start standing up for what s right for
god, you re going to do it or you re going to get court marshalled. and we agreed on that. and that s they re all gone now. there are very few veterans in the congress. that may come back as the iraq and afghanistan veterans come of age. bob, you wrote that book. you wrote a book about the race. what would a dole presidency have been like? well, he was a wonderful man as everyone said. he was very disorganized, and if he d been president, it would have been a bob dole disorganized presidency. but i remember after the book, the choice came out. he called me. he was out campaigning in illinois. he called from my hometown, and called me at home. said oh, i m here in wheaton, illinois. i said well, have you read the