Bush. George, hes in the cloak room, call him and tell him youll veto the bill without question if this amendment goes through. So i watched, george was right there. I tell you. He couldnt have bean second after, joe biden, the president wants to sanctify. I heard joe say what . [ laughter ] you really mean that, mr. President . He said well, anyway i can see that the hook was set and so joe came back out after a while after debate going and he said i have been personally advised by the president of the United States that he would, indeed, veto this powerfully important bill if this amendment by my friend robert bird should pass. He said this causes me tremendous pain. He said under those circumstances and knowing this president that ive come to know i know hell veto this bill and therefore, ill have to vote against the bird amendment. Bird oh. [ laughter lau[ laughter ] it was very special to see. The bird amendment went down by one vote because Bennett Johnson who would have been shattered again, he was out of he went to a funeral a dear friend of his had a funeral. Bennett would have had to vote with bird because bird was working him over for six months and he was gone and went down by one. And we skipped it through with the voting, you heard. But the final one that my pals have never heard is that apparently, according to Paul Sarbanes who was a dear friend of the other faith, i saw him about eight or ten years ago and he said that one day in the democrat caucus of the senate that biden gave the most strident talk about sticking with your position, stick with the caucus, when you make a pledge, do you this. It was just marvelous. And sarbanes said as he finished, bird rose with his finger, said senator biden, may i refresh your memory. [ laughter ] and, i mean that was part of the game. But, anyway, it was a great honor and a privilege to do it and when the thing passed george and i were fishing in jackson and george p. Was with us, george p. Was only 12 and riley calls, it was in the summer and he said it passed the senate. So i cant remember. Anyway it was a joyous time. Let me give you the definition of politics and then youll know everything will be solved. It takes ten seconds. In politics there are no right answers. Only a continual flow of compromises among groups resulting in a changing, cloudy and ambiguous series of public decisions where. Tight and ambition compete openly with knowledge and wisdom. [ applause ] every sunday you can learn from leading historians about first ladies and president s is here on the presidency. You are watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan three