Former Senator Alan Simpson Tribute to President George H.W. Bush (C-SPAN)

relax George told me I only had ten minutes he was very direct about it it wasn't even funny now I first met my friend my dear friend George Bush in 1962 when my father Miller Simpson was a member of the United States Senate and just elected and I came to after Washington with dad to settle on his new office being vacated by one senator Prescott Bush George's father well then we met again when my parents left Washington and sold their home to a brand-spanking-new congressman from Texas named George Herbert Walker Bush so George and Barbara mom and pop did that sale on a handshake sound familiar then I came to the Senate in 1978 and soon after that Ronald Reagan cornered me and asked me to support him for president and I said I would not knowing that my friend George would enter the fray hearing that I called and I said George want to tell you I'd love to help but I'm already committed to Ronald Reagan George's response well hell I'm sorry about that I probably should have let you know sooner and actually a guy doesn't get very many calls from a friend who says they can't support him sound familiar of course it does because in George Bush this theme of life during all the highs and lows there was a simple credo what would we do without family and friends and when he became vice president our friendship or enjoyable friendship was refreshed and the four of us had many many pleasant times together and my life in Washington was rather tumultuous I went from the asocial list to the Z and never came back to the ACA in one dark period I was feeling awful low and all my wounds were self-inflicted all of them and George called me early one morning always early in the morning country music playing in the background and he said aha I see the media is shooting you pretty full of holes actually he said it a bit more pungently than that and he said why don't we go up to Camp David you and then come over and we'll have a weekend together at that time his popularity rating was 93 percent mine was 0.93 has so off we went media of course all gathered as we head it to marine one and George said now wave to your pals over there in the media Al and they didn't wave back so next morning he's ratting us through all the papers in the US and he looks up and he said haha here's the one I've been looking for a picture of Barbara and and George with his arm and hand on my back and later we're having the sauna and I said George I am NOT unmindful as to what you are doing you are propping up your old wounded duck Powell well you're at the top of your game you reach out to me while I'm tangled in rich controversy and taking my lumps and he said yep there were staff members ell who told me not to do this but al this is about friendship and loyalty sounds familiar well we have an awful lot of fun too always a delight to be in the president's box at the Kennedy Center off to a play at the National Theater of the Warner with the bushes and outside of the president's box one evening and there was a massive six-foot bass but an extraordinary glaze I hope you know the difference to him in a vase and of Oz 35 bucks now George walked up to it and he said he'll wait I think that's at Ruskin I noticed that he said this blue gray glaze from that period the clay that could only be found during that era and I said no no George the patina there gives me the perception it was possibly older perhaps of Greek origin with that particular herbal paste before firing of course people get their ground mumbling about these expert observers and Barbarin and finally came by and said get out of here both of you get back in that box well we did well it was impressive for a while and then of course one night before was when to see Michael Crawford singing the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber all four of us were singing as we went back to the White House don't cry for me Argentina and tidbits from Phantom of the Opera and other magic of Weber and a few days later he's getting hammered by the press for some extraordinarily petty bit of trivia and suddenly he sings out don't cry for me Argentina the press then wrote that he was finally losing his marbles now these honored guests right here before us who have held this noble post know all of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune he was a class act from birth to death he has the strong sinews in mind and body gained from that extraordinary mother we compared our mothers as veiled with hammers of course and certainly most awesome fathers the history books will and are treating him most fairly while uncovering some other powerful traits his great competitiveness his raw courage and his self-discipline recall the Andrews Air Base Conclave where Congressional participants drafted a remarkable bill that dealt with two-year budgeting entitlement reform comprehensive and catastrophic health care Social Security solvency and much more but it required a critical ingredient called revenue translated into the word taxes translated into the words read my lips and the group went to George and said look we can get this package done but we must have some revenue and he said I'll never forget he said what I have said on that subject sure puts a hell of a lot of heat on me and then they all said yes but we can get it done and it will be bipartisan and George said okay go for it but it will be a real punch in the gut well I'll dole them a loyal lawyer for George took it back to the Senate and we want a very strong bipartisan goal and what order the house for his own party turned on him surely one of the main factors assuring his return to private life but he often said when the really tough choices come it's the country not me it's not about Democrats or Republicans it's for our country that I have fought for and he was a man of such great humility those who travel the high road of humility in Washington DC are not bothered by heavy traffic and he had a very serious flaw known by all close to it he loved a good joke the Richard the better and he threw his head back and give their great laugh but he never ever could remember a punchline and I mean never so the punchline for George Herbert Walker Bush is this you would have wanted him on your side he never lost his sense of humor humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life that's what humor it he never hated anyone he knew what his mother and my mother always knew hatred corrodes the container it's carried in the most decent and honorable person I ever met with my friend George Bush one of nature's noble men his epitaph perhaps just a single letter the letter L for loyalty of course through his blood loyalty to his country loyalty to his family loyalty to his friends loyal to the institutions of government and always always always a friend to his friends none of us were ready for this day we mourn his loss from our own lives and what he was to each of us that is so personal so intimate so down inside it would have been so much easier to celebrate his life with him here but he's gone irrevocably gone now we we have loosed our grip upon him but we shall always retain his memory in our hearts God has come now to take him back we all knew on one unknown day he would return to his God now we give him up we commend him to your loving hands thank you for him God rest his soul

Channel: C-SPAN

Views: 414,395

Rating: 4.6361914 out of 5

Keywords: Alan Simpson, George H.W. Bush, President of the United States, C-SPAN, CSPAN

Id: 0CXNEWDYxXM

Length: 11min 45sec (705 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 05 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/R0binSage]

"Hatred corrodes the container it's carried in." That's very fitting for today's society.

[u/TampaBayBuckaneers]

Saw this on TV. Good guy. Second best speech today