Frank Lautenberg

[JI7]

Secretary of State John Kerry, in remarks to reporters, called his longtime fellow Democratic senator "tenacious as a legislator" and someone who "never forgot where he came from."

In particular, Kerry cited Lautenberg's advocacy for environmental issues and his spirited defense of Kerry's military record when it came under attack by Republicans in the 2004 presidential election campaign.

"He was as loyal as he was patriotic," Kerry said, also noting how "during the years when Frank was going through chemotherapy and he was weakened by cancer, he was still down there on the floor of the United States Senate floor fighting on every environmental debate late into the night."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/politics/obit-lautenberg/index.html

Lautenberg loved JK and he was one of his best defenders. if anyone watched him you would see he took the attacks very personally. he very much wanted JK to be President.

[monmouth3]

1. Me too Senator, me too...n/t

[Mass]

2. I remember Lautenberg in 2004 coming on the Senate floor and defending Kerry againt the SBVT.

For that and given the nearly silence of most of his colleagues, he has earned my respect.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/303165-kerry-thanks-lautenberg-for-swift-boat-defense


Here is the 2004 article.

[MBS]

5. a bit of this speech was rebroadcast on NPR yesterday

I caught it by accident.
I'd forgotten about this, and was very glad to be reminded.
Like you, he earned my deep respect for that moment of clear truth-telling, reflecting both his political courage and his personal integrity.
Hearing Lautenberg's voting record summarized yesterday, as well as his welcome comments on Kerry's war record and that of chicken hawks, I thought to myself, "His absence will be deeply felt.".. way beyond the Dem vs Republican thing. Although I'll be relieved if we can keep the seat Democratic, I don't see any of the Democratic candidates measuring up to Lautenberg's clear-eyed, non-nonsense liberal commitment, or to his political and personal integrity (But I am not an expert on NJ politics. karynnj, can you help reassure me about the potential for either of the two possible Dem candidates that they can fill Lautenberg's shoes?)

[ProSense]

10. He was wonderful.

I also remember watching them at a NYC event to protect Social Security. Senator Lautenberg had a tremendous sense of humor.

I'm going to miss him as my Senator.

[karynnj]

3. Lautenberg - like JK - was the real deal

Last edited Tue Jun 4, 2013, 10:10 AM - Edit history (1)

I was lucky enough to see Lautenberg a couple of times. The most memorable was at a Democratic Morris County meeting when he was working to insure that Menendez would win in 2006. Morris County is the most Republican county in the state - so this was a relatively small 50 - 100 people event.

After his formal GOTV speech, he just talked to everyone. The most telling conversation was when one couple said that they were from Paterson and the husband's parents knew his family back in the old days. He recognized the name and then started to talk about Patterson and that time. He spoke of the reason he got into politics - and that was to fight for people who could not. He told us that his dad, who worked in a Patterson silk factory told him to study hard and that he did not want him to work there because it killed people. His dad spoke of being able to see filaments in the air and made the connection between breathing all that in and the early deaths. His dad died quite young and Lautenberg went to college on the GI bill. You could see that he was still passionate on so many of the things he fought for.

I also remember watching on TV when various Democrats, including Kerry and Hillary, along with affected citizens spoke of the importance of Social Security and all that it did. This was in 2005 or 2006 whenever Bush was briefly pushing to privatize it. The clear "stars" of the show and the most compelling were Lautenberg and a Brooklyn guy near his age. They were completely awesome in speaking of what SS provided. At the end of the show when they were speaking to each other - Lautenberg spoke of how they would not have had to worry had the country done right and elected JK as they should have. It was clear that they had a huge amount of respect for each other.

He was awesome in 2004 - especially when he called Dick Cheney a chicken hawk.

[MBS]

6. YES.

Thanks for this rich account.
Yup, the real deal. And, like JK, serving for reasons larger than his own self-promotion. All too rare these days.

[karynnj]

4. A longer quote by Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry, a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts who worked in the Senate with Lautenberg for 20 years, said, “He was an American original, and as decent a person as I’ve ever known in public life.”

Senator Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz traveled with Lautenberg in 1992 to the first UN sustainable development and climate change conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Kerry said today, “Frank never lost faith with that commitment to the environment.”

“During the years when Frank was going through chemotherapy and he was weakened by cancer, he was still down there on the floor of the United States Senate fighting on every environmental debate late into the night,” said Kerry. “One day I realized where so much of that conviction came from, because Frank told me about his grandchild whose asthma was exacerbated by pollution. For some, all politics is local, but for Frank, all politics was personal, and I loved that about him.”

http://ens-newswire.com/2013/06/03/senator-frank-lautenberg-environmental-champion-passes-away/

[MBS]

7. Charlie Pierce on Lautenberg

a little OT, but it gets to a big reason why his passing will leave such a hole in the Senate
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/RIP_Frank_Lautenberg

He had some big, clanging brass ones, showing up in a wheelchair to cast a vote on the gun-control bill a while back and filing a bill for background checks on the sale of explosive powders in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, and never backing down from any fight, particularly on environmental issues. But the one thing that struck me was the fact that he was the last World War II veteran left in the Senate. . . The one thing about the World War II generation . . .was that, by and large, they were the children of the Depression, too. Frank Lautenberg was the son of a millworker and the son fought a war and made himself a millionaire. Frank Lautenberg was a child of the Depression, and one of the last of them in the Senate, too. and that, I believe, made all the difference.

[beachmom]

8. Thank you for such a wonderful tribute thread to the late Sen. Lautenberg

I have been busy lately but it is so nice to see the positive energy in this forum emulating its namesake, no doubt.

RIP, Sen. Lautenberg.

[wisteria]

9. I was saddened to learn of Senator Lautenberg's death, he was a good and decent man.

He stood up and defended those who did not have a voice and people-like John Kerry, who he truely believed in. God rest his soul.