great senators like mike mansfield of montana. howard baker of tennessee. maine. barry goldwater, republican from minnesota. danny elway from hawaii. bob dole from kansas. nancy kassebaum. barbara mikulski, democrat from maryland. this is a place where friendships were made. i will never forget hubert humphrey was literally on his last leg, dying of cancer. going through intense chemotherapy. we were about to recess. he died shortly thereafter. i remember barry goldwater walking up to him in the well and them and bracing for long --e embracing. for long period, both crying. the senate rising to his feet for sustained emotional applause. barry goldwater and hubert humphrey. as a consequence, the senate functions as it was designed. the nation in the midst of that turmoil in those early years that i served arrived at consensus. and all of america was better for it. all those i mentioned including former senators and current senators are sitting with us today. they understood and understand that no one has a corner on the truth. no one's perspective is the onl

your father, along with mike mansfield, the secretary of the senate came to a hospital in delaware to arrived in washington, your dad -- although it is presumptive to say this -- treated me like a little brother. at least that's how i felt. when i arrived in washington after everyone else had been sworn in, your dad became my tutor, and my guide. he introduced me to other senators, who i had never met. i am the first united states senator of a name that i knew. it was new. i remember all these very same ascenders. he was try to get me out of my office. get me engaged. i remember walking in the senate gym, like a ymca -- the guys walk around with nothing on. and he said, i want you to meet this guy. i swear to god. i felt guilty i was fully closed. [laughter] true story. was i embarrassed. your dad also intervened and got me placed on important committees usually not available to freshman senators. he not only looked out for me, but he looked out for my sons. i don't know how 8x8 dried you to the kennedy center and let me sit in the box next to him with my two sons, and you thought wha

that republican minority leader, senator everett dirksen and democrat majority leader senator mike mansfield came together on this floor to introduce landmark legislation to ensure that no person would be denied the right to vote because of the color of his or her skin. i was reminded of the power of their example just two weeks ago when i gathered with republicans and democrats from the house and senate in selma alabama to honor the americans who came from across our country 50 years ago to march across the edmund pettus bridge in selma and demand equal voting rights. their example was one of unit yeep as was the example from members who introduced and eventually passed the voting rights act of 1965. i'm concerned as i come to the floor this afternoon about our troubling abilities to come together on the floor in this chamber where there should be broad agreement as well. i have with me a photographic reminder that the last time that the voting rights act was signed into law was reauthorized, it was signed by republican president george bush with the support of democrats and republicans in

he'll be short of mike mansfield's 16 years.and age. it may have been a factor but it wasn't the only factor. >> talk about just reid as a leader in the chamber. we mentioned republicans -- in general that's the way partisan party politics works. reid seemed to attract a particular form of scorn from republicans. what was it about his leadership in the senate that brought that out? >> in the era of president obama, he grew to realize a few years in that republicans -- or at least he decided that republicans wanted to stop the president for the sake of stopping the president. he decided he would respond by using extraordinary tactics in the senate. you had filling the tree, which means blocking amendments. you had him preventing votes that the other side wanted to do. and that culminated with him changing the rules. he did take extraordinary steps. one thing conservatives will not deny or dispute about that is he was effective. >> you're saying he fought fire with fire. >> right. >> so let's talk about this. the other big news ou

iran are back in the day, mike mansfield -- my father took me and it was back in the days when you couldalk in and talk to the senator without having to go through security and everything. even though he was a democrat, he seemed to be a guy who could reach across the island the friend everybody -- befriend everybody. patrick leahy and bernie sanders, when i lived in vermont, i thought both of them were a bunch of peacocks. it has changed a lot. people don't take the time to follow the issues anymore. the media just seems to be the enemy of common sense in this country with all this political correct nonsense going on. i just think state legislatures should appoint the senators. we don't need popular election of these people. people should control through their state literature -- legislature the appointment of the senators. host: good morning, carol. caller: good morning. it's very difficult for these representatives to represent the people anymore because it takes an awful lot of money to get into office, and they have to be aware of their contributors at all times. a good example of t