releases: https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/floor-statements?ContentRecord_id=D632C19A-2F2E-45D7-9FB6-4557C51E45B1
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/floor-statements?ContentRecord_id=D632C19A-2F2E-45D7-9FB6-4557C51E45B1 | FLOOR STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN | 2016-12-07 | 2016 | 2016-12 | Republican | House | AZ | John McCain | M000303 | www.mccain.senate.gov | legacy | Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor today in tribute to Vice President Joe Biden: “Mr. President, I join my colleagues today in addressing a few thoughts directly to the occupant of the chair, to commend his long and honorable service to the United States, and to thank him for his friendship. “Mr. President – and I know how much you enjoy me calling you Mr. President – you and I have served together in this body for three decades. We’ve been friends for almost forty years, since I was the Navy’s Senate liaison and used to carry your bags on overseas trips. I joked recently that I’ve resented it ever since. “But that was part of my job description, escorting and handling logistics for Senate CODELS, including making certain everyone’s luggage arrived at our destinations. Back then, some senators – unlike the hundred egalitarians who occupy the Senate today – could be a little haughty and high-handed. A few held an exalted opinion of themselves that exceeded the esteem which their colleagues and constituents held them in. If they paid any attention to staff, it was only because we had annoyed them somehow. “But not my friend, Joe Biden. He was fair and courteous to everyone, even people who didn’t always deserve it. He is always an example of how a powerful person with character and class treats anyone in a subordinate position. He treats them with humility, as God’s children with dignity equal to his own. “In the book, The Nightingale’s Song, the late journalist, Bob Timberg, wrote about one military liaison officer escorting a CODEL to Athens, who joined some of the members in a tavern for a little afterhours merriment, and was later observed dancing on a table top with Senator Biden’s lovely wife, Jill. I don’t recall witnessing the event myself, and I can’t testify to it having actually happened. Neither can I imagine the temerity of that rascal, whoever he was. He was lucky the Senator whose spouse he made endure the awkward moves he euphemistically called ‘dancing’ was Joe Biden. Few other senators would have seen the humor in it. “Many years have passed since we shared those adventures, and many events have transpired, personal and public, that enriched our lives with rewards and disappointments, blessings and challenges. We were still young men when we came to the Senate. We’re old men now. Although you can’t tell from looking at us, the Vice President’s actually a little a younger than me, though we’ve both passed the biblical ‘threescore and ten.’ “This place, the United States Senate, has been central to both our lives. Here we worked together on our country’s challenges. Here we fought and argued over the country’s direction. Here we compromised and joined forces to serve the public interest. Here we watched history made, and made our small contributions to it. “Neither of us is the shy and retiring type. We’ve both been known to hold a strong opinion or two, and, when circumstances warrant, we would rather make our points emphatically than elliptically. I think Joe appreciates the adage I’ve tried to follow in my public life: ‘A fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed.’ “When we’ve had differences of opinions over the years, we managed to make our positions crystal clear to each other. Perhaps, in the persistent triumph of hope over experience, we both still cling to the expectation that we can persuade the other that he is mistaken. I think, deep down, we probably know better. “In addition to being regularly mistaken, here’s what I’ve also always known about my friend and occasional sparring partner. He is a good and decent man, God fearing and kind, a devoted father and husband, and a genuine patriot who puts our country before himself. I know, too, that it has been a great privilege to call him my friend. “Mr. President, if I haven’t made clear to you over these many years how much I appreciated your friendship, and have admired you, I beg your forgiveness. We’ve both been privileged to know members of this body who were legends in their own time, and are remembered as important historical figures. But I haven’t known one who was a better man than you. “You are an exemplary public servant, a credit to your family, to the Senate and to the country. On behalf of the country and the Senate, thank you for your lifetime of service to America. Thank you for your example of how to represent your constituents with honor and humility, and for how to remain the same good guy that you were when you first got here. And thank you most of all for your friendship, my life and the lives of many have been enriched by it. “Thank you, Mr. President." ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |