The US Senator , who just passed away, will lie in-state in the Nation’s Capitol…..
The NY Times takes a look at his people back home in Russell, Kansas….
RUSSELL, Kan. — A quarter-century has passed since Bob Dole left the Senate and lost his bid for the presidency. But in his hometown on the Kansas Plains, a place Mr. Dole gave near-mythic status in his political origin story, he is still everywhere: On the side of the grain elevator. On a downtown mural. On street signs and plaques and, at the local historical society, in black-and-white photos where he is hunting jack rabbits and wearing a Russell High Broncos basketball jersey.
As Russell’s 4,400 residents mourned Mr. Dole, who died on Sunday at age 98, many also grieved for their hometown senator’s approach to governance, one in which compromises were celebrated and opponents were not enemies. They said a little more Bob, as people in Russell called him, might just help detoxify the national discourse….
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Mr. Dole spent much of his adult life in Washington, but his affection for Russell stretched beyond the standard romance between politician and hometown. He dispensed advice to Kansas Republicans, made sure his childhood home near the railroad tracks stayed in his family and read the newsletter from the V.F.W. post, where he was a charter member. But most of all, he spoke with enduring gratitude and emotion about how Russell residents pooled money in a cigar box to help cover his expenses when he returned from World War II with severe shoulder, arm and spine injuries.
image…Credit…Bettmann Collection via Getty Images
President Biden said America has lost one of its greatest patriots with the passing of former senator Robert J. Dole, honoring his longtime friend and statesman as “a giant of our history” who prioritized principles over party.
Dole, who died Sunday at age 98, will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, returning to the heart of the place that shaped nearly three decades of his political career and where he, in turn, produced so much of the work that would form his legacy.
“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said at a ceremony honoring Dole. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth — that the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus. The only way.”….
More…
McConnell, Schumer, Pelosi ,and Biden all gave very nice tributes to Senator Dole in the Rotunda today.
Funeral services at the National Cathedral will be tomorrow morning.
Another great commentary that ages well:
In 2015/16, when asked about Trump, Senator Dole pivoted to his true least favorite, one Ted Cruz. At absolute best, you can argue Trump is some functionary for Conservative think tanks and special interests and has the sometimes ability to flirt with bucking orthodoxies. Cruz is by far a more ‘true believer,’ and would have successfully performed what Trump could not in 2020, that is if he had even been elected in the first place(I have my doubts about that). His shameless 180 flip(one that would do Mitt Romney proud) on January 6 notwithstanding, don’t you think a “Constitutional Scholar” like Cruz could have formulated an argument to be easily, innocuously fed to the masses?
Just putting it out there, and Dole was more on point than he ever could have known. Kudos, Senator.
At the time, Dole made it clear that while he did not like Trump as a candidate (and he had endorsed Jeb Bush), that Trump was better than Cruz.
I disagree. While I did not like either, there was *nobody* worse than Trump. America would have been better off with Cruz as President as opposed to Trump.
I predict this will happen on here and elsewhere next year when people will admit that they want Republicans to nominate Trump, if he runs, to be nominated again, regardless of what might happen after that, because Ron DeSantis for example is “so much worse because he might actually be able to accomplish….”
They’re both pretty equal IMO. Not a shade of difference. Would rather have someone like Kansas’ own Mike Pompeo if I had to choose