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When i was a summer intern in 1975, and he was the whip, and i can remember as a young guy just being unbelievably impressed by his mastery of parliamentary procedure and also of the class act. you felt like a connection not just to the 20th century and the 19th century as if he was a roman senator and what that relationship with clinton points out is the same as his relationship with ted kennedy which went from very bitter to very close and with a number of republicans that there is this tradition in the senate that we're in danger of losing, of truly working in a collaborative way despite de...

First presidential debate in 2004. john kerry began that debate by saying, president bush and i love this country. we both just -- we each have a different vision of where to lead it. i think if ronald reagan, who could have respect and friendship for tip o'neill and ted kennedy or jfk who had disagreements with barry goldwater but respect him as an individual and never engaged that kind of rhetoric. i think that's the standard we ought have to in this country if we're going to make the democracy work. >> are we at fault for covering it, bob? we're in the news business. we cover what people sa...

Role of government, the relationship between liberty and equality, our obligations to our fellow citizens, these things have been with us since our founding. and i'm profoundly mindful that a loyal opposition, a vigorous back and forth, a skepticism of power, all of that is what makes our democracy work. and we've seen actually some improvement in some circumstances. we haven't seen any canings on the floor of the senate any time recently. [laughter] >> so we shouldn't overromant size the past, but there is a sense that something is different now, that something is broken, that those of us in ...

Lose the sound of god's voice. now for those of us here in washington, let's acknowledge that democracy has always been messy. let's not be overly nostalgic. divisions are hardly new in this country. arguments about the proper role of government, the relationship between liberty and equality, our obligations to our fellow citizens, these things have been with us since our founding. and i'm profoundly mindful that a loyal opposition, a vigorous back-and-forth, the skepticism of power, all of that is what makes our democracy work. and we've seen actually some improvement in some circumstances. w...

Incentivize other states to do it because those states that are passing these common sense gun laws are seeing reductions in deaths but they're also vulnerable to the negligence of other states, chris, who are not taking these common sense measures. so we need to act on a state level but we also need to act on a congressional level, and it's just scandalous and shameful that in the house of representatives we've never even had a vote on common sense gun legislation. never a vote on universal criminal background check legislation. never a vote on the legislation that i and so many others have i...