Biden highlights concerns for U.S. democracy in tribute to Senator Bob
Dole
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[December 11, 2021]
By Moira Warburton and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden
highlighted Senator Bob Dole's concerns about U.S. democracy in a
tribute on Friday to the former Republican presidential candidate, a
World War II veteran Biden called a hero.
Dole, who died on Sunday at age 98, was heralded at a service at the
Washington National Cathedral attended by Biden and his wife Jill, Vice
President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, former President
Bill Clinton, former Vice President Mike Pence, Republican and
Democratic leaders from the U.S. House and Senate, as well as actor Tom
Hanks.
Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate for many years, laid his hand
on the casket before and after his speech, and clasped the hand of
Dole's widow, former Senator Elizabeth Dole.
"Bob Dole was a man of his word. He loved his country, which he served
his whole life," Biden said in his remarks, adding that Dole was a
"proud Republican" who valued compromise and a "willingness to see the
other side."
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But, Biden said, "in his final days, Bob made it clear he's deeply
concerned about the threat to American democracy. Not from foreign
nations, but from the divisions tearing us apart from within. And this
soldier reminded us, and I quote, 'Too many of us have sacrificed too
much in defending freedom from foreign adversaries to allow our
democracy to crumble.'"
Dole was a supporter of former President Donald Trump but did not share
his false contention that the 2020 election Biden won was marred by
massive fraud.
Biden told NBC's "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon that Dole asked him on
his deathbed to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.
"We disagreed, but we were friends," Biden said during his first
late-night TV appearance since taking office. He said such bipartisan
relationships had become "awful hard" given the QAnon conspiracy and
extreme elements in the Republican Party.
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President Joe Biden said former Senator and Republican presidential
candidate Bob Dole understood that "compromise isn't a dirty word"
at his funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Friday.
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The funeral took place after Dole's body lay in state in the rotunda
of the U.S. Capitol beginning on Thursday, a tribute similar to
those afforded U.S. presidents upon their death.
Dole had been diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year.
Dole represented his home state of Kansas for a combined 36 years in
the House of Representatives and the Senate, including stints as
Republican Senate majority leader and chair of the Republican
National Committee.
Dole was awarded two Purple Hearts from the U.S. military during
World War Two for wounds suffered in combat.
He sought the presidency three times and was his party's nominee in
1996, when he lost to Clinton. He was also President Gerald Ford's
running mate in the 1976 election won by Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Dole is survived by his wife and by his daughter, Robin.
Dole, known for referring to himself in the third person, made a
classic American journey from the poverty of the Great Depression of
the 1930s, through World War Two battlefields to the corridors of
power.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton and Jeff Mason; Editing by Mark Porter
and Edmund Klamann)
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