My friend from long ago, Thomas Foley, Former House Speaker, Dies at 84 – NYTimes.com

There were many Sunday mornings that Congressman Foley was a guest on my program on the old KSPO. The remarkable thing is that, afterward, he would settle down in the break room and we would just talk. It might last hours. I learned so much about government and politics from Tom Foley and he was always considerate. He was very aware of division in the Democratic Party and reminded me that, if we lived in Europe, there would be no Democratic Party. Instead, there would be five different parties that might sometimes work together.

Lesser people tried to dream up some sort of accusations about a supposed lack of devotion to the Second Amendment. That is always a beautiful political stunt because there is just about nothing a regular person can do to satisfy a frothing gun nut. Lee Atwater launched the most despicable of attacks, although Atwater had the good grace to apologize for all his wrongdoing before entering eternity’s iron gates.

Folen was nothing like the current crop of headhunters. He was unfailingly polite and understood that not everybody was born with the silver spoon snugly tucked between the lips. I got to spend so much one-on-one time with Tom Foley and every minute was a gift. He has been sorely missed for a long time.

Here is a link for the New York Times story.

Thomas Foley, Former House Speaker, Dies at 84 – NYTimes.com.