RIP Senator John Warner, VA
I learned this morning that my old friend, Senator John Warner of Virginia, passed away at the age of 94. John Warner was the very first Republican Senator I met and I’ll never forget him.
When I was at George Washington University, I walked over to the old Visual System’s store located on Eye Street & 19th Street NW. I was there looking at buying ink pens, and at one point standing next to me was none other than Senator John Warner of Virginia. I said hello, and mentioned to him I was a Republican at GW. Sen. Warner was very personable, not like the “leave me alone” line a certain Senator from Maryland gave me when I ran into him while I was in high school. We ended up chatting for about 15 minutes about school and politics. This was the fall of 1989, and we had just elected President George H. W. Bush a year earlier. He gave me his card and mentioned to feel free to reach out to him if I was interested in an internship with him. I did reach out to him a few days later, not for an internship, but to invite him to speak to the GW College Republicans. Like the kind man he was, he accepted our invitation, and came out in mid-October to a full house at GW.
In retro spec, I did not agree with Sen. Warner a 100% of the time. I would say I agreed with him about 65% of the time. In fact, I strongly disagreed with him on some of his policies. However, Sen. Warner was an honorable man, youngest Secretary of the Navy, and the right senator for the Commonwealth at the right time. Sen. Warner will truly be missed on a personal and professional level.