This Guy Once Held a Knife to John Boehner’s Throat. Years Later, Boehner Served As His Best Man

Boehner never accepted an earmark in Congress — and he enjoyed railing against those who did. His heckling once provoked Don Young, an Alaskan himself, to pin Boehner against a wall inside the House chamber and hold a 10-inch knife to his throat. Boehner says he stared Young in the eyes and said, “Fuck you.”

Young says this account is “mostly true,” but notes that the two became good friends, with Boehner later serving as his best man.

John Boehner Unchained

Question a Man’s Judgment, Not His Motives

As a freshman senator, Joe Biden saw Jesse Helms, the archconservative North Carolina Republican, ripping into a piece of disabilities legislation.

Biden was furious, and began attacking Helms to Mike Mansfield, the Democratic Senate majority leader.

Mansfield asked Biden if he knew that Helms and his wife had adopted a disabled nine-year-old boy no one else would take.

“Question a man’s judgment, not his motives,” Mansfield instructed.