Big announcements at the State Department this afternoon.
The President and Secretary of State also named Richard Holbrooke as the Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. But, I have to highlight Mitchell because my sister, Sharon, is visiting and she worked for George Mitchell for 14 years, including his campaigns in 1982 and 1988. Mitchell was appointed to the Senate in 1980 by then-Governor Joe Brennan. The opening occurred after our long-time Senator Ed Muskie became Jimmy Carter's Secretary of State in the midst of the Iran hostage crisis. That happened after Carter's then-Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, resigned following a failed attempt to rescue the hostages. At the time of his appointment to the Senate, Mitchell was a federal judge. So, he gave up a lifetime job for an uncertain future in the Senate. Back then, the GOP really thought this seat would be an easy pickup when Mitchell ran in 1982, but George won big. Big. Four short years later, Mitchell was the Majority Leader after he led the Democrats back into control of that body. In 1988, he secured 81% of the vote in his re-election bid. He retired from the Senate in 1994.
Mitchell is a legend in Maine (and in our family) and deservedly so. He's also a great diplomat having worked on the peace initiative in Northern Ireland among other hotspots.
At the event, the President said, to extended applause:
I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture.Clearly and thankfully, the grown ups are back in charge of our nation's diplomacy:
