Four Reasons Why Roy Blunt Wishes C-SPAN Didn't Have An Amazing Video Archive

C-SPAN has an incredible new(ish) video archive that you should check out when you have a few minutes to kill or need a stroll down memory lane.  You can search videos by person, year, or topic, and even search in transcripts of Congressional proceedings and covered events.  Want to watch John Danforth talk about Robert Bork in 1987?  No problem.  Forgot what Harold Volkmer looks like? Here he is talking about the 1990 Farm Bill. Or maybe you'd like to watch Chris Farley impersonate Newt Gingrich in front of Newt Gingrich.

Or, if you prefer, you can watch Roy Blunt talk about being best buds with Tom DeLay, in Roy Blunt's own words. 

ROY BLUNT AT TOM DELAY TRIBUTE DINNER - MAY 12, 2005
At an American Conservative Union dinner held to honor DeLay, Blunt among "those...who are closest to Tom." Blunt concluded: "I've got to tell you, whether it's the well of the House or a well in any other fight, if I had to choose a man to go to the well with, it would be my friend Tom DeLay."

View a transcript of Blunt's remarks in the description of this YouTube video.

ROY BLUNT SPEAKS TO PRESS AFTER TOM DELAY INDICTMENT - SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
Moments after Tom DeLay was indicted in Texas and forced out as Majority Leader, Roy Blunt said DeLay was indicted "largely because of his effectiveness as a leader," and promised that DeLay would continue "to be an effective and influential part of what we're doing."

Key excerpts from his statement:

I think it's fair to say that our members today, while they've expressed great regret that Tom DeLay has had to go through what he's going through right now -- I think, largely because of his effectiveness as a leader, he became a target.

We all believe that he'll return, once this indictment is out of the way, to be the leader again. That's what our rules call for. That's why my current situation will be to act as temporary leader and Tom would come back as leader.

But he'll continue to be an important member of this House, an important part of getting our work done. He's still a member of Congress. He's going to be an effective and influential part of what we're doing as he works now to get beyond this terribly unfair thing that's happened....

It's not easy to fill the gap left by our leader, Tom DeLay, who's done a tremendous job. But all of our team has got to come together, like we haven't come together ever before, I believe, to see us move forward here with responding to the hurricane, with reconciliation, reforming these mandatory programs for the first time in 10 years, looking at the other items on our agenda, from tax relief to charitable relief and moving forward with that.

View a transcript of Blunt's remarks in the description of this YouTube video.

TOM DELAY PASSES THE HAMMER TO ROY BLUNT - NOVEMBER 13, 2002
The now-famous footage of Blunt and DeLay smiling together, moments after Blunt was elected Majority Whip. "There is such a thing as passing the torch, or passing the baton," DeLay said.  "Well, I want to pass the hammer." Blunt replied, "The Velvet Hammer hurts just as much as the other hammer, it's just not as loud."

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: ROY BLUNT IS "BASICALLY DELAY LIGHT" - APRIL 20, 2006
Promoting his book The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine, conservative journalist and The Weekly Standard associate editor Matthew Continetti dismissed Roy Blunt's ability to campaign as a reformer, calling him "DeLay Light"