Bloglander

Yesterday, President Obama called him “a man who embodied the virtues of devotion and respect.”

Tom Foley, a Spokane native and former U.S. Speaker of the House, will be honored Friday at a memorial service held at Gonzaga University, and we have more details in this week’s paper. Our publisher also devoted his weekly column to Foley and the era of politics he represented.

When Foley spoke in Spokane 2006, the local Hamilton Studio prepared this documentary — poignant but often funny — about his life and career. It has been updated with an introduction that includes some of his remarks from that 2006 appearance. (For those who know little about him, you may want to start at the 4:15 mark.)

In it, Foley says: “Public office is a gift — it’s a gift of a free people. It’s the greatest gift that anyone interested in public life can receive — the confidence, the support, the hope of the American people who give you that great gift.”