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Cook: Bob Corker’s Joe McCarthy Moment

*Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/16/15. Janet and Bill Horton speak to Senator Bob Corker during the Chattanooga History Centerճ annual History Maker Award luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center on November 16, 2015.
*Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/16/15. Janet and Bill Horton speak to Senator Bob Corker during the Chattanooga History Centerճ annual History Maker Award luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center on November 16, 2015. *Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/16/15. Janet and Bill Horton speak to Senator Bob Corker during the Chattanooga History Centerճ annual History Maker Award luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center on November 16, 2015.

By David Cook 4 min read

photo David Cook

View other columns by David Cook

You do not seem yourself, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker.

For years, as others have jestered and abused their way through Washington, you have remained our elder statesman, above the fray. Amid the ongoing, dirty feud of juvenile politics, you have represented the old guard, a last vestige of compromise, wisdom and senatorial virtue.

“A senator from another time, an era when reaching out to the other side was more the norm,” praised The New York Times.

“A good and decent man,” offered President Barack Obama.

Last year, as you took charge of the Foreign Relations Committee, Time Magazine named you one of the Most 100 Influential People on Earth.