His keen mind, his capacity to retain and make devastating rhetorical use of relevant information and his tenacity in pursuit of what he believes tobe right for the country have made him a towering figure in a Congress that is increasingly bereftof individuals with such qualities.
Now that it seems likely a comet has drawn a sharp line of charcoal between the two cultures, careful measurements should be able to show whether North America was, for a few centuries after the impact, as bereftof people as it has since been of mammoths.