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From the VP's speech

"Yet as much as he might push you, Don never demands more of others than he does of himself. I've never worked harder for a boss -- and I've never learned more from one, either. Don is a superb executive who knows how to cut through to an issue at once. He embodies the adage that a statesman should act as a man of thought, and think as a man of action. "Set careful goals," he says, "then do the best job possible, let the flak pass and work toward those goals." He never forgets that we're here not to accumulate titles and honors but to do our jobs. "Public servants," he said, "are paid to serve the American people. Do it well." To his very core Don is a man of rectitude, with a sense of honor that defines him, and a sense of fairness and perspective that has never failed him. "

Should have posted this as well from the VP speech

"For these reasons and more, I have always considered Don Rumsfeld to be the very ideal of a public servant. And thus, those of us who know Don are extremely fortunate to have his friendship, and all that goes with it -- the wisdom, the humor, and the great personal decency of the man. In a lifetime one meets only a few people of such caliber and character. And so my first association with Don Rumsfeld was one of life's great turning points, both professionally and personally. On the professional side: I would not be where I am today, but for the confidence that Don first placed in me those many years ago. And on the personal side: It's enough to say that I have no better friend, and ask for none. "