Posted on 11/30/2004 5:29:19 PM PST by NCjim
There’s an unwritten rule in politics not to kick somebody when they’re down.
But Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) — who has made a point of speaking his mind during nearly four decades in the Senate — is willing to do just that by criticizing Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for his failed campaign for president.
“He wasn’t himself,” Hollings told The Hill after delivering his farewell speech Nov. 16. “He had political peripheral vision.”
Hollings, who noted that he himself failed to capture the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984, said Kerry “had no [applause] line” on the stump. “The people were looking at him head-on and couldn’t find him.”
However, consistent with senatorial courtesy, Hollings placed the blame mostly on Kerry’s advisers and consultants. “He was overcoached,” he said. “They ruined him.”
Hollings also disputed the notion, widely reported in the media, that President Bush’s top political adviser is some kind of a political genius. “Everyone is going, ‘Karl Rove is the architect,” he said. “Hell no! He made every mistake you can make.”
Hollings also disputed interpretations of the election, based largely on exit-polling data, that Republicans had an advantage on “moral issues,” pointing to Democratic efforts on healthcare and education. “My morals are way better than the greed of the other crowd,” he said.
Hollings, who is departing after 38 years and will be succeeded by Republican Rep. Jim DeMint, offered no opinion on whether Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will run for president. But he said the fundraising requirements for public office have gotten out of hand.
“You gotta start six years ahead of time,” he said, noting that he had to raise $36,000 a week for his 1998 Senate race. “You miss Christmas or New Year’s week, you’re $100,000 in the hole.”
That's funny I heard that the Senate "couldn't find" Kerry for years either.
FYI..I 'm pinging you on a related thread, of interest, that I posted this morning..I sense a trend developing..
Fritz doesn't know whether to wind his ass or scratch his watch.
Democrat morals always seem to cost money... (and other people's money - and we're the greedy ones!)
That's why I think Senators should be appointed by the states, not elected by the people. It would make the best campaign finance reform by eliminating 33 of the most expensive campaigns that occur every two years.
-PJ
Typical of most democrat politicos.
Kerry can't find Kerry...
Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan-
John F. Kennedy
[Maybe he should look in Cambodia, it is almost Christmas and I hear history repeats itself.]
ROFLMAO!!!!
Too much consumin goin on out dare. (not even bothering with "spell check")
That man is only one of the nasty dems in the Senate but he is the one that loves to get up and talk about others in the most biased and mean and rude ways. He acts like an old person that feels that he should be able to say anything and get away with it.
According to the article, I guess some might admire his "honesty" but I heard him say some very anti-semitic things on the floor of the Senate. Very mean and unecessary comments and when Sen. George Allen asked him to apologize, the dems made such a big deal about Allen's audacity as to ask for an apology, that Sen. Allen ended up looking like the bad guy.
If I were from S. C., I'd be ashamed that I let this man stay in the senate as long as he did.
It's also expensive because the media is where the money goes.
I don't think that the MSM wants to see that biannual spigot of cash get turned off.
-PJ
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