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.”
ROTFL! The rats do nothing but raise money! Kerry is one of the wealthiest dims around. What lies!
....In their own back pockets....
Public education has achieved its goal in that district. Smell the irony!
I keep seeing this opinion expressed in one form or another -- it's just flat wrong!
Thank goodness that a majority of the American electorate looked at Kerry head-on and saw him for what he is.
Bingo. About to post the same thing myself. Appointment as the Founding Fathers intended would keep the Senate responsive to the States. And it would be reflective of the political make up of the states.
The Senate has become expensive, arrogant, unresponsive and a body that is darn near unaccountable.
This from Hollings (D-Disney, WorldCom, AT&T, RIAA, etc.)
Check out Opensecrets.org if you doubt how much swag this guy has taken.
"I say, I say...that boy talks so much, his tongue's gonna get sunburned!"
Have they checked Cabela's? I hear he wuz lookin' to git him a camo jacket and a huntin' license.
"Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) — who has made a point of speaking his mind during nearly four decades in the Senate"
You can't tell me that cross-eyed klan kisser has four decades worth of mind to speak!
Hollings is another decrepid waste of oxygen that a good rat could use. According to his definition of "morals", taking money from everyone's paychecks to buy votes with the miserable government health care and education programs makes him "moral". I guess that would make Karl Marx REALLY moral. What a blessing that this old f**t won't be stinking up the capitol any longer!
He refused his government retirement?
On the contrary, Mr. Fritz Leghorn, we did see F'n as himself, and rejected him.
Using a map.
thank God that public embarrassment to the state of South Carolina is gone.
Maybe soon Mississippi will be rid of Trent Lott....and his ilk.
uh, what's wrong with trent lott?
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