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Voters "couldn't find" Kerry, says Hollings
The Hill ^ | December 1, 2004 | Geoff Earle

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.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: demint; fritzhollings; kerrydefeat
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To: smonk
When you have Billy Jeff on the ropes and let him go...something's wrong.

I voted libertarian the last time in Mississippi, just to protest Clinton getting a pass from a Congress that was too chickensh*t to do the right thing.

41 posted on 11/30/2004 8:40:26 PM PST by stboz
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To: NCjim

Gee, wonder what Fritz would have to say had Dean run and lost? LOL

Tis a joy to watch the RATS eat their own.


42 posted on 11/30/2004 9:02:24 PM PST by upchuck (My "just in time" supply chain for taglines is busted. Come back tomorrow.)
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To: Txsleuth
If I were from S. C., I'd be ashamed that I let this man stay in the senate as long as he did.

Well, it wasn't by MY vote that he stayed. "Ernest Goes To the Senate" should have been over with the Panama Canal debacle, but that is the power of incumbency in the Senate. It's sure kept Teddy well enough.

43 posted on 11/30/2004 9:25:57 PM PST by thulldud (It's bad luck to be superstitious.)
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To: Txsleuth

If I were from S. C., I'd be ashamed that I let this man stay in the senate as long as he did.

Texans put the biggest senatorial crook in history, LBJ, into public office so you may want to look in the mirror. I can tell you that the members of this forum werent voting for Fritz.


44 posted on 12/01/2004 3:49:17 AM PST by doosee (Beware the eye in the sky, looking at you,it can read your mind.)
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To: doosee

I didn't live in Texas when LBJ was elected, and I was probably not even born, so I don't think I will take blame.

Besides, it was meant to be a rhetorical question regarding the constant re-election of senators like Hollings, Kennedy, Byrd etc., not an indictment of Freepers. I'm sorry that my comments upset you. I didn't mean to upset anyone.

Are you with me though, about getting these legislators, that have just parked their collective butts in Washington, for you and I to support with our tax dollars, un-elected even if they don't leave? Confusing sentance just now, sorry!

Again, I apologize, it was really meant to be a harmless rhetorical question for debate.


45 posted on 12/01/2004 10:22:18 AM PST by Txsleuth (Proud to be a Texan)
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To: NCjim
FRITZ: "There's just too much over coaching going on"
46 posted on 12/01/2004 10:25:04 AM PST by HoustonCurmudgeon (May God Bless the President)
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To: NCjim

"I'm telling you son, you miss Christmas or New Year’s week, you’re $100,000 in the hole. You listening to me boy?"

47 posted on 12/01/2004 10:28:42 AM PST by Ditto ( No trees were killed in sending this message, but billions of electrons were inconvenienced.)
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To: doosee
>> Texans put the biggest senatorial crook in history, LBJ, into public office so you may want to look in the mirror. I can tell you that the members of this forum werent voting for Fritz. <<

There are some RINOs on this forum who still suffer delusions that any southern politician with an "D" next to their name is "more conservative" than "most yankee Republicans"

Course I live in the damn near communist state of Illinois and Hollings is nowhere NEAR as "conservative" as Senator Fitzgerald (R-IL)

I've even meet a Hollings apologist on FR that practically had Michael Moore's talking points down (Bush is a "puppet" for the "coorporations", cuz Hollings told him so...)

48 posted on 12/01/2004 1:04:48 PM PST by BillyBoy (George Ryan deserves a long term...without parole.)
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To: Txsleuth
Are you with me though, about getting these legislators, that have just parked their collective butts in Washington, for you and I to support with our tax dollars, un-elected even if they don't leave?

Right on, as for Hollings representing the people, his office would not respond to my questions because they knew I did not support his positions. We can all say good riddance to this guy. I agree the big spenders have to be voted out if we are going to have a future.

49 posted on 12/02/2004 2:45:35 AM PST by doosee (Beware the eye in the sky, looking at you,it can read your mind.)
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