Posted on 11/30/2004 5:29:19 PM PST by NCjim
Theres an unwritten rule in politics not to kick somebody when theyre 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 wasnt 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 couldnt find him.
However, consistent with senatorial courtesy, Hollings placed the blame mostly on Kerrys advisers and consultants. He was overcoached, he said. They ruined him.
Hollings also disputed the notion, widely reported in the media, that President Bushs 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 Years week, youre $100,000 in the hole.
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.
Gee, wonder what Fritz would have to say had Dean run and lost? LOL
Tis a joy to watch the RATS eat their own.
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.
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.
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.
"I'm telling you son, you miss Christmas or New Years week, youre $100,000 in the hole. You listening to me boy?"
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...)
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.
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