Receptions for Senators Thune and Martinez, Jan 4 (first-hand report)

January 5, 2004 | BillF

[BillF]

God bless fine new Senators Thune and Martinez! May God grant them, all of Congress, President Bush, and all our government leaders the wisdom to lead us on the right path!

[BillF]

Awaiting your comments and pictures, if any, from Staytrue.

[BillF]

Thought that you might be interested in the interactions with Steven Moore of the Club for Growth (we handed him an info card about the FR ball and he had seen our press conference) and Senators Coleman and Martinez, both of whom were personally told about the FR ball and their invites to it.

PS. Happy New Year!

[sr4402]

God bless fine new Senators Thune and Martinez! May God grant them, all of Congress, President Bush, and all our government leaders the wisdom to lead us on the right path!

Prayer Bump!

[BillF]

DC Chapter ping with a reminder.

Please order your Free Republic Inaugural Ball tickets by clicking here. See details about the ball by clicking here for the most recent thread .

[AppyPappy]

Kristinn suggested that I should not say anything like that to the Senator on this festive occasion and that Reid might be attending the Thune reception. (I would never say something like that to the Senator, anyway.)

Not surprising considering how shy and quiet Kristinn can be. You'd never hear him shouting to a certain ex-president that he's a "rapist" or "traitor" or anything.

[BillF]

DC Chapter ping with a reminder.

Please order your Free Republic Inaugural Ball tickets by clicking here. See details about the ball by clicking here for the most recent thread .

[BillF]

LOL. Clinton was exactly what Kristinn appropriately called him.

I think that you understand: I wasn't being critical of Kristinn. As indicated, I agreed with Kristinn that it wasn't the appropriate occasion to blast Reid to his face. I did enjoy joking about blasting Reid in-person.

[FourtySeven]

Cool report, sounds like it was a fun day!

[Mudboy Slim]

"Senator Reid (D-NV) (aka Dusty Reid)"

LOL...Limbaugh ROCKS!! Great report...it's good to know folks who know folks...MUD

[MindyW]

Thanks for the ping, Bill. Great report. Sounds like you had some wonderful food....especially the chocolate stuff!

[basil]

I appreciate the ping--thanks!

You guys have all the fun! I'm soooooooo jealous--until I remember that in order to have that much fun, I'd have to live up there--LOL!

[nina0113]

Not surprising considering how shy and quiet Kristinn can be. You'd never hear him shouting to a certain ex-president that he's a "rapist" or "traitor" or anything.

That was his evil twin, Tristan.

[JulieRNR21]

Pinging FL Freepers to read your excellent report; especially the part about our great new Senator Martinez.....!

[zbigreddogz]

Other then the Bush team, Thune and Martinez are easily the two biggest heros of 2004 in my book.

Thune, because he's a great guy and toppled Obstructionist in Chief Tom Dashle.

Martinez, because he's a good guy and because he stopped that terrorist appeaser Castor. Honestly, in some ways, I wanted this one more then Dashle's seat. Castor was just that bad IMHO.

[BillF]

Senators Thune and Martinez were among seven victorious GOP Senate candidates that I contributed to. The invitations were a pleasant surprise, but really just icing on the cake of the smashing GOP victory.

I refused to give to the National Republican Senatorial Campaign for fear that some of the money would go to Snarlin' Arlen Spector. Instead, I gave to individual Senate candidates.

Staytrue had contributed to Thune and got an invitation. He had asked to bring Kristinn, co-leader of the DC Chapter, to help DC Chapter networking with important people.

The other five victorious GOP Senate candidates that I contributed to were Burr of North Carolina, DeMint of South Carolina, Isakson of Georgia, Vitter of Louisiana, Coburn of Oklahoma, and Murkowski of Alaska. Senator Murkowski was already in the Senate, albeit by appointment, such that she was not being sworn-in for the first time.

None of the other new senators have invited me to any receptions, but that's fine by me. They may not have had large receptions or may have limited attendance at receptions to those who worked on the campaign, provided greater financial support than I did, or live in their home state.

The GOP Senate is satisfaction enough for me to justify my somewhat limited contributions to that success. My only regret is that, despite my modest contributions, Pete Coors of Colorado and George Nethercutt of Washington lost their Senate campaigns.

The receptions were not paid for by taxpayers. Instead, corporate and other sponsors paid for the reception.

[BillF]

Relative to the judges, I'll quote a part of the report above:

Senator Thune gave a gracious 5 minute speech, thanking all of us for supporting him. Apart from mentions of his wife, daughters, etc., the single biggest applause line was when the Senator said "and we're going to make sure that President Bush's judicial nominees get a vote on the Senate floor"(paraphrase). Of course, that brings to mind an obstacle to confirmation of judicial nominees who was removed: a person not mentioned at the event, a person sometimes nicknamed "the obstructer-in-chief," a person who no longer would be Senator No from South Dakota, let alone the Senate Minority Leader.

[ken5050]

Whenever W finally gets around to nominating you and Krinstinn for some federal positions, I want a ticket to yourconfirmation hearings...(g)

[BillF]

You think that the Dems would treat Kristinn or me harshly in a confirmation hearing?

I doubt it. After all, neither of us is African-American or Hispanic. :)