That's another bizarro aspect of this. The anti-17th crowd seems to also adore Zig Zag Zell, and heap praise on him as some kind of heroic conservative savior. Of course Zig Zag Zell (a lifelong Democrat, as he frequently reminded us) favored politicians appointing Senators. He wouldn't have gotten a Senate career without it.
If Zig Zag Zell had replaced an Al Franken-type commie RAT, then sure, we'd have to admit that his appointment to the Senate was an improvement. However, Zig Zag Zell fans seem to have amnesia and don't remember that Zig Zag Zell was appointed to replace a rock solid conservative Republican who died. His predecessor Paul Coverdell had a 100% ACU rating. Zell's appointment by evil DemonRat Roy Barnes moved the Senate to the LEFT, and allowed the Dems to take control of the Senate when Jeffords defected and so-called "conservative" Zig Zag voted with his party to put Daschle in power.
You could make a good case that Zig Zag Zell was "the best we could get" under the circumstances, given that the person who appointed him was a scumbag liberal Democrat, and that Zig Zag turned out to be far more conservative than anyone expected, but NOT that Zig Zag moved the Senate to the right or voted with the GOP when it counted.
So basically, a state politician overrides the wishes of the voters who elected a Republican in that seat, appointing a Dem who makes the Senate more liberal. Some "conservatives" here applaud that, and applaud Zig Zag for pushing for it to happen in EVERY senate seat. I swear, some conservatives are their own worst enemy.
I see it as an outgrowth of the dixiecrat/paleocon/neo-confederate faction, it all seems to tie in with that nonsense. A lot of born and bred democrats in that crowd. Andrew Jackson democrats rather than Barack Obama democrats, but still. Or perhaps I should say Calhoun democrats since Jackson stood up to the nullifiers and secessionists and this crowd seems to be down with that.