The Best and Worst of the Senate Marathon Debate-Post Your Ratings Here

11/14/03 | wimpycat

[Lancey Howard]

Santorum stole the show.

[Dan from Michigan]

I didn't see it, but the worst was Carl Lenin. Simply because he's Carl Lenin.

[Congressman Billybob]

I agree with both of you that among the best single speeches was Zell Miller's. I also agree with both of you that both Coleman and Graham were very impressive.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, " 'Preserving' the Constitution by Spitting on It," discussion thread. IF YOU WANT A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

[SF Republican]

I didn't watch any of the Democrats, as I don't like unnecessarily raising my blood pressure. I get up and leave the room about half the time the Dems or that frog Dominique de Villepin come on to speak for exactly the same reason.

[blastdad51]

"That screeching coon a$$ woman Landreui. Yuk! The worse! "

Oh no.. if you didn't hear our ( Dumb as a box of rocks) Sen. Boxer, then you just haven't suffered enough. How would you like to be represented by that work of art?!!

[wimpycat]

Although my Senator, Elizabeth Dole, had a well-written speech prepared, she is too Junior League to be a good political speaker. I liked her new hairstyle, though.

Of course, I didn't see hide nor hair of my other Senator, the Breck Girl.

[wimpycat]

The difference is that Schumer speaks in a measured psuedo-intellectual voice while Landrieu simply lost her mind in front of the cameras.

It should be no surprise that it is nigh on impossible for me to imagine Elizabeth Dole or Kaye Bailey Hutchison flinging a fit, unlike any of those screeching harridans on the other side.

[mathluv]

I thought that my 2 senators did good - Kay Bailey and Cornyn.

[billbears]

Although my Senator, Elizabeth Dole, had a well-written speech prepared, she is too Junior League to be a good political speaker

Too 'junior league'? Please, she's been giving speeches at the national level for almost 20 years while she was appointed mandating what we do in our cars. This just verified why she never debated the other Republican candidates before the primary.

liked her new hairstyle, though.

I walked in from work and saw it. I was wondering why they had asked Julia Childs to speak in the Senate

On the plus side, Lindsey Graham was good, as always, and the guy from MN seemed to have it together.

The bad side of it was the fact that it only lasted 39 hours. 51 Senators and all they could muster was a measly 39 hours? Don't hurt yourself there trying to get anything done up there Senator...And people said winning back the Senate was going to do something. Perhaps if we have (as I heard another Freeper say) a 'super duper' majority of Republicans, they would have the guts to do something. No, there would still be too many liberals in the Senate.

Overall, it was more than I expected but less than needed. But it probably met the expectations of many 'conservatives' and that's all they were trying to do, put on a good show.

[billbears]

And to clarify, the points made in the speech by Dole were good, it's just that she didn't, and couldn't, carry them off very well

[wimpycat]

I didn't say 'junior league', I said "Junior League". Don't you know about the Junior League? All those former debutantes and beauty pageant winners, doctors' wives and society matrons and ladies who "do" lunch? Yes, she's a true professional, but her speaking style is...very ladylike, and it suits her. I'm not putting her down or anything, it's just that it her style isn't conducive to red-hot, gloves-off political debate.

I always enjoy hearing Lindsey Graham speak. If I could emulate anybody's speaking style, I'd pick his.

[wimpycat]

That's what I like about you. We all know you can't stand the woman, and yet you're willing to give credit where credit is due.

[alwaysconservative]

Santorum's speech early this morning was my hands-down favorite patriotic speech about why this debate was important, followed closely by Zell Miller, Norm Coleman (tough, smart, and down-to-earth), Lindsey Graham, Hatch, and Kit Bond. Bond was new to me as a speaker, and, I thought, EXTREMELY effective in making his points. I could listen to Saxby Chambliss all day and just not care what he was saying as long as he kept talking. Warner brought a nice historical perspective to the debate, and Larry Craig and Gordon Smith offered good points as well. I didn't see Dole, Sessions, or others, but I felt that the Republicans worked well together as a team and really didn't miss a trick (except for letting Treason Rockefeller get away with finger-wagging, and not being more derisive about those silly charts the Dems put up).

Landrieu was so bad as to be a screeching caricature of a person. She and Schumer illustrate what low-class and gutter politicians look like. Breaux was deceptive, low key, disappointing. Actually, the most effective Dem was Ben Nelson, IMHO. He seems like the only one who isn't back-slapping Schumer and company with juvenile glee at having frustrated President Bush and the Constitution for partisan political reasons.

[MeekOneGOP]

Who were your favorites?

Lindsey Graham, who said that the Filibuster of Judicial nominations are
UN-Constitutional and that he will take the issue to Court !

Was he serious ??

I sure hope to he** he is ...

The Dirty 'RATS !

[wimpycat]

I just listened to Zell Miller's speech for the first time on C-Span, the now famous "lynch" speech which took the Dems over 24 hours to get "outraged" over. If Elizabeth Dole has a "Junior League" speaking style, Zell Miller has the "Southern Preacher" speaking style. His speeches sound exactly like sermons.

[Consort]

It seemed that the Senate TV camera operator gave more and better coverage of the Democrat charts than to the Republican charts. In one sequence the GOP chart behind Hatch was could only partially be seen while he spoke. When his aide lowered the chart for a better view, the camera angle changed and the chart could not be seen at all. We were joking about it in the live thread.

[LibertyLight]

Shillery's Lemon example was about as mickey mouse as it comes....
she said the nominees are 'lemons' - she sounded ridiculous - it was sickening - i really could not stomach anything -
they had appoinment times for speaking - what a joke...
not even all there...
what is this childness coming to?!

[syriacus]

the worst,

One of the biggest charades actually came up soon after the votes

Sen. Pryor of Arkansas and Daschle said (in effect) "we Democrats will support Bush's candidate J. Leon Holmes. Why not agree, now, to vote on him soon?"

Daschle and Pryor neglected to mention Schumer had already back-stabbed Holmes' candidacy.

For Schumer, His Method and Success Draw Fire

It was also Mr. Schumer's staff that dug up controversial information about certain Bush nominees and then disseminated it to reporters and Democrats. Among the handouts were the writings of James Leon Holmes, a lawyer and former president of Arkansas Right to Life, who wrote that conception from rape occurs with "the same frequency as snowfall in Miami" and who compared abortion-rights advocates to Nazis.

A "comic relief" moment was supplied by Byron Dorgan.

Dorgan mispronounced the name of an Ohio town, whose citizens he was pretending to be concerned about. Dorgan said he was concerned because a large Huffy bicycle factory in that town (Celina) had been moved to China. He thought it was more important for the Senators to talk about those folks in Celina, than about Bush's judicial candidates.

He neglected to tell us that the Huffy factory was closed 5 years ago, in 1998, when Clinton was President.

[syriacus]

I just listened to Zell Miller's speech for the first time on C-Span, the now famous "lynch" speech which took the Dems over 24 hours to get "outraged" over

Sowell seems to be thinking along the same lines as Miller

A lynch mob gathers (Thomas Sowell)

Because Justice Brown is black and conservative, she is being denounced as "another Clarence Thomas." Like Clarence Thomas, she is also being denounced as "unqualified" by people who have never read a word she wrote. Anyone who does read Justice Brown's opinions will discover a wealth of knowledge, a command of logic and an unflinching honesty about the law and about some efforts of her colleagues to compromise legal principles.

[syriacus]

Santorum stole the show.

I agree. He spoke very well. He seems to have thought things through and to be honestly telling us what he thinks.

In that way he's similar to Reagan.