This announcement is good news for both S.C. and public discourse in Washington, D.C. "Fritz" Hollings long ago lapsed into speaking in generally incomprehensible partisan harangues. Maybe now it will be safe to go home again and watch the local news.
U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings will not run for re-election in 2004, the 81-year-old Charleston Democrat said Monday. After 38 years in the Senate, four as governor, four as lieutenant governor and five in the S.C. House, Hollings said he'll end his political career — which spans more than 50 years — when his current term expires in January 2005.It was a decision rumored for months and the future of the S.C. Democratic Party seemingly hinged on his decision. In an increasingly Republican state, the loss of an icon like Hollings will be difficult to overcome.
Hollings’ decision means South Carolina will have lost a combined 86 years of Senate experience, with January’s retirement of U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond who died in June, and Hollings’ retirement in 2005.
via The State
Here's part of what Fritz had to say today:
"Otherwise, riding up here, I saw this state could care less. I just saw Carolina license plates, Tiger paw license plates, they just can't wait for the kick-offs here at the end of the month. They just don't worry about the 60,100 textile jobs alone we have lost since NAFTA. We always brag on BMW in Spartanburg County. Ten years ago we were down to 3.2 percent unemployment there, and now we're at 8.5 percent unemployment. And in the country this is endemic. In the country itself, we don't make anything any more.Posted by Alan at August 4, 2003 05:20 PM"I had to make a talk on trade last week, and I looked it up and found out that at the end of World War II we had 40 percent of our workforce in manufacturing. And now we're down to 10 percent. We've got 10 percent of the country working and producing, and we've got the other 90 percent talking and eating. That's all they're doing.
"And we're eliminating jobs – hard manufacture, service, high-tech – all except the press and the politicians. They don't import us. If they'd imported us, they'd get rid of us, too. I can tell you that right now, because we're not making anything any more.
via the U.S. Senate