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Former Ohio Sen. Howard Metzenbaum Dies

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Wretched Excess:
Former Ohio Sen. Howard Metzenbaum Dies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, an Ohio Democrat who was a feisty self-made millionaire before he began a long career fighting big business in the Senate, died Wednesday night. He was 90.

Metzenbaum died at his home near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Joel Johnson, his former chief of staff. No cause was given.

During 18 years on Capitol Hill, from 1977 to 1995, Metzenbaum came to be known as "Senator No" and "Headline Howard" for his abilities to block legislation and get publicity for himself.

He was a cantankerous firebrand who didn't need a microphone to hold a full auditorium spellbound while dropping rhetorical bombs on big oil companies, the insurance industry, savings and loans, and the National Rifle Association, to name just a few favorite targets.

Unabashedly liberal, the former labor lawyer and union lobbyist considered himself a champion of workers and was a driving force behind the law requiring 60-day notice of plant closings.

When other liberals shied away from that label, Metzenbaum embraced it, winning re-election in 1988 from Ohio voters who chose Republicans for governor and president, and by wider margins than either George Voinovich or George H.W. Bush.

That victory produced his third, final and most productive term in the Senate. When it was over, in 1995, he started a new career as consumer advocate, heading the Consumer Federation of America.

Story

franksolich:
Oh yeah, Howard Metzenbaum.

One of the wealthiest men to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.

Another one of these liberal Democrats generous with other people's money, but careful to keep all of his own.

By the way, despite that their voting records were Tweedledee-Tweedledum identical, Metzenbaum and Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) were notorious for their acrimony against each other; didn't get along at all.

If I recall correctly, in the 1976 Democrat senatorial primary in Ohio, Metzenbaum beat Glenn (who was elected two years later to the other seat), in one of the nastiest, dirtiest, most personal all-out brawls in American electoral history.

NHSparky:
RIP, Senator Metzenbaum, but you were a tool while you lived.

And here's a classic example of why:

Senator Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn: "How can you run for Senate when you've never held a "real job?"

Senator Glenn: "I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by antiaircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the Space Program. It wasn't my checkbook, Howard; it was my Life on the line. It was not a nine to five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank. I ask you to go with me .... as I went the other day... to a Veterans Hospital and look those men - with their mangled bodies - in the eye, and tell THEM they didn't hold a job!

You go with me to the Space Program at NASA and go, as I have gone, to the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee...and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their DADS didn't hold a job.

You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends buried than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this Nation, and you tell ME that those people didn't have a job?

I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men - SOME MEN - who held a REAL job. And they required a dedication to a purpose - and a love of country and a dedication to duty - that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.

I HAVE held a job, Howard! ---What about you?"

Tess Anderson:
Oh, yeah, I remember this guy. Frankly, whenever I'd hear the name I'd think "liberal Jewish guy who has no business representing a state like Ohio, but he's entrenched in the US Congress". He did alot of damamge to this country, but my prayers are now with him and his family. R.I.P.

PatriotGame:
Another commie goes home to hell.
Hey Howie, say hi to Molly Ivins when you arrive at your new home.

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