UP IN FLAMES?:

Senator Torch (George Will, 9/05/02, TownHall.com)

Torricelli, whose feverish careerism makes him the Energizer Bunny--perhaps the Energizer Ferret--of American politics, also is a human Enron in a year of handcuffed CEOs doing perp walks. His hometown newspaper has demanded his resignation. The largest paper in South Jersey says, ``Torricelli cannot remove the stench of corruption, even if he showers from now until Election Day.''

The Newark Star-Ledger says Torricelli considers New Jersey ``a state of 8 million Tony Sopranos.'' Ouch. Torricelli once said that as a young Italian-American he was upset by watching televised Senate hearings into the Mafia--hearings that ended when he was five days old.

Torricelli calls the gift scandal ``a lapse of judgment.'' One paper tartly called it the longest lapse in history. Indeed.

``Torricelli Charged'' read the 1971 headline in the Rutgers student newspaper. His election as president of the sophomore class was invalidated because of ``gross unethical conduct.''

Having worked briefly in Democratic Party politics in NJ, I can attest that Toricelli was universally loathed. He also wins elections. He's like Dracula--even if it looks like he may lose this race, don't believe it 'til you've driven a stake through his...well, he doesn't really have a heart... Posted by Orrin Judd at September 9, 2002 11:44 PM