Senator Fritz Hollings Offers Candid Critique of Bush/Mideast Policy on ETV

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Senator Fritz Hollings Variously Calls President Bush Personally "Engaging" and Yet a "Cancer" and Explains Why You Can't "Force Feed" Democracy in the Middle East During Interviews on ETV's "The Big Picture" and ETV Radio's "Walter Edgar's Journal"

For Immediate Release
June 25, 2008

Columbia, SC... Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings will be a guest on both ETV's "The Big Picture" and ETV Radio's "Walter Edgar's Journal" this Thursday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m. and Friday June 27 at noon, respectively. The programs were recorded on June 16 as Hollings stopped by to discuss his just-released book, "Making Government Work."

During Thursday's wide-ranging interview with "The Big Picture" host Mark Quinn, Hollings shoots from the hip about everything from when government stopped working to his very candid thoughts on President Bush.

· On when government stopped working:

"It stopped working under President Ronald Reagan. I got along with him. He was a good fella, immediately engaged in whatever you were talking about when you went to the cabinet and met with the president… But he started this nonsense of 'the government is not the solution, the government is the problem. Get rid of the government.'"

· On President George W. Bush:

"The Republican President Bush, he's cancer. He is the big mistake."

Hollings later added, "He's fouled foreign policy, military policy, economic policy, domestic policy. Whatever policy you talk about, I'll tell you where he went wrong. You name it."

But by no means does that seem to affect his personal feelings towards the president. Hollings also stated, "I like him personally... He's very engaging… You can talk to him."

Then, on Friday, at noon, ETV Radio's "Walter Edgar's Journal" features an hour-long conversation with Hollings that reaches back to the beginnings of Hollings' career, and his meteoric rise through the ranks to the governor's office and on to the US Senate. He also addressed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and going negative during a political campaign.

· Hollings on spreading democracy in the Mideast:

"We're puffing and blowing about how we're going to spread (democracy)--You can't force feed democracy in the Mideast or anywhere else. In Afghanistan, you think those warlords are going to stop growing poppies when they're making a fortune? And have one man, one vote? It's child's talk. You're killing Americans for that?"

He later added, "I helped liberate Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia 67 years ago, and they have yet to opt for democracy. In the Muslim world, stronger than freedom and democracy is religion. We're waiting for these religions to get together. It's not worth the life of an additional GI."

· Hollings on how the perception of negative political campaigning has changed during his career:

"In the beginning we went stump-speaking and we went from county to county, one in the morning and one in the evening. And we jumped on each other. Ooooh! You can't do that, that's negative (politics)--negative my fanny! That's the way you get elected. You bring out not the good of the opposition, but what he's made a mistake on… and you have to defend your own record."

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.

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Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings on “The Big Picture” set with host Mark Quinn. Click to access hi-res version. Credit: Allen Sharpe/ETV.