I know that, in my reduced vacation state, this blog is starting to resemble an obituary page. But I was informed this evening by my colleague Joe Koczera that former U.S. Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama has died at the age of 83.
I'm sure Sen. Heflin had a long and distinguished political career, but like Joe I remember him for one and only one thing: his rambling, doddering, and barely coherent questioning during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, later parodied in the classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch by Chris Farley ("I agreee wit Senata Heflin," said Dana Carvey-as-Strom Thurmond).
Heflin gets credit, though, for outliving Farley by nearly eight years, even though he was born 40 years earlier. That's more than I can say for Frank Sinatra, who was played for years on SNL by the much-younger Phil Hartman, and then died about a month before Hartman did.
Posted by Stephen Silver at March 30, 2005 11:21 PMHeflin had one of my all time favorite lines, after Ted Kennedy was photographed cavorting with a young lady on a boat:
"Well, well now. I do believe that the Senator seems to have changed his position on offshore drilling"
Posted by: Bill McCabe at March 31, 2005 07:35 AMdude, where's your terri schiavo post?
also, did you see south park last night? prescient. and awesome.