Tag: Peter Morgan

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks during the Senate Democrats news conference on tax reform in the Capitol on Nov. 28, 2017.Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images In her farewell speech on the Senate floor, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri on Thursday blasted the body's dysfunction, criticized her colleagues for being afraid to take tough votes, and said there are "too many embarrassing uncles in the United States Senate." "We have too many embarrassing uncles in the United States Senate. Lots of embarrassing stuff." Dec. 13, 201801:42 McCaskill added: "The United States Senate is no longer the world's greatest deliberative body. And everybody needs to quit saying it until we recover from this period of polarization and the fear of the political consequences of tough votes." I believe that we all know well that this is not a normal time, that the threats to our democracy from within and without are real, and none of us can say with confidence how the situation that we now find ourselves in will turn out." Flake, who did not run for re-election after becoming the most prominent GOP senator to routinely criticize President Donald Trump, did not mention the president by name in his address. "I sat there in Africa and read Havel’s speech — an encomium to democracy, a love letter to America, literary and inspiring — and I was overcome by his words," he said. In some ways, that man knows your country better than you do." Flake then turned his attention to some of today's dilemmas.