The third kick of a mule

We gave a shout to retired U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings this week to share how two people in Washington have been quoting him recently.

“I must be almost dead,” joked the 93-year-old Hollings, who celebrated a birthday on the first day of the year. “They start quoting you when you’re dead.”

On Tuesday night in Columbia, CBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer was lamenting the enormous amount of money in politics these days and recalled that Hollings first described the vicious cycle that has led to candidates concentrating more on elections than policy. He remembered Hollings telling him, “You raise the money to be on TV, to raise the money to be on TV, to raise the money to be on TV.”

Also this week, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tipped a hat to Hollings by cribbing a frequent education quip by Hollings in a comment about the possible third presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, “I don’t know, man, it’s a free country. I thought there was no education in the second kick of a mule.”

When we noted McCain should have changed it to “third kick,” Hollings roared with laughter.