Former Rep. Jim Traficant, the expelled lawmaker and renegade Democrat, has died after sustaining injuries in a tractor accident. Many political junkies — this one included — will remember Traficant for his infamous, irreverent one-minute speeches on the House floor, which would often end with an exhortation to "Beam me up," because there was no intelligent life to be found on Earth.
Here's one of Traficant's House speeches, showcasing his brand of right-wing populism, that he excelled at long before the "viral video" ever existed:
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