The Best-Of James Traficant Speeches – Annotated by Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine

At some point, close listeners to C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly" might have wondered: Why have we never done an episode featuring the best-of James Traficant? Well – wonder no more. Because – it's this week's episode! Why now? Two reasons: 1. This podcast is running on May 8th - That's right – Congressman James Traficant's birthday … he was born on May 8th, 1941; 2. We have a very special guest for this podcast … We're joined by one of America's foremost James Traficant experts – he's the editor at large of Reason magazine – Nick Gillespie We mark what would have been James Traficant's 84th birthday by playing best-of clips from his House floor speeches … spanning his 15 and a half years as a Democratic Congressman from Ohio -- then we'll hear Nick Gillespie react to each of them. Which James Traficant clips will you hear? Here's a hint: They all have one thing in common. They all include his iconic catch phrase, "Beam me up." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices