Sen. Abnor wasn’t a great speaker and seemed to have a slight speech impediment but I didn’t hear Republicans then say that disqualified him from office. Same with Sen. Johnson.

The issue isn’t how well he speaks but how well he can represent the state. We should be more concerned about his overall health and his cognitive functions rather than if he can rat-a-tat-tat at Janklow-like machine gun speed.

I think Tim should be judged by the same criteria as before the AVM. Is he an effective legislator, does he work on behalf of the citizens, what are his positions on the major issues, can he do the job? If Tim is judged on this rather normal electoral criteria, he will win.

On a personal note, if any of you ill-wishers ever suffer a stroke or other disability and can’t fully recovery your ability to speak normally, I hope you won’t mind if we think you’re now a big fat drooling dummy. That seems to be what you’re saying about Sen. Johnson just because he speaks more deliberately now and sometimes searches for words.