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Washington • The public doesn't get it. My party lacks ideas. Activists are too shrill.
Those are not things you normally hear from a politician.
But in the past few months, they've all come from the mouth of three-term Sen. Bob Bennett, who in losing his re-election bid in May seemingly won a consolation prize: freedom of speech.
"The Republican Party is short on ideas," Bennett, a Republican, told NBC News recently. "They're very long on slogans right now, but they're short on ideas."
In May, Bennett bluntly dismissed the idea that he would retire: "Retired people die." Or start a hobby: "I don't want to go off and make ships in a bottle, collect stamps or something of that kind."
Bennett has never been much of a calculating orator, but his off-the-cuff sound bites lately have a new tart flavor, and that his name won't be on the ballot again seems to be a key ingredient.
What members of Congress say and do is often shaped by political reality in Washington and back home, says Curtis Gans, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. When they find themselves in lame-duck status, there's a sense of liberation to throw caution (and spin) to the wind.
"When you are in a situation where you're not running for office, you're much freer to say whatever the heck you want to say because you're not going to be held responsible at the polls," Gans says.
To a degree, Bennett's fellow outgoing senators can attest to that.
"I mean, I'm pretty frank anyway but, yeah, you probably can be a little bit more disarming in terms of what you say," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who is retiring.
Sen. George LeMieux, a Florida Republican who was appointed to the Senate and is not seeking re-election, agrees.
"It is liberating to be able to just know what you're trying to do is do what's right for the people of the country," he said.
Bennett joked with an NBC News interviewer that he has finally hit his "free at last, free at last" moment. And Bennett hinted that he, too, had feigned interest in the nitty-gritty of some legislation, and that his likely successor, Republican Mike Lee, may find himself in a similar situation.
"He's going to spend his time sitting in that chair listening to lobbyists and constituents and staffers telling him the details of legislation, much of which he doesn't care about, but that he's going to have to — at least when constituents are around — demonstrate some kind of interest in, rather than standing on the floor like an ancient prophet declaring the beauties of the Constitution and discovering that he had influenced nobody," Bennett said.
Just off that Senate floor recently, Bennett said he does feel more freedom to speak his mind, though he has been reminded by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that he's still part of his leadership team and they share a goal of electing Republicans.
"There is a little bit of a sense of release that I can say, 'All right, I don't have to temper this in a way that might spin a voter or a delegate in a particular direction,'" Bennett said. "I've never tried to mislead a delegate or a voter, but now I can be a little more blunt with some of the things that I say."
Leading up to the Republican State Convention, Bennett had introduced legislation close to the hearts of delegates: defining marriage as between a man and a woman in Washington, D.C.; seeking to have the census ask about immigration status; and slashing federal spending.
The bills didn't go anywhere and he doesn't plan to push them further (the census issue is moot, anyway, he points out). He hasn't taken a step left, either: The senator voted against President Barack Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, and stuck with Republicans in their recent vote against a defense authorization bill that contained the so-called "Dream Act," even though in the past he has supported the legislation to provide a path to citizenship for some immigrants. Overall, he continues to vote with his GOP colleagues at the same clip as Utah's other senator, Orrin Hatch.
Bennett doesn't think he has transformed into something different than he was before. And Hatch says he hasn't noticed any overt changes since his colleague's convention loss.
Being a lame duck, says Hatch, does "take some of the concern away, but you still have to watch what you say."
A look back Sen. Bob Bennett
R First elected in 1992, Bennett was easily re-elected in 1998 and 2004. But this year he was defeated in the state GOP Convention in May, with the help of tea party activists and other conservatives angered at his vote for the first bank bailout under President George Bush. At age 77, he has indicated he has no plans for future political office. —
Candid Bennett
On the public's understanding of Congress • "They have no understanding of what we do. They expect that we spend most of our time on the Senate floor debating. The image of Webster and Calhoun and Clay changing the course of the Republic with a brilliant speech is still in their minds. Particularly since the advent of television in the chamber, Senate speeches are more and more irrelevant. We are talking to the television camera; we are talking to MSNBC; we're creating snippets to show up in the nightly news that we hope will change the attitude of the people. But we don't make any impact whatsoever on our colleagues." (NBC News interview.)
On the changes in the Republican Party • "As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas." (Speech to Ripon Society.)
On modern politics • "It's more toxic than I would like, and the voices particularly on the right now are more shrill than I would like." (NBC News)