Origin of "flamer"?

[Jim Parish]

Just a side note, but some years back I read a book recounting a month
or so in the life of Ed Muskie; the word "flamer" came up as describing
the sort of senator who will not compromise an inch, preferring to "go
down in flames". (I don't recall which senators were identified as such,
but George McGovern may have been one of them.)

Jim Parish

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