The most perplexing GOP politician is at it again, this time upending a "bipartisan" energy bill in a fit over Senate Democrats' decision to take up immigration reform in the face of a harsh new law just passed in Arizona, the home state of his best friend, John McCain, who is fighting for reelection there.
Lindsey Graham's decision, which derails planned introduction tomorrow of a climate change bill, cosponsored by John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, is only the latest move in almost two decades of zigzags that can't be explained by ideology alone.
Jumpstarting his career on the House Judiciary Committee by insisting the Republic would fall because Bill Clinton unzipped in the Oval Office, Graham moved on to the Senate as a solid supporter of the Iraq war, a frequent flier there with McCain and an omnipresence in his 2008 presidential campaign.
Along the way, he took flak back home in South Carolina for joining McCain and Ted Kennedy in supporting serious immigration reform and, as recently as this January, was censured by hard-right Republicans there for positions on that issue as well as energy and the bank bailout.
When McCain was choosing a running mate, it was surprising that he considered Lieberman and finally settled on Sarah Palin but seemingly gave no consideration to Graham, whose reputation nationally as a Southern conservative might have broadened the ticket's appeal.
A possible explanation surfaces now with the public pronouncement of an immigration hardliner that Graham is a closeted gay: "Sen. Graham, you need to come forward and tell people about your alternative lifestyle and your homosexuality...I don't care about your private life, Lindsey. But as our U.S. senator I need to figure out why you're trying to sell out your own countrymen, and I need to make sure your being gay isn't it."
If the current political climate were to get any uglier, bludgeoning Graham with rumors about his sexuality this way would be another step down toward the pure politics of personal destruction.
Under this kind of pressure, the Senator's sense of being embattled on all sides is more understandable--and deplorable.
In the light of Graham's situation, Thomas Friedman's proposal today that the Tea Party go green is pure fantasy. The worst elements of the anti-incumbent movement are heading toward blood red.
Showing posts with label Lindsey Graham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lindsey Graham. Show all posts
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, January 19, 2009
McCain: Gone But Not Forgotten
Proof positive that politics is not a blood sport for Barack Obama can be seen in his unprecedented reaching out during the transition for advice and help from John McCain.
Tonight McCain will be guest of honor at a black-tie dinner celebrating Obama's inauguration but, beyond such ceremonial gestures, the President-Elect has been consulting his former rival about potential nominees to national security jobs, in one case even pursuing answers to questions McCain had raised.
According to Lindsey Graham, McCain's close Senate friend, the Republican candidate has told him "many of these appointments he would have made himself."
With Joe the Plumber reporting from Gaza and Sarah Palin sulking in Alaska, Obama has been healing election campaign wounds, not only by dining with conservative pundits, but discussing with his former rival McCain's proposals to cut "corporate welfare," curb waste in military procurement and overhaul immigration rules, according to Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff.
In the months ahead, McCain could turn out to be one of Obama's strongest Senate allies, representing the traditional wing of the Republican Party rather than the extremists who took over and wrecked his presidential campaign.
With Hillary Clinton in the Cabinet, it's conceivable that, when McCain's Senate term expires next year, Obama could turn to him as a replacement for interim Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to complete a truly Lincolnesque team of rivals.
Tonight McCain will be guest of honor at a black-tie dinner celebrating Obama's inauguration but, beyond such ceremonial gestures, the President-Elect has been consulting his former rival about potential nominees to national security jobs, in one case even pursuing answers to questions McCain had raised.
According to Lindsey Graham, McCain's close Senate friend, the Republican candidate has told him "many of these appointments he would have made himself."
With Joe the Plumber reporting from Gaza and Sarah Palin sulking in Alaska, Obama has been healing election campaign wounds, not only by dining with conservative pundits, but discussing with his former rival McCain's proposals to cut "corporate welfare," curb waste in military procurement and overhaul immigration rules, according to Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff.
In the months ahead, McCain could turn out to be one of Obama's strongest Senate allies, representing the traditional wing of the Republican Party rather than the extremists who took over and wrecked his presidential campaign.
With Hillary Clinton in the Cabinet, it's conceivable that, when McCain's Senate term expires next year, Obama could turn to him as a replacement for interim Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to complete a truly Lincolnesque team of rivals.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Lost in the VP Shuffle
Lindsey Graham is in strife-torn Georgia. On every trip to Iraq and all through the primaries, he has been joined at John McCain's hip, a Southern conservative to validate the candidate's on-again, off-again appeal to the Republican Right. Why then, in all the rumor-mill mood swings from pro-life Tom Ridge to who-knows-what Mitt Romney, has Graham been left out of the equation?
As notorious as George W. Bush for his emphasis on personal loyalty, McCain would surely find a peak of comfort level with the South Carolina senator in the Number Two role. Yet it's Joe Lieberman, the ex-Democrat now Independent who will be speaking at the Republican convention and being touted as a possible crossover VP candidate.
It's a puzzlement.
As notorious as George W. Bush for his emphasis on personal loyalty, McCain would surely find a peak of comfort level with the South Carolina senator in the Number Two role. Yet it's Joe Lieberman, the ex-Democrat now Independent who will be speaking at the Republican convention and being touted as a possible crossover VP candidate.
It's a puzzlement.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Politicking Past the Water's Edge
John McCain says he is sending the Curly and Moe of his campaign, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, to the Georgia war zone. To do what?
Their mission, according to the candidate, is to "receive an assessment of the situation and what we need to do in the future, to avoid further escalation, and also to protect the independence and freedom of the people of this brave democratic ally, the country of Georgia.”
They could do that by watching CNN and phoning the State Department, but it enhances the image of McCain as a commander-in-chief dispatching emissaries to war zones to feed into his decision-making.
For a campaign that goaded Obama to go to Iraq and then accused him of politicking when he did, the McCain high command has no compunctions about posturing over dead bodies in a distant land.
Moreover, nothing that Lieberman and Graham could report back would change McCain's long-standing support of Georgia's independence and his stumping now with Cold War rhetoric to emphasize how much tougher he is than Obama.
They used to say American politics stops at the water's edge, but for the Republican nominee-to-be, that's where it starts these days.
Their mission, according to the candidate, is to "receive an assessment of the situation and what we need to do in the future, to avoid further escalation, and also to protect the independence and freedom of the people of this brave democratic ally, the country of Georgia.”
They could do that by watching CNN and phoning the State Department, but it enhances the image of McCain as a commander-in-chief dispatching emissaries to war zones to feed into his decision-making.
For a campaign that goaded Obama to go to Iraq and then accused him of politicking when he did, the McCain high command has no compunctions about posturing over dead bodies in a distant land.
Moreover, nothing that Lieberman and Graham could report back would change McCain's long-standing support of Georgia's independence and his stumping now with Cold War rhetoric to emphasize how much tougher he is than Obama.
They used to say American politics stops at the water's edge, but for the Republican nominee-to-be, that's where it starts these days.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Can-Do Kennedy
Unlike his brothers, Ted Kennedy won't leave behind any soaring rhetoric for the history books, but colleagues in both parties this week are recalling his four decades as the Senate's most practical politician who "routinely reached across party lines on a wide number of issues to cut landmark deals."
In contrast to their public use of his name to signify woolly-headed liberalism, Republicans are talking about the "go-to guy" in getting laws on the books, practitioner of a lost bipartisan art in the era of Bush-Rove scorched-earth polarization.
“He’s a legislator’s legislator," says Sen. Jon Kyl. "At the end of the day, he wants to legislate, he understands how, and he understands compromise.”
“I’ve known and worked with him for 40 years," recalls GOP Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander. "He’s results-oriented. He takes his positions, but he sits down and gets results,” Alexander said.
Jack and Bobby Kennedy were tough acts to follow, and their younger brother turned out not to have their talent for words to inspire voters. In 1980, his attempt to challenge Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination was undone when he fumbled the answer to Roger Mudd's question of why he wanted to be president in a TV interview.
Instead, Ted Kennedy fell back on the old-pol genes of his maternal grandfather, Honey Fitz Fitzgerald, who helped build modern Boston during four decades as mayor after his family came over from Ireland during the Potato Famine.
Now, Republicans like John McCain' sidekick Lindsey Graham are being wistful about cutting deals with Ted Kennedy with a handshake or promise when they hammered out laws such as one on policy toward foreign detainees.
“When we worked on the detainee bill it was just members of the Senate and members of the executive branch literally writing a bill, line by line,” Graham remembers. “He told me it was like the Civil Rights Bill, where you just put people in a room and you wouldn’t let them out.”
When a new American era starts next January, both Democrats and Republicans are hoping Ted Kennedy will still be there to show them how it's done.
In contrast to their public use of his name to signify woolly-headed liberalism, Republicans are talking about the "go-to guy" in getting laws on the books, practitioner of a lost bipartisan art in the era of Bush-Rove scorched-earth polarization.
“He’s a legislator’s legislator," says Sen. Jon Kyl. "At the end of the day, he wants to legislate, he understands how, and he understands compromise.”
“I’ve known and worked with him for 40 years," recalls GOP Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander. "He’s results-oriented. He takes his positions, but he sits down and gets results,” Alexander said.
Jack and Bobby Kennedy were tough acts to follow, and their younger brother turned out not to have their talent for words to inspire voters. In 1980, his attempt to challenge Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination was undone when he fumbled the answer to Roger Mudd's question of why he wanted to be president in a TV interview.
Instead, Ted Kennedy fell back on the old-pol genes of his maternal grandfather, Honey Fitz Fitzgerald, who helped build modern Boston during four decades as mayor after his family came over from Ireland during the Potato Famine.
Now, Republicans like John McCain' sidekick Lindsey Graham are being wistful about cutting deals with Ted Kennedy with a handshake or promise when they hammered out laws such as one on policy toward foreign detainees.
“When we worked on the detainee bill it was just members of the Senate and members of the executive branch literally writing a bill, line by line,” Graham remembers. “He told me it was like the Civil Rights Bill, where you just put people in a room and you wouldn’t let them out.”
When a new American era starts next January, both Democrats and Republicans are hoping Ted Kennedy will still be there to show them how it's done.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Lindsey Graham Soldiers On
One thing about the senior Senator from South Carolina: He’s tenacious. As the prospective running mate of John McCain, he is resolutely optimistic about two apparently lost causes--his Arizona colleague’s candidacy and the war in Iraq.
But here is Graham, back from another trip to Baghdad with McCain and, as other fearful Republican Senators break ranks, practically breaking into song: “The military part of the surge is working beyond my expectations. We literally have the enemy on the run.”
On this trip, McCain and Graham bypassed the chance to go shopping in Baghdad again, but they did have lunch in Ramadi and attend an Independence Day ceremony at which 161 U.S. troops became naturalized citizens. McCain made a speech, and Graham led the new citizens in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Morale was very high," Graham said. "It was something to see."
Back home, his support of the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill has infuriated some constituents as well as Rush Limbaugh who has dubbed him Senator "Grahamnesty," which could lead to a challenge in next year’s Republican primary.
If McCain should turn into Rocky Balboa and win, that would be academic. If not, Graham won’t go down. Ever since he rode Bill Clinton’s impeachment to national recognition as a member of the House Judiciary Committee to replace Strom Thurmond in the Senate in 2000, he has always managed to survive.
But here is Graham, back from another trip to Baghdad with McCain and, as other fearful Republican Senators break ranks, practically breaking into song: “The military part of the surge is working beyond my expectations. We literally have the enemy on the run.”
On this trip, McCain and Graham bypassed the chance to go shopping in Baghdad again, but they did have lunch in Ramadi and attend an Independence Day ceremony at which 161 U.S. troops became naturalized citizens. McCain made a speech, and Graham led the new citizens in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
"Morale was very high," Graham said. "It was something to see."
Back home, his support of the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill has infuriated some constituents as well as Rush Limbaugh who has dubbed him Senator "Grahamnesty," which could lead to a challenge in next year’s Republican primary.
If McCain should turn into Rocky Balboa and win, that would be academic. If not, Graham won’t go down. Ever since he rode Bill Clinton’s impeachment to national recognition as a member of the House Judiciary Committee to replace Strom Thurmond in the Senate in 2000, he has always managed to survive.
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