Graham aims to tackle 'radical' views [attacks conservatives, defends Big Gov't]

The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC ^ | 10-19-2009

[rabscuttle385]

Some say U.S. senator should focus on emphasizing his conservative record.

BY BEN SZOBODY

The shouts of "traitor" that rained on Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham last week at a local town hall meeting revealed rifts among conservatives that some analysts say might signal trouble for center-right politicians such as Graham.

Political experts say a burgeoning group of right-wing activists long seen as the fringe of the party is growing in influence, fueled by economic fears and populist ire over unchecked Washington spending and magnified by the power of the Internet.

Whether they represent a vocal minority or the seeds of a serious election challenge for Graham remains to be seen, though at least one Republican consultant thinks the state's senior senator has "real problems" outside of just a raucous town hall meeting.

"If he were running right now, he'd be in serious trouble," said Dave Woodard, a Clemson University political science professor and former campaign manager for Graham who said he has Upstate polling to support his view.

Graham, re-elected last year to another six-year term, flatly rejected that idea, describing the crowd at his town hall meeting this week as 40 percent Constitution Party members who are about to spark a "backlash" because of their "radical" views.

"They're a political fringe group," Graham told The Greenville News. "They believe that Medicare is unconstitutional and student loans are unconstitutional. I'm the conservative in the room."

[rabscuttle385]

"They believe that Medicare is unconstitutional and student loans are unconstitutional. I'm the conservative in the room."

Well, they ARE un-Constitutional, Miss Lindsay. And, if you're so conservative, why are you defending leftist institutions? After all, Medicare was created by LBJ, and the Department of Education--including federal student loans--was spawned by Jimmy Carter. Both were leftist Democrats.

[Rastus]

Will all our “throw the bums out” talk ring as hollow in 2010 as it did in SC in 2008?

[Rickcbw]

Graham was always a RINO but lately, he must be getting his kool-aid through an IV supplied by Obamacare.

[monocle]

Lindsey Graham is the soundest argument against big government.

[whatisthetruth]

Why at the age of 52 has Miss Lindsey NEVER been married, does the Obama administration know something we don’t.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX4_rmUY-Rs

[The Cajun]

does the Obama administration know something we don’t.....

My guess is they also have pictures and recordings of what we don't know.

[word_warrior_bob]

He’s following the “McCain Model” to get publicity, bash conservatives, call your party “extremist”, etc., get attention from the NY Times, etc., as the “answer” for the Republican Party.

If he’s the “answer”, I’d hate to know what the question was.

The fact that he looks like an old lesbian doesn’t help him either.

http://menwholooklikeoldlesbians.blogspot.com/

[Rickcbw]

That’s a great question, I’ll bet they do have confirmation on this!

[SmokingJoe]

“I'm the conservative in the room.”

In a room full of moveon.org lunatics perhaps, not in that particular room.

[Rickcbw]

OMG, you're right, he does. That's scary, lol. I also agree that he's pulling the old McCain stunt for attention. What a bunch of kooks!

[nathanbedford]

I agree with you, these massive entitlements, these laws which massively redistribute wealth are unconstitutional. And I have so believed all my adult life. Unfortunately, you and I do not get to declare the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of federal legislation. In that sense, Lindsey Graham is correct, there is simply no realistic possibility that the Supreme Court of the United States will find the statutes to be unconstitutional. Therefore, under the system which has evolved, constitutionality rarely comes into question for any federal welfare legislation.

If these people are indignant today, why did they not take to the streets when Judge Bork was borked? The people stood up against the court packing scheme in 1937-38 but the court did not. Whether the court packing scheme intimidated the court or not, the historical fact is that the Supreme Court ceased applying the Constitution to federal programs for all intents and purposes thereafter.

The civil rights controversies in the 1950s and 60s further cemented the Republic to the idea that federalism was dead. Whatever the virtue on either side of the states' rights arguments, the matter was settled and closed.

It remained only for the Supreme Court to devise ways to get around the limitation of powers on Congress contained in article 1 section 8. That has been fully achieved. There are effectively no constitutional limits on Congress in this arena and there is virtually no hope that the health care legislation will be found unconstitutional, although some provisions might fall for arcane reasons.

I do not fault Lindsey Graham for planting his standard somewhere else. It is hopeless to fight against the federalization of everything; that simply is not going to be stopped now. We federalize thinking (hate crimes), we federalize education (no Child left behind-student loans) we federalize speed limits, we federalize the size of your lightbulbs and the size of your toilet flush, we are about to federalize completely the doctor patient relationship.

But I certainly do fault Lindsey Graham for carrying the standard forward against the Constitution. It was his compromise against the Republican Party with the gang of 14 that wrecked any chances of bringing sanity to selection of federal judges.

Why are folks in the audience beyond the mainstream for asking whether China will fail to pick up our debt? Why is it" alarming " that people ask under these circumstances whether the entire economy will collapse?

It is one thing to reluctantly accept the reality of our distorted Constitution, and quite another to concede that one is out of the mainstream for asking perfectly rational questions. Lindsey Graham has betrayed so many times that he has no conservative philosophy, no constitutional framework, but an ad hoc idea of government which says that whenever Lindsey Graham comes to believe is right.

[Defiant]

Please figure out what the dems have on this guy so we can use it ourselves to get rid of him. I can’t take 5 more years of this douche.

[Cobra64]

Why at the age of 52 has Miss Lindsey NEVER been married, does the Obama administration know something we don’t.....

Just listen to him. I bet he's buddies with Bwaney Fwank.

[bustinchops]

Surely the great state of SC can do better than Graham.

[AmericanInTokyo]

This guy is no longer a Republican in my book, and he ought to just get it over with and make it official.

[antceecee]

Little Lindsey has to go... sorry baby doll your time is up! Don’t call us......

[iopscusa]

Wadda we expect from el douche Graham. Thanks to the brain trust of the RNC, Graham and his baby daddy Mccain were the only Repub choice in 2008,...Graham’s opponent was a DemoRat get-along for Harry Reid.

[Joe Boucher]

Anything not specifically spelled out in the constitution is illegal there lindsey you closet fag.

[dixiedarlindownsouth]

“if they didn’t like his efforts to build a big-tent party they could leave.”

That’s not the way it works around here. You’ll be the one leaving.

[dixiedarlindownsouth]

“The fact that he looks like an old lesbian doesn’t help him either”.

I hadn’t really thought about that, but you’re right! And that cracks me up. Thanks for the laugh this early FRiend!

[RU88]

Shamnesty has got to go!

[Thrownatbirth]

It sounds like he wants to be the Olympia Snowe of Cap 'n Tax.

Maybe he could fit into some of her dresses.

[Markos33]

I'm the conservative in the room.

Lindsay has never been anything more than a towel boy
in McCain's bath house of reach around the aisle, RINO Republican politics.

He wouldn't be the conservative in the the room if
he were locked in a closet with... let's say, Barney Frank.
Well, enough of the brain scrubbing material.
I'll leave it at that.

[Man50D]

say might signal trouble for center-right politicians such as Graham

That's euphemistic spin for socialist.

[Lion Den Dan]

Michael Steel, Mitt Romney and Graham, peas in a pod who will bring the Republican Party out of the wilderness. With their leadership we are lost.

[paulycy]

Michael Steel, Mitt Romney and Graham, peas in a pod who will bring the Republican Party out of into the wilderness abysss. With their leadership we are lost.

Fixed.

[Mouton]

If Florida does not support Rubio in the coming primary, we may get Crist, another Graham who coincidently has the backing of the national party behind him (no pun).

Vince

[ought-six]

That paper said Miss Lindsay is “center-right?” Miss Lindsay is as far to the right as Sonia Sotomayor.

[Condor51]

Why at the age of 52 has Miss Lindsey NEVER been married, does the Obama administration know something we don’t.....

*** That’s a great question, I’ll bet they do have confirmation on this! ***

'confirmation'? hmm, kinda looks like it...

MSNBC: Lindsey Graham Is A Gay
Wonkette Friday, July 25th, 2008

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who definitely talks like a Gay and is very unmarried, is, in fact, one of John McCain’s many secret gay friends in Congress. [MSNBC]

Lindsey's problem is if he 'comes out' he gets kicked out of the USAF. He's a Col. 'JAG Officer'(snicker) in the Reserves. And I *think* he'd lose all Military benefits. Plus a 'Less Than Honorable' Discharge - that ain't good.

[Gvl_M3]

To everyone in South Carolina, do you have the ability to kick him out with a referendum or something?

[upchuck]

I'm the conservative in the room.

Uh-oh. Pandsey is doing standup comedy again. Always gets him in trouble.

Uber RINO Lindsey Ping
"Republican by day, Democrat by night."

Want on or off this ping list?
Just FReepmail me.

[upchuck]

To everyone in South Carolina, do you have the ability to kick him out with a referendum or something?

AFAIK, SC has no recall nor referendum process. Lindsey's antics might produce something.

[My Favorite Headache]

Draw the line in the sand time. Liberals don’t have moderates and DINO’s..neither should the GOP. Conservatives need to rid the party of RINO’s and say only Conservatives are welcome...period. Being a moderate in today’s world means you stand for nothing.

[gwilhelm56]

**Michael Steel, Mitt Romney and Graham, peas in a pod who will bring the Republican Party out of into the wilderness abysss.**

If they hold true to form, each candidate since Reagan they’ve nominated have been noticeably more left leaning..
I’m really afraid that the GOP might nominate for’12 .... EITHER .... Lilly Grahamnesty or OLYMPIA SNOW.

[Mamzelle]

It's not like it was ever any secret in South Carolina. Conservatives voted for Graham believing he was probably homosexual. He certainly has those mannerisms. They believed, also, that he was a conservative.

So if Lindsey is afraid of being "outed" by liberals who want him to play along, he should just come out, bring up the subject himself. Republicans put him in office with the belief already. Then, when he loses huge in the next election, he can blame it on the "bigots" and "white people."

He is truly evolving into the most obnoxious prig. His behavior in South Carolina is nothing short of arrogant. "I've got five years to do exactly as I please." Well, put on a dress and do anything you like. Because five years is all you've got.

[Soul Seeker]

I’m not married. Lindsey has about 20 years on me but all the same that alone isn’t reason for suspicion. Not everyone has an interest in it.

However, I agree there is room for suspicion is his case just as I do Crist despite his recent “marriage”.

For those who say it doesn’t matter, well it does. Secrets being kept can allow them to be controlled be enemies both foreign or domestic. I don’t know if Lindsey’s actions are a result of a form of blackmail or just because he’s your typical garden variety Liberal. It would be nice to know which it was.

[Condor51]

*** It's not like it was ever any secret in South Carolina. Conservatives voted for Graham believing he was probably homosexual. He certainly has those mannerisms. They believed, also, that he was a conservative. ***

That's what gets me. When he was in the House he was a conservative. During the Klintoon Impeachment hearings he attacked Billy-Jeff's witnesses like they were rented mules.

*** So if Lindsey is afraid of being "outed" by liberals who want him to play along, he should just come out, bring up the subject himself. Republicans put him in office with the belief already. Then, when he loses huge in the next election, he can blame it on the "bigots" and "white people." ***

IMO he's really afraid of being *officially* outed solely due to his current status in the USAF Reserves. If he comes out now and 'tells' he loses everything plus getting a Less Than Honorable Discharge. That discharge alone can ruin him, not just politically. So my bet is that right after Obama ends 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', Lindsey comes out of the closet. Then he loses none of his military benefits and would get an Honorable Discharge when he retires.

A few months back there was some moonbat Democrat femi-nazi lesbian from SC who wrote an article where she outed a few SC pols, Lindsey was one of them.

[Rickcbw]

Yes, you’re right that does look pretty darn confirmed right there.... good point!

[KDD]

My pessimism matchs yours.

Instead of recognizing the State as "the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men," the run of mankind, with rare exceptions, regards it not only as a final and indispensable entity, but also as, in the main, beneficent.

The mass-man, ignorant of its history, regards its character and intentions as social rather than anti-social; and in that faith he is willing to put at its disposal an indefinite credit of knavery, mendacity and chicane, upon which its administrators may draw at will. Instead of looking upon the State's progressive absorption of social power with the repugnance and resentment that he would naturally feel towards the activities of a professional-criminal organization, he tends rather to encourage and glorify it, in the belief that he is somehow identified with the State, and that therefore, in consenting to its indefinite aggrandizement, he consents to something in which he has a share - he is, pro tanto, aggrandizing himself.

Professor Ortega y Gasset analyzes this state of mind extremely well. The mass-man, he says, confronting the phenomenon of the State, "sees it, admires it, knows that there it is. . . . Furthermore, the mass-man sees in the State an anonymous power, and feeling himself, like it, anonymous, he believes that the State is something of his own.

Suppose that in the public life of a country some difficulty, conflict, or problem, presents itself, the mass-man will tend to demand that the State intervene immediately and undertake a solution directly with its immense and unassailable resources. . . . When the mass suffers any ill-fortune, or simply feels some strong appetite, its great temptation is that permanent sure possibility of obtaining everything, without effort, struggle, doubt, or risk, merely by touching a button and setting the mighty machine in motion."

The unquestioning, determined, even truculent maintenance of the attitude which Professor Ortega y Gasset so admirably describes, is obviously the life and strength of the State; and obviously too, it is now so inveterate and so widespread - one may freely call it universal - that no direct effort could overcome its inveteracy or modify it, and least of all hope to enlighten it.

This attitude can only be sapped and mined by uncountable generations of experience, in a course marked by recurrent calamity of a most appalling character. When once the predominance of this attitude in any given civilization has become inveterate, as so plainly it has become in the civilization of America, all that can be done is to leave it to work its own way out to its appointed end. The philosophic historian may content himself with pointing out and clearly elucidating its consequences, as Professor Ortega y Gasset has done, aware that after this there is no more that one can do.

"The result of this tendency," he says, "will be fatal. Spontaneous social action will be broken up over and over again by State intervention; no new seed will be able to fructify. Society will have to live for the State, man for the governmental machine. And as after all it is only a machine, whose existence and maintenance depend on the vital supports around it, the State, after sucking out the very marrow of society, will be left bloodless, a skeleton, dead with that rusty death of machinery, more gruesome than the death of a living organism. Such was the lamentable fate of ancient civilization."

CHAPTER 5
Our Enemy, The State
by Albert J. Nock - 1935

It will be nearly impossible to restore the meaning of our Republic as it was created through 1787. People just do not see. The worst chains are self forged and invisible.

[mo]

Pansy Graham is the poster boy for term limits...

[o2bfree]

Graham is such an intellectual reject. He is exposing himself as a liberal, by supporting Barack Obamas initiatives. I hope his staff sees this message—they need to know that we think Graham is a fool.

The voters in SC won’t stand for this fool any longer. We need to harass this idiot everywhere he goes.

[o2bfree]

The National Party needs to sort through this story. Get Graham to swear his allegiance via a voluntary lie detector test, or he should resign.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I'm the conservative in the room.

No, you're the effeminate pansy in the room. The shark that you are about to jump and the bus that you will be thrown under are on their way!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I wish it was literally federalization, as opposed to out-and-out nationalization, so that all this crap would be the jurisdiction of the states again.

[maggief]

Welcome to the new and improved GOP-lite.

(No thanks.)

[maggief]

This goober is gayer that Gomer Pyle.

(Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

[nathanbedford]

Furthermore, the mass-man sees in the State an anonymous power, and feeling himself, like it, anonymous, he believes that the State is something of his own.

Reading Professor Ortega y Gasset puts me in mind of the emotional release and attachment one can find from a group with remarkably strong ties. This is one of the great problems in freeing teams from the grip of cults.

Here is a post in which I think about the political implications of the phenomenon:

Obama: Americans Want to Be on an Environmental ‘Mission’ Thursday, April 23, 2009 1:49:53 AM · 32 of 44

nathanbedford to anniegetyourgun

I think Obama actually believes that the country once summoned will experience a spiritual release through devotion to the environment. This is a little understood phenomenon which motivates liberals in very many of their causes. When the individual surrenders to something other than himself- typically for the liberal that means the "collective," but it can be to virtually anything- he is rewarded with an emotional release, a feeling of integration. This phenomenon has been well-recognized by psychologists.

Recall Hillary Clinton's summons in 1969 for a more "ecstatic" experience. She was trying to articulate the same phenomenon. Think of the calls by liberals in the wake of 9/11 for George Bush to summon the country to a "sacrifice." Instinctively the liberals grope for this emotional experience. It matters not that the summons would have been fatuous. What did they want George Bush to summon them to? To plant victory gardens? to collect old tires? To ration gas? The point, of course, is that the war on terrorism was waged against us to cause us to change our lifestyle. No matter, logic has nothing to do with the emotional satisfaction.

I think we should consider the entire Obama administration to be a mystical call to the nation to join with them in this kind of mystical release that he found as an agitator and group leader for Saul Alinsky.

Yes, we are now being governed as though we were in a giant EST meeting and may God have mercy on all of us.