Why Primarying Lindsey Graham will help move the GOP to the right

COLLINSREPORT.NET ^ | Nov. 16, 2006 | unknown

[jmaroneps37]

After elections, we always hear talk about the voters having spoken and the politicians having to listen, but neither ever seems to be true.

One way for us to be heard is to primary a target that will put fear in the hearts of our enemies. Primarying Lindsey Graham is the way to get our point across and do so without even risking his seat.

The Senate’s RINO herd disappointed us over and over during this past congress, but of all these disappointments, the gang of 14’s is the handiest example of why we have to strike back. This strike has to be effective and done surgically.

DeWine and Chaffee are gone. We can’t go after the others because people like Collins and Juan McKennedy et al are not touchable for one reason or the other.

Our delicate friend from South Carolina is a far different case, however.

Senator Lindsey Graham comes from as safe a Republican state as you can find. We can pick a name from the phonebook and run that person to a victory in South Carolina. This is an edge we have to use to put a reliable conservative in Graham’s seat.

It is approximately 470 days to Primary Day in South Carolina. This is not a lot of time, but certainly enough if the effort gets going soon.

If we can organize a primary for Graham he will either acknowledge it or ignore it. If he acknowledges the challenge, Graham will have to decide whether or not he still wants to be a Senator. If he wants to keep his seat he will immediately start acting like the conservative we voted for in 2002. This would be a great thing and solve our problems with RINO senators.....

[rcofdayton]

In Ohio DeWine was defeated. I did not vote for him nor did I vote for the socialist either. I am happy that DeWine is gone, even at the expense of having Brown. The best way to defeat these RINOs is in the primary, but sometimes that is not a realistic option. Graham must go.

[Phsstpok]

Lindsey was in the House when Clinton was impeached; he did not become a senator until Jan. 3, 2003

I didn't say he was in the Senate during impeacment.  He was one of the managers of the House action of passing the bill of impeachment, the equivelant of the indictment, against Clinton.  Here's what I posted on the subject:

And as to the impeachment, you do remember that Clinton didn't get convicted in his impeachment trial in the Senate?  A good bit of that was because there were things Graham agreed to in order to "get along" with his Dhimmicrat colleagues when the impeachment was passed in the House.  They left out the meat of some of the "secret evidence" (allegedly about multiple rapes by the bent one) that he, among others, agreed to suppress and keep from the public, though House members and Senators could go to a locked room and read it.

Lindsey was among those pushing to suppress the evidence concerning Juanita Broderick and, allegedly, other rape victims.  They left it out of the bill of impeachment, though there was a secret attachment alluding to the evidence and allowing members to inspect it, individually, in a locked room.  They were not allowed to copy any information or even write down notes and they were forbidden to discuss what they had seen and read.  This was all done in the name of maintaining "bi-partisanship" and avoiding any break in the "comity" of Congressional debate so it was left out.

That was the first time I realized that Lindsey Graham wasn't one of the good guys.  Prior to that I'd really never paid attention to him, except to think how goofy he looked when he'd be on TV.

[LexBaird]

....who's idea was the gang of 14?

Satan's.

Seriously, it was a bunch of Senators with Potomic Fever, who cared more about "senatorial comity" than they did about doing what the voters sent them to do. McCain's backstabbing of the chance for a solidly constitutionalist judiciary is totally unforgivable.

[Phsstpok]

The stories I have heard were that they had consultants on the show who worked with Lindsey Graham in the JAG office. They were asked to describe various JAG lawyers for the writers to use to build up the supporting characters. Apparently they had lots of less than complimentary stories about him and those descriptions, which came before he was in Congress, were what they based the character on. His going to Congress had nothing to do with his character being on the show.

I dismissed this story when I first heard it since the show was about Navy JAG and Lindsey Graham was Air Force JAG, but I later found out that they apparently had consultants who had served in each of the services during the early stages of the series.   They wanted to pull a Law And Order and base many of the stories on real cases, so they wanted as broad a base of info as they could get, not just Navy JAG.

Late in the series they did allude to the character of Commander Lindsey having political ambitions, though. That was before he murdered the nasty lady lawyer who he'd gotten pregnant (the actress is the real life wife of the shows star). The murder investigation implicated Harmon Rabb, the lead character, and they used that episode as the pilot for the spin off series, NCIS. They finally figured out who really did it and slimy Commander Lindsey was hauled off to the brig.

I got this from a couple of friends involved in the production side of Hollywierd and it was just a story that they had heard.  They told me about it when we were discussing the producer of the show JAG, Donald P. Bellisario, and shows that he had produced.  I passed on the story of why Bellisario had done the two part episode of Quantum Leap concentrating on Lee Harvey Oswald and insisting that Oswald was the lone gunman.  Bellisario had served with Oswald in the Marines and was convinced that he was bug house nuts and perfectly capable of doing what he did.  That's what elicited the story about Graham from my friends. Apparently Bellisario likes to use real experiences of people, particularly folks in the military, as the basis for his stories and characters.  I wonder if that means he knew a guy like Magnum?

[Alissa]

"he was a leader in the clinton empeachment."

And how did that all work out for us?

Can you say Trent Lott? Lott hung the House Managers out to dry and I still hold him accountable for Clinton not being removed from office. Of course, then we would have had Al Gore . . . that's a toughie.

[Mamzelle]

Gresham Barrett.

[Vigilanteman]

You can't be selfish with Sanford. You need to share him with the rest of the country. You have plenty of good people in the state to take care of things in Columbia.

I hate to say it, but unless Sanford jumps into the presidential race, there is no declared or probably candidate thus far that excites me more than Mitt Romney, at best a center right candidate. While he is far better than Bush on immigration, and certainly a better communicator from what I've seen so far, I really don't see him doing more than slightly nudging the country in the right direction.

Mark Sanford, on the other hand, has the potential to move things big time for the entire country.

[Theodore R.]

Very good. I had no idea that Lindsey Graham was "known" enough in the JAG to be a model for a TV character. I don't remember that character either. I do remember in the first season that Ollie North played himself in a cameo on one episode; that was when it was on NBC.

Very good to know about Bellasario and Oswald.

[Theodore R.]

In Trent's defense, he didn't have the votes, but he did seem to resent the House managers, didn't he?

[napscoordinator]

Lindsey Graham may have a little "Mark Foley" in him.



I don't think he is that bad. Maybe "light in the loafers" perhaps, but a child molester? I won't go that far even if I don't like some of the things he has done in the Senate.

[cblue55]

Graham ran as a die-hard conservative for the senate seat and after elected, - his position quickly went to his head; his participation in "the gang" was totally self-serving - wants to be VP with McCain. As a South Carolinian, the best thing that could happen would be to run him out on a rail! He doesn't deserve to serve S.C.

[joesbucks]

Graham couldn't vote to convict Clinton during the impeachment if he wanted to. He was a representative at the time, not a senator, and was part of the very effective House Managers that led the prosecution of the impeachment hearings.

[scfirewall]

As long as David Beasley stays on the sideline, Lindsey is toast.

I can't vote for beasley and I'm hoping he stays out of politics for good.

[Phsstpok]

The Lindsey Graham story from JAG is just that, a story, but it sure fits. They guy who played the character, W.K. Stratton, was also one of the young pilots on Black Sheep Squadron, which Bellisario was also involved in.

he even looks a bit like Graham

What he looked like in JAG compared to Lindsey Graham around the same time

A younger W.K. Stratton (on Black Sheep Squadron) and a younger Lindsey Graham

  

Close enough to think that the story might be true, but I definitely don't have any proof.  If just fits my preconception of who Lindsey Graham is.

Stratton did a total of 13 episodes of JAG, including the pilot and first few episodes (from IMDB)

W.K. Stratton (I)

TV Episode Filmography By Series"JAG" (13 episodes)

1. Pilot: Part 1 (23 September 1995) - Lieutenant Commander Ted Lindsey 
2. Shadow (30 September 1995) - Commander Ted Lindsey 
3. Deja Vu (21 October 1995) - Commander Ted Lindsey 
4. Scimitar (9 December 1995) - Commander Ted Lindsey 
5. Boot (6 January 1996) - Commander Ted Lindsey 
6. Defensive Action (13 March 1996) - Commander Ted Lindsey 
7. People v. Mac (17 November 1998) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 
8. Baby, It's Cold Outside (16 January 2001) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 
9. Answered Prayers (11 December 2001) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 
10. Code of Conduct (15 January 2002) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 
11. Fortunate Son (18 March 2003) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 
12. Second Acts (1 April 2003) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 
13. Meltdown (29 April 2003) - Cmdr. Ted Lindsey 

Ollie North played the uncle of the blond female lead in the first season and did two episodes that season, playing "Ollie," which clearly was intended to be himself, but with plausible deniability.  He came back for one episode in 2002, as well.

I really miss that show.  It appears they're doing a Quantum Leap TV movie follow up.  Maybe they'll do one for JAG in a few years.
 

[Optimist]

not so much a liberal as he is a "grandstander".

I think the proper word to describe Graham and McCain is "populist" ...

[Soul Seeker]

He has a conservative rating of 90+%, but is a RINO because he dared to actually work with the other side of the aisle...to free up judicial nominations for the President. Horrors!

Tell that to the people that have not been given the right of a vote, or the judges he himself has tried to torpedo because his buddies at JAG have a grudge. Better yet, try telling the damn truth instead of stating what we all know to be a lie.

He did NOT free up Judicial nominations. he cemented their blockage by allowing only a few to pass through. Why? Because with the high profile "catholic", "Women" and "Minority" passed along it made it easier for the Dems to block everyone else. What he did was calculated to NOT allow good judges passage and it is very much to blame with why the President tried to shove Miers down our throat because the Senate Republicans had signaled an "Alito" would be unacceptable with that Judas pact.

And last I checked, Americans agreed with the CONSERVATIVES on this issue so damn much they voted for Bush in 2000, 2004, and it won the GOP 2002 and 2004 with this, aside from the WOT, as the central platform. Conspiculously they LOST this cycle, and it wasn't their central platform. Huh. Funny how that works. Even more conspicuous is the fact DeWine's son, and then DeWine, both lost by fairly wide margins over this issue.

That ANYONE would even attempt to sell the fabrication, on a conservative board no less, that constitutional judges is NOT a winning issue for the GOP and sabotaging constitutional judges is something Americans would look fondly at....Truly delusional.

[Soul Seeker]

Anyone put up against Graham for s primary challenge will be subject not only to virtiol from the left, but from the
"CREW" calling themselves our representatives in Washington. Not only will the candidate have to be prepared for that, voters will have to be prepped as well. They have to be prepped not to succumb to the fear ploy that we "need" linds if we don't want to remain in the minority. They have to be prepared for Dems and YES the RNC recruiting DEM voters to jump into the primary. Conservatives in South Carolina have to be prepared to turn in force and ignore even the President himself when he says this turncoat deserves their vote.

The RNC will use every dirty trick in the book, their GOTV registry, and the funds voters gave them in good faith against them.

Learn from Specter and Chafee. I you do this (and I want you to), you need to commit to it and not fail to anticipate the GOP does NOT want this RINO gone. If RINO's in conservative states can be toppled, it signals all RINO's on conservative states can no longer play both aisles. Until now, many have. Hard enough to get conservative advancement with Lib Reps in Lib states, or Reps in swing states, impossible when Reps vote lib in conservative states. Worse for the "establishment", is that a conservative Republican can win in a conservative state. That means a pickup for conservatives if the RINO is toppled.

And for folks that don't give a damn about conservatisism and always ply their fear trade we can't risk "losing" this race so we hafta vote for the McCain butt kisser? Look at Chafee and DeWine. We don't HAVE to vote for them at all. I'd think you'd prefer the just desserts being delivered in a primary, then risk losing the General with conservatives refusing to vote for Linds in a state we should get anyway. For an example, look at Alaska. Kicked out their RINO Governor and got a conservative elected in his place.

BTW, anyone wanting to take on Hagel has my support as well.

[MACVSOG68]

Tell that to the people that have not been given the right of a vote, or the judges he himself has tried to torpedo because his buddies at JAG have a grudge. Better yet, try telling the damn truth instead of stating what we all know to be a lie.

I enjoy challenges by those intellectually unprepared.

You don't like him holding up one nomination because he believed the nominee was unqualified? I assume you had the same concern when Brownback held up a Bush nominee to the court named Janet Neff because (horrors), she doesn't hate gays and lesbians. Or how about Brownback's hold on Julie Finley to be US Ambassador to The European Organization for Security and Cooperation, because she is pro-choice? Would you like a few more examples? And these differ from Graham's hold, how?

He did NOT free up Judicial nominations. he cemented their blockage by allowing only a few to pass through. Why? Because with the high profile "catholic", "Women" and "Minority" passed along it made it easier for the Dems to block everyone else.

And who have the Dems Blocked? The agreement required that the Gang of 14 agree that a nominee was completely outside the norm. (extraordinary circumstances) Who has that been?

to date the Senate has confirmed 257 of Bush's judicial nominees, and 53 out of 82 in the 109th Congress. Of the remaining, 15 are awaiting committee hearing to be scheduled by Specter, and 14 are awaiting a vote from the floor, to be scheduled at some date. Actually, it's a better record than Clinton got, at least so far. So which of those 29 are being held up by the extraordinary circumstances clause? There are also a number of circuit and district vacancies without even a nomination yet.

So you consider Owens, Cavanaugh, Pryor, Brown, and Alito the "chopped liver" nominations? How about the rest of those confirmed?

And last I checked, Americans agreed with the CONSERVATIVES on this issue so damn much they voted for Bush in 2000, 2004, and it won the GOP 2002 and 2004 with this, aside from the WOT, as the central platform.

Well, along with those pesky old promises of tax reform, balanced budget, immigration reform, social security reform, real energy reform, and a few little things like that...

So what happened in 2006? Voters get tired of stem-cells, gay marriage, Terri Schiavo, etc?

That ANYONE would even attempt to sell the fabrication, on a conservative board no less, that constitutional judges is NOT a winning issue for the GOP and sabotaging constitutional judges is something Americans would look fondly at....Truly delusional.

Perhaps, though I do question the term "conservative" since some here wouldn't know what the term really means if their lives depended on it.

Thank you for reminding me why we lost the election...

[The Old Hoosier]

He also won't be able to help McPain as much if he feels Ravenel breathing down his neck.

[night reader]

Lott hung the House Managers out to dry and I still hold him accountable for Clinton not being removed from office. Of course, then we would have had Al Gore . . . that's a toughie.

T'would have been a major improvement. Gore would have been as enfeebled and impotent as Jerry Ford. A few months and then a Pubbie President... maybe someone to the right of Bush.