There's little 'faux' about folksy Graham (Lindsey, not Bob) BLUMENTHAL ALERT

The State ^ | 6/1/03 | Lauren Markoe

[wimpycat]

...the one comforting thought I had that day was that some assclowns just bought themselves the wrath of the U.S. military.

I felt the same way about it, which is why on the night of 9/11, I had no trouble falling asleep. (Unlike election night 2000, when I didn't get a wink of sleep!)

[NYC GOP Chick]

Actually, right after the attacks, I went for a week with about 5 hours of sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard and felt the impact of the first plane hitting, and saw the fireballs and the glass cascading down on us. I still don't sleep through the night. And, sadly, most of my elected officials use our security as a political football -- that's why I "adopted" Lindsey Graham to "replace" the PIAPS as my junior senator. ;)

[wimpycat]

Oh my, you were in or near one of the buildings? I didn't know that. Of course you would be traumatized.

Yes, from the comfort and relative safety of North Carolina, I slept pretty well that night, because I knew that all the BS was over, and that we were going to kick some major ass, turn the world upside down and shake it (because the international status quo is what allowed it to happen, IMHO) and nobody would stop us. That's why I slept, because life suddenly became simpler, and because I knew how it would end.

To be honest, the impact of the loss of lives, the sheer magnitude of it, didn't hit me until I saw that 9/11 program by the French brothers on the 6 month anniversary. I mean, I thought about it in a general sense, of course, like anyone would, but it wasn't until I started watching that program, and all the feelings I had started rushing back, that I really cried for the people. On 9/11 I was like, "OK, this is how you want it, huh? This is how you want the world to be, huh?" (Sorta like Al Pacino in "Scarface") And then I began to marvel at the reaction of the American people on the whole. My faith in the American people was restored in the days after 9/11. They piss me off half the time, but when the chips were down during those dark days, I saw what we were really made of.

You made a good choice with your "adoption", BTW.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Yes, I was outside -- a few short blocks east of the WTC -- when it all happened, and I live a few short blocks from there. I wound up having to live at my dad's house for nearly two weeks, although we did briefly come back here the weekend right after the attacks (and I nearly passed out in the stairwell) to pick up some things and make sure that I still had a place to live. So it was very disorienting and unsettling for me. Even after I moved back home, I still slept in my clothes for some time, because I feared having to evacuate in the middle of the night and, once again, having to run for my life.

That first documentary did a pretty good job of showing the horror, but the one that was on HBO shortly before the first anniversary was even better, IMO, in terms of the hideousness of it all. I saw everything -- the fireballs, people jumping, etc., -- except the planes actually hitting, and I wound up as one of those people running for our lives from the debris clouds when the towers came down.

I was also immensely proud of this country and her people, but I also knew that for many, it just wouldn't last and things would go back to "normal" and they'd forget.

I wasn't always thrilled with Graham as a congressman (in fact, I have adopted someone else to "replace" the embarrassment known as Nadler), but I've been very impressed with him as a senator. However, it seems as if just after I sent him a campaign contribution with a nice note explaining why I'm "adopting" him -- to replace the commie hag in the crusty black pantsuit -- he goes out of his way to compliment her.

[wimpycat]

I've been meaning to check out that HBO special, if I can find it to rent on DVD anywhere.

That's got to be tough, actually living through it. You sound as if you have a classic case of post-traumatic stress disorder, but that you're progressing at what seems a normal pace. One day you'll sleep through the night again. :-)

I wouldn't worry about Graham being so nice to Hillary. Being one of only 100, it's not like any of them can afford to snub any of the others, and after all, it cost him nothing to be nice. All he really said is that she actually does work up there and doesn't sit around like the queen bee (like I thought she would). It also helps establish his reputation of being easy to work with and not one to hold grudges, which might make it easier for him to get the things HE wants in the future.

Also, I didn't notice her complimenting him in a similar fashion, which leaves the impression (as if we needed it) that he's the better person. It makes her bitchiness stand out even more. That's the way I saw it, anyway.

[NYC GOP Chick]

If you'll FReepmail me your snail-mail address, I'll send you a VHS copy of the HBO special; I doubt it's available for sale or rent. It's a compelling (IMO) documentary made up of interviews with various people -- Giuliani was interviewed and made key members of his staff available for interviews, including then-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Beth Petrone, a Giuliani staffer whose firefighter husband was killed that morning and later found out that she was pregnant with their first child. They also used lots of videos and still pics from media and people who live and work here, including one video shot of the south tower right after it was hit -- which someone filmed from my street!

As for Graham, it just bugs the snot out of me that when the first article about his collaboration with her on that military bill was apparently dictated by someone in her office to some lazy SOB at the N.Y. Daily News; I used to be a journalist, so I know how *that* works.

And that first article was *so* nauseatingly patronizing, quoting "a Capitol Hill source" (which had to be some clymer from her office) implying that she was doing him a big fat favor by co-sponsoring that thing, and that perhaps she did so to thank him for "taking her husband to task for cheating on her."

After all that, he still is effusive in his praise for her, and it just drives me up the effing wall!

[wimpycat]

Let me check around for that HBO special, because I believe I have seen it for sale on DVD, and I wouldn't want to put you through any trouble.

Yeah, I know, Graham seems "too" nice, but I'm sure he knows exactly what he's doing. Those "I'm just a country boy" types are the ones you really have to watch out for, if you're trying to put one over on them. This is a paraphrase from a southern novel: "Whenever someone tells you he's 'just a country boy', look out! They're the ones who'll smile while they cut your throat and you won't even know he's done it until you try to nod your head." Remember how the press was gushing over Graham in the fall of '98? Remember how they said he was a "moderate", and so "reasonable" and so "folksy" while he was telling them he honestly didn't know how he'd vote (to impeach or not)? They loved him. Then when he sprung his (very plausible and probably 100% true) theory about the blue dress saving Monica, (see the link in post #1) the guys at Salon and Slate were screaming bloody murder and swore he'd "fooled" everybody into thinking he was a "moderate". (I honestly don't know how they could have ever accused him of being a moderate..., what poor research on their part!) Graham claims he really didn't know how he'd vote, but that episode is a perfect example of "just a country boy" in action.

[NYC GOP Chick]

No bother at all for me to make a copy and walk over to the Post Office! And it's especially no bother for a fellow Lindsey Graham fan. :)

I do hope you're right about him, because I just *cringe* when I pick up the paper or read on the web that he's praising her.

[wimpycat]

Is this the video?

You're so kind, and I certainly appreciate the gesture, but it's available on DVD. I didn't know it was so cheap, either. I think I'm going to get this, if this is the same one you're talking about. I've collected various items about 9/11 (including my dad saving for me copies of Jacksonville's (NC-home of Camp Lejeune) Daily News from 9/11 through the next 7 days or so) as well as Life magazine's "coffee table" book, various Time and Newsweek magazines, and some things I taped off of cable news.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Yes, that appears to be the one. It's a definite must-see.

My dad bought a book of the front pages of newspapers from around the country and the world from 9/12 -- and a few "special editions" from the afternoon edition of a few papers. I remember picking up a special edition copy of the New York Post that evening, as I was heading to my dad's house. I still had my morning papers (NY Post and NY Daily News) in my bag, unread. I don't think I ever actually read them.

The only "souvenir" I have of that day, other than my damaged ankle, is an ATM receipt from when I withdrew $100 from an ATM machine in a deli shortly before the south tower collapsed.

The first media coverage I saw of the atrocities was when I staggered into my office late that afternoon, opened my web browser and saw those infamous photos of the Dancing Palis, and then joined a few people in the CEO's office to watch on {gag} CNN what I had seen in person a few hours earlier.

I spent months afteward trying to remember and relive the minutes, hours and day before it happened, when the world changed forever. Only minutes earlier, my biggest worry was that Bloomberg was going to win the mayoral primary and then sink us.

I put up a site of photos that I took in my neighborhood, from 5 days after the attacks through the one-year anniversary: wtcaftermath.tripod.com

[NYC GOP Chick]

I also remember, especially in the first week afterward when I had to stay at my dad's house, scouring every newspaper and magazine for pictures of my neighborhood, street, block and even my apartment building. I can't tell you just how weird it feels to see your neighborhood becoming the focus of the entire world's attention and also to see it so destroyed.