Posted on 05/26/2005 10:23:35 AM PDT by Pikamax
Graham gets heat for deal His mediator role in filibuster drama upsets many in S.C. By LAUREN MARKOE Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — In Washington, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham is being lauded for helping pull the U.S. Senate back from the partisan brink of a filibuster crisis.
In South Carolina, the Seneca Republican is trying to control the damage.
“The calls won’t quit, and they’re almost all against Lindsey,” state Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson said.
Dawson counted more than 900 phone calls to party headquarters in 36 hours — mostly from people who helped elevate Graham from the House to the Senate in 2002.
Graham unleashed this anger Monday night, when, as part of a bipartisan group of senators, he announced a last-minute compromise to end the Senate’s filibuster crisis.
The deal — allowing some but not all of President Bush’s most conservative and controversial judicial nominees a vote on the Senate floor — was accepted by Senate leaders.
But Cheryl Dashnaw, a Summerville housewife and active Republican, is appalled by the senator she voted for two years ago.
“He’s helping the Democrats subvert the Constitution,” she said.
As for Graham’s next election, in 2008, Dashnaw said she will “look at other options who to vote for — but it won’t be him.”
But Graham said Tuesday he expects to regain his critics’ confidence when the compromise results in more of Bush’s conservative nominees winning spots in the federal judiciary.
Underscoring his “90 percent conservative voting record,” he said he disagrees with those who would have him spurn Democrats when the good of the country requires him to work with them.
“I will fight for the conservative cause, because I believe in it,” Graham said. “I will break away when I think the country needs me to break away to find a middle ground.
“But I will not use this job to hate people. There are some people on the right and the left, (who) expect you not only to vote with them, but to hate the people they hate. Count me out.”
In contrast to Graham, Jim DeMint — South Carolina’s junior senator since January — aligned with most GOP senators on the filibuster.
He decried Democrats for using the technique, which ties up the Senate floor indefinitely, to deny judicial nominees a vote of the full Senate.
“The wisdom or ignorance of this deal will be determined by whether the Senate fulfills its constitutional responsibility to give judicial nominees the respect and the courtesy of an up-or-down vote,” DeMint said in a statement.
In heavily Republican South Carolina, Graham this week is booking time on local radio and television stations from Greenville to Columbia, trying to sell the compromise to wary constituents.
Most already know him as a senator who often goes his own way.
Graham made headlines earlier this year as the Republican most willing to work with Democrats on overhauling Social Security. While he has a plan to introduce GOP-favored private accounts into the system, he also criticized Bush for focusing narrowly on the accounts.
Graham also has attracted attention for teaming with each of New York’s Democratic senators during the past two years.
With Hillary Clinton, he worked to increase benefits for members of the National Guard and Reserves. With Chuck Schumer, he is pressuring China to revalue its currency.
Would-be challengers take these alliances, and Graham’s role in the filibuster compromise, as an opening.
Charleston businessman Thomas Ravenel, who lost to DeMint in the 2004 GOP Senate primary, said Tuesday he is seriously considering challenging Graham in 2008.
“He’s the third senator from New York,” Ravenel said.
Asked about Graham’s sky-high approval rating in South Carolina — he is the most popular politician in the state according to a recent poll of S.C. Republicans — Ravenel said he wasn’t worried.
“That’s nothing a little bit of money can’t take care of,” he said, adding that voters need to learn more about Graham’s record.
Graham, however, will count on Republicans like Tom Fort, the secretary of the First Tuesday Republican Club of Richland and Lexington Counties.
Fort isn’t thrilled with the filibuster compromise, but he won’t blame Graham for working with the opposition when needed.
“There are a lot of Democrats in Washington, too.”
Hah! I can just picture Lindsey Graham sitting around, complaining to his staff, "This job would be great if it weren't for the frickin' constituents!"
The evidence is clear folks. He's not really a conservative anymore. He's gotten too fond of the Senate old boys network. Folks, he worked hand in hand with ROBERT BYRD. Nuff said.
Graham sez "my 90% conservative record..." Ummm, what source does that 90% come from?
That's like saying a med is 90% effective against AIDS. Nice, but the other 10% can kill ya.
Lindsey Graham: "Democrat by night" by kos Mon Jan 10th, 2005 at 09:01:55 PDT
Freshman Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has repeatedly surprised as a conservative Republican, but a shockingly rational one. For example, a former JAG officer, Graham has been at the forefront of the Abu Ghraib issue, fiercely criticizing the administration when other Republicans were attempting to justify torture.
Well, according to a former Daschle aide, Graham was quick to work with Daschle and the minority on a number of issues. After one such meeting, Graham emerged from Daschle's office, walked to the door, turned around, and proclaimed loudly for the Daschle's entire staff to hear:
Republican by day, Democrat by night.
[Emphasis his.] Not that Graham would ever switch, because he's actually a legit conservative Republican. But his insistence on "reality-based" politics clashes so often with his administration's policy, that he must often wish he was one of us.
I lost hope in the man when he gave Clinton a pass on two of the impeachment counts.
I hope they throw this effeminate twit out on the curb with the rest of the garbage.
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