It is perhaps ironic that while his buddy McCain is struggling so, Lindsey Graham is coasting to easy re-election. Of course, if McCain only had to win South Carolina, he’d be sitting pretty, too. (Although I don’t for a moment believe he’ll win by 20 points, as that poll said the other day.)
Anyway, for your perusal, here’s our endorsement of Graham from today’s paper.
And just to give y’all a little extra something for coming to the blog, here’s a video clip from an interview we had with Sen. Graham in our offices on Oct. 6. This was just before the second presidential debate — in fact, the senator was on his way to Nashville to help McCain with debate prep — and I had just asked him about Sarah Palin. Essentially, I’d aked why her and not Joe Lieberman, and did he not think she had hurt the ticket?
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What a shame this mealy-mouthed sell-out RINO didn’t have some strong competition in the primary. He is an incumbent, and it didn’t take him long to start representing his party and Washington instead of South Carolina.
Never. Ever.
His stance on amnesty for illegal immigrants is all it took for me. A lawyer who ignores the basic rule of law is the biggest hypocrite in the Senate.
If he didn’t have a $4 million dollar campaign war chest (where DOES that money come from anyway?), he’d be toast.
I will be voting for Conley as a vote against Graham.
Wow. Remarkable video. Graham made a precise, resonant case for a McCain/Lieberman ticket. And then he flopped around in a resigned, lukewarm show of support for Palin. Amazing.
And let’s never forget that John McCain hasn’t got the guts now to even mention the immigration bill he and Senator Graham came up with. That was after the two senators basically accused anyone against amnesty for illegal immigrants as racists.
Remember that when you pull the lever for Senator Graham. If you think crossing the border illegally to enter the United States does not entitle a person to special benefits, you are a racist.
Muy loco!
He may cruise to easy victory next week, but it will be without any help from me. I intend to vote a republican ticket because I think republicans best represent my values and would best guide my country.
Republicans except for snake in the grass Lindsey Graham that is. In that particular race I will vote for the democrat challenger if there is one, no matter who it is. If there isn’t one, I won’t cast a vote.
I absolutely detest Graham. I hope he is sent back to Spartanburg or wherever the hell he’s from next Tuesday.
David
Lots to chew on in that video, Brad! Loved Graham’s line, “She came literally from the farthest corner of America…nobody knew her…” I guess that “nobody” would have to include John McCain! So much of Graham’s defense of Palin sounds so ironic, especially in light of the friction now coming to light as the camps of the two GOP nominees start pointing fingers at each other.
I hope you get the chance to ask him again about Palin at some future date after the election, when he might be a little more revealing.
My absentee ballot, already cast, filled in the ovals for both Obama and Graham.
I am no fan of Lindsey Graham, if for no other reason than he often embarasses South Carolina when he talks to the media (not to mention that “Obama, Osama, Chelsea’s Momma” sign). But after viewing the senatorial debate between Graham and his challenger Bob Conley on ETV a couple of weeks ago, this was an easy choice. Conley is more conservative than Graham (which to me is a positive, although I understand it’s causing some consternation among SC Republicans) on many issues.
Is it only in SC that the more liberal candidate runs as a Republican while the conservative is a Democrat?
Lee,
Your dislike of Graham is, as far as I am concerned, a strong endorsement for him. Nevertheless, he is still a member of the party in power that has spent us into the financial crisis–not to mention two interminable wars–in which we now currently find ourselves. At least Russia didn’t have to drive too far to get to Chechnya and Georgia.
I will vote a straight Democratic ticket. BTW, I like the idea of spreading the wealth around. FDR was accused of the same thing in his day when he inaugurated social programs and new government agencies that, even if they did not immediately get us out of the Great Depression, at least gave Americans hope, work, and food in a time when people were despairing after four years of the Republican approach to the Depression under Hoover.
While I do not believe we are headed for a Depression on that scale, we probably will experience a recession similar to the one Carter inherited. Keep in mind that oil price jumps in the 70s contributed mightily to the recessions of the day.
While our subprime mess, government overspending on Republican wars, and failure to deal with the health care crisis already severely weakened an economy headed downward, the weak dollar and the soaring price of oil administered the coup de grace–all on a Republican watch!! Wonderful to behold!
The Republicans are going to get spanked on Tuesday as this country decisively moves leftward in what I believe will be a generational shift. The average American knows that somebody is getting rich, and he or she is not that person.
The American economy has sometimes been compared to a poker game. The vast majority of us are like the players who consistently have losing hands and go in the hole to keep playing, while the rich–those very few who hold all the winning cards–just keep on getting richer. Problem is, the game ends when we all go bust and the rich have everything and we have nothing.
It’s not in the interest longterm of the wealthy to force the average American out of the game. If we cannot continue to borrow, buy, consume, and pay, then the economy collapses. In whose interest would that be??
Vote Obama and spread the wealth around. I.e., maintain Medicare, Social Security, public schools, subsidized health care, social programs, and a military establishment that schools and prepares a large number of young Americans for adult life.
That’s not socialism; that’s FDR’s New Deal common sense.
Gosh, Rich, you’re gonna vote a straight Democratic ticket?
You don’t know one single solitary soul whose value outweighs the party label?
Speaking as a fiscal conservative who never voted a straight ticket in his entire life, I never would have believed you, if I hadn’t heard it here first.
Here on Brad’s blog, where the McCain faithful pay homage to Obama, where America comes to die.
The New Deal was socialist, because most of its ideas were recycled from Mussolini and Hitler.
Hundreds of top bureaucrats for FDR were communists and fascists (not much difference).
The WPA and CCC work camps were run by the U.S. Army.
That’s the Depression and opression that Obama wants to us to relive, because of all the POWER that FDR had.
Jimmy Carter did not inherit a recession.
Jimmy Carter inherited some inflation left over from Johnson’s run up of debt to pay for escalation of the War in Vietnam and the Great Society.
Economic growth eroded under Carter and hovered near zero, while inflation averaged over 12% and checking accounts were paying 21% interest. Mortgages with good credit were 14%.
Reagan cleaned it up and created a boom that Clinton rode into the ground with tax increases on the middle class families. The only good thing Clinton did was cut capital gains taxes to 14% (“for the rich”), because the press would not complain about a Democrat doing it.
It was only the partial rollback of the Clinton taxes by Bush in 2001 which ended the Clinton Recession of 2000.
Just a little sidenote here. Mr. Gaffe, Joe Biden let the cat out of the bag during an interview in Pa. Referencing the tax cuts put forth by Mr. Obama, he, Joe Biden placed the income tax threshold at $150,000, not the $250,000 so prominently used during this campaign season. His staff then tried to explain that those making between $150k and $250k will not get a tax cut but won’t pay higher taxes either. A little point Mr.Obama conveniently forgot to mention. And I would imagine a sizeable number of Obama supporters fall within that income range.
Well, the middle class participants in the Obama tax cuts suddenly grew smaller after the Biden clarification. And if you consider that come 2010, the Bush tax cuts will disappear, everyone’s taxes will increase by a considerable amount – across the board.
So, combined with Obama’s added taxes on the 5% plus the influx of a “no tax increase tax increase by default”, once again, we have the priviledge of witnessing a shell game accompanied by smoke and mirror illusion of typical campaign promises.
I surmise for those who favor higher taxes, this minor detail is of no consequence but consider this. With the economy in the tank for now and a forecast of at least 18 to 24 months before we see a recovery, how many of those enjoying the $250k and over threshold will find ways to slip into a lower bracket or use legal ways to shelter their income?
At some point new programs must have a recognizable source of funding, if you actually believe in a politicians economic prowess. When the funding source diminishes in size, where does the government turn for the money? If you guessed the middle class, pat yourself on the back. In the end, thats about all it will be worth anyway, a pat on the back.
For a point of clarification, all of my information was taken from a WSJ article and paraphrased. I know, I know, its a Rupert Murdoch rag, not worthy of reading except by those FOX people.
Democrat’s Movement to Scrap 401-k Plans Gains Traction
http://abcnews.go.com/
Business/PersonalFinance/story?id=6122417
I’d like to hear Conley and Graham discuss this.
The Ted Stevens situation is remarkable. Here we have a convicted felon running for a 7th term in the senate. Republicans in Alaska cannot replace him on the ballot so they support his candadicy with a lukewarm promise to replace him later. The spin is they don’t want the Democrats to increase their majority in the senate. In an odd twist on this whole debacle Stevens may not be eligible to vote for himself. Yet he can serve if elected. What kind of crazy system do we have?
Isn’t it clear by now that the Democrats, as a whole, are far more ethical than the Republicans? It is amazing how many elected GOP officials end up on the wrong side of the law. Yet they claim to be the party of family values. They claim that Obama’s ethical credentials are somehow tarnished because he served on a board with Bill Ayers 13 years ago while ignoring the many, many, many ethical lapses of McCain/Palin (Keating/McCain’s adultery/Troopergate/Alaska Independence movement, etc., etc.) This is laughable. The GOP has become nothing more than a gutter organization designed to rule by fear and intimidation. It’s time to vote for Democrats so this whole mess can be cleaned up. Too bad Graham doesn’t have a good challenger. He needs to be booted along with the rest of the sorry bunch of neo-con boobs.
Bud, I think Graham is ethical and driven by principle unlike most in his party. (If he had a better challenger I’d probably have voted for that challenger, though.)
Even though I disagree with Graham on probably 85% of issues, especially the neocon imperialist views etc., my thinking was this: we have a two-party system in this country. There are going to be Republicans in Congress whether we like it or not (!)…If that’s the case, I’d feel better knowing that a higher proportion of those were made up of folks like Graham, who can work across party lines, and who does understand somewhere in his heart that not all means are justified by the ends, not if we still want to say we’re living by American principles.
The Fat Lady has NOT sung yet. Rasmussen shows the race 50-47 Obama with many states running close. It’s not time to get complacent Democrats. The last thing we need now is to get too cocky and allow 4 more years of bad Bush policies. Get out and VOTE!
Bud,
Relax. It’s going to be a blowout of epic proportions.
Then the real fun will begin.
We’ll see the usual excuse:
It’s the media’s fault (except for #1 Fox News, #1 Rush Limbaugh, and #1 Drudge Report)
Then we’ll witness the bloodletting in the Republican Party. McCain will be (rightfully) thrown under the bus. Palin will think she has some sort of mandate and then crash and burn and wind up on Fox News with her own show.
Obama will find out that Audacity of Hope will morph into the Audacity of Thinking You Can Change Washington. Hard working Americans better be prepared to get screwed royally over the next four years.
Hopefully, we will see the split in the Republican Party result in the rise of a third party based on core conservative principles. But I doubt it. It probably will just get worse. It will probably take a Depression to shake out the parasites who live on both sides of the government re-distribution of wealth system that rewards the lazy as well as the politically connected rich people.
I wonder if all the current White House employees will be removing the “O” from their keyboards like Clinton-ites did by removing the “W”‘s.
Send a message Tuesday: Vote for None of the Above!
bud, not reading too much into the polls, I can’t recall at this moment where I read it but apparently, some of the moderate liberal elements of the media are starting to ask questions they did not ask before. Not making a judgement one way or the other in reference to the two interviews with Biden in Florida and Pa recently, but some broadcast outlets are now asking questions that have been buzzing about the internet for a long time.
And, in light of the recent Obama videos where he has made some rather decidedly socialist comments, these too have started to make the rounds on the internet and with undecideds and slightly left leaners. Along with the Joe the Plumber dust up, apparently the impact is just now starting to show up in the polls.
America is still a center to center right nation and for many, they are just now starting to look at the candidates in a serious manner. No judgement on those who wait until the last moment, but I have a distinct impression that this is something more people are doing now than in the past elections.
I think some are taking a look at the last two years as well and taking into consideration the palpable anger and dissatisfaction with congress as a whole and Bush in particular. Given the condition of the economy as we speak, it does not surprise me that at this point we are seeing a break in McCain’s favor. Not that he has the answers either but allowing for the natural tendency of the electorate to be to the right of the center, socialist policies are not generally welcome as an overall governing policy.
However, there are still five days until Tuesday. As the old adage goes, in politics, five days is a lifetime.
Just a few random thoughts.
Speaking of ethics, bud, a partial list of deaths and near-deaths associated with your darling ex-president, Slick Willie, follows, so, no, it is not in the least apparent that Democrats are more ethical.
After the lengthy Clinton death list, I have briefly explored recent ethics violations by your Democrat heroes.
In cases brought before the House Ethics Committee from 1856 through 2004, Democrats charged with ethics violations outnumber Republicans 68-34.
——————
CLINTON DEATHS, NEAR-DEATHS
Susan Coleman – Reportedly pregnant after an affair with Clinton in late 1970s. Becoming a campaign issue in a Clinton election bid. Found dead with a gunshot wound to the head at 7 1/2 months pregnant.
Victor Raisner – National Finance Co-chair of Clinton for president. Died in an airplane crash on July 30, 1992.
R. Montgomery Raisner – Involved with Clinton campaign. Died in airplane with Victor.
Paul Tulley – Democratic National Committee. Dead from unknown causes in hotel room Sept. 24, 1992.
Paula Gober – Clinton speech interpreter died in a car accident on Dec. 9, 1992.
Jim Wilhite – Associate of Mark McClarty’s former firm. Died in a skiing accident on Dec. 21, 1992.
Steve Willis, Robert Williams, Todd McKeahan, Conway Lebeau – Clinton bodyguards killed in Waco Dec. 28, 1992.
Brian Hassey, Timothy Sabel, William Barkley, Scott Reynolds – Clinton escort/bodyguards died in a helicopter crash May 19, 1993.
Vincent Foster – Whitehouse Deputy Counsel and personal friend of the Clintons. Apparent suicide. Died from a gunshot wound to the mouth on July 20,1993.
Jon Parnell Walker – Investigator for the RTC looking into the linkage between Whitewater and Madison S&L. Fell from the top of the Lincoln Towers bldg. on Aug. 15, 1993.
Stanley Heard, Steven Dickson – Members of the Clinton health care advisory committee. Died in a plane crash Sept. 10, 1993.
Jerry Parks – Chief of security for Clinton’s National Campaign headquarters in Little Rock. Generated an extensive file on Clinton’s affairs in the 1980s. Bullet ridden body found on Hwy 10 outside Little Rock on Sept. 26, 1993.
Ed Willey – Clinton fundraiser died of self-inflicted gunshot wound Nov. 30, 1993.
Candy Baugh – Lasater’s attorney committed suicide on Jan 8, 1994. Baugh’s partner committed suicide on Feb. 8,1994.
Herschell Friday – Member of presidential campaign finance committee. Died in an airplane explosion on March 1, 1994.
Ronald Rogers – Died on March 3, 1994 just prior to releasing sensitive information to a London Newspaper. Undetermined cause of death.
Kathy Ferguson – 38 yr. old hospital worker whose ex-husband is co-defendant in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. Held information supporting Paula’s allegations. Died of an apparent suicide on May 11, 1994 from a gunshot wound to the head.
Bill Shelton – Arkansas police officer was found dead of an apparent suicide on Kathy Ferguson’s (his girlfriend) grave on June 12, 1994 from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Stanley Huggins – 46 yr old principal in a Memphis law firm who headed a 1987 investigation into the loan practices of Madison Guaranty S&L. Died in Delaware in July 1994, reported cause of death was viral pneumonia.
Calvin Walraven – 24 yr old who was a key witness in the trial of Jocelyn Elder’s son’s drug case. Was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head.
Paul Olson – was a key Federal witness in several Chicago drug trials. Died in a Sept 8, 1994 USAir airplane crash while returning from being interviewed for two days by federal investigators.
Now, the survivors:
Gary Johnson – Former Attorney for Larry Nichols who videotaped Clinton entering Jennifer Flowers apartment on numerous occasions. Nearly beaten to death with dislocated elbows and ruptured spleen.
LJ Davis – Investigative reporter who had information in the inner workings of the Rose Law Firm was viciously beaten on Feb. 1994.
Dennis Patrick – Involved with multi-million dollar transactions with Lasater’s firm. Survived 3 attempts on his life.
Larry Nichols – Star of the Clinton Chronicles tape. Has received numerous death threats.
Darlene Novinger – Former FBI operative who holds sensitive information on the current and previous administrations’ drug operations. Husband was murdered in March 1987 when she went public with initial reports. Her father died July 8, 1993 four hours after Darlene was a guest on the Tom Valentine show.
—————–
PELOSI ET AL
USA Today reported in 2007 that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, fourth-ranking House Democrat Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh all failed to disclose they are officers of their family charities, exactly the charge they went after Tom DeLay about.
The Democrats’ claim that this Congress would be history’s most open and honest also came from the pre-1994 Congress, and a number of them ended up in prison.
Thanks for the kind words about the video. I thought it was pretty good myself. Maybe I should make up some ads to promote it, with those partial review quotes, such as "Wow. Remarkable video…" and "Lots to chew on…" and "I laughed, I cried…" (I had to throw in that last one for form’s sake.)
It’s not a bit surprising Graham would sound more convincing talking about a McCain/Lieberman ticket. Those guys are the three amigos. For instance, you know that Colombian Free Trade Agreement I keep talking about, much to y’all’s consternation? The three of them went on one of their road trips down there over the summer to promote that deal — but got overshadowed by the "Ingrid" rescue.
No doubt I would sound a lot more convincing to some of y’all in endorsing McCain if Lieberman were on the ticket. Joe’s my main man, as y’all know. There would be nothing anybody could say against a ticket like that that would hold much water with me. Gov. Palin is a liability. She’s not a deal-breaker for me, but she’s a liability. Poor woman — I think she was happy up there in Alaska, popular with the voters and all that (if not so much with the caribou). Now she has to run this gantlet between besotted, unruly admirers on one hand and cascades of calumny on the other. She’s become the punch line of a bitter joke, and I hate to see that happen to anybody. Then again, maybe she doesn’t mind it as much as I would.
> Those guys are the three amigos.
Exactly.
Did their trip to Colombia include distributing pamphlets with the best border crossing locations and maps to the the chicken processing plants in Greenville?
Good ole p.m. He brings up the looooong discredited Clinton death list. Liberals have their conspiracy theories but apparently this game is a bi-partisan affair.
And why did the endictment list stop at 2004? Hmm, I wonder. During the last 4 years the GOP wins this contest in a landslide.
Those Clinton associates are as dead as many of the Obama voters.
The indictment list doesn’t stop at four.
I have been keeping a list since 1992 of convicted Clinton and Gore staffers and fundraisers that long ago started approaching 100. Remember Maria Schia and Charlie Trie?
I was in the FBI building when Trie called from the airplane to say he was coming back to the US to testify against Clinton. The agents were flying out of there to the airport to make sure he didn’t end up like Vince Foster.
Lee, what were the charges against you?
Did they sweat you down while you were in FBI custody? I bet you didn’t break.
The sad thing about you, James, is that you think it is clever to not post anything but childish insults. Democrats love uniformed voters like you.
Wow, you caught me, Bud. Through 2008, the House Ethics committee has tried a Democrat 68 times and a Republican 37 times.
I left off the Pelosi House’s 3 witch hunts.
Sorry, but y’all are still WAY ahead, or behind, depending on how you look at it.
By the way, can you link me to anything that “discredits” the Clinton death list, or did you make that up out of whole cloth, like most of your accusations?
Did those people from the Clintons’ circle not die violently, or what? Please explain. Support something you write with facts for a change.
To a Democrat, if they opposed Clinton, they deserved to die.