Our senior senator is just all over the place this week, to the point I’m having trouble keeping up with him.
FIrst, he and John McCain are in bipartisan moderate mode as they attempt to revive the issue that almost did McCain in (and did Graham a world of hurt back home) the last time they tried it. Then we see him trying to hold his base at bay by standing up against gun control (here’s video of that, which his office put out today).
Somehow in all this, I missed that he said the following words yesterday on FoxNews:
I haven’t forgotten about Benghazi. Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my view.
Somehow this escaped me until some friends mentioned it this afternoon. The way I heard it was “Lindsey Graham said Hillary Clinton got away with murder in Benghazi.”
Now when you look at what he said in context, it’s not nearly that bad. He didn’t say she “got away with murder” in Benghazi. It seems pretty clear that he was just saying she got off too easy in the hearings last week.
But still.
That he would use words that could be (and of course, would be) misconstrued that way — especially with a clip as short and context-free as this one on Politico — is remarkable given that this is Hillary Clinton we’re talking about. Yes, there are those in Mr. Graham’s base who may consider her a she-devil of some sort, but Lindsey Graham and Hillary Clinton have long formed a well-known mutual admiration society. Each has only had kind things to say about the other since their early days in the Senate together, and each has used the other to prop up his and her bipartisan cred.
That he would rhetorically throw her under the bus (just to use another common expression) this way is surprising.
I mean, come on, Lindsey — the lady just got out of the hospital…
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The man is absolutely demented. Does he feel compelled to fill the wecome vacuum created by Jim Demint’s departure?
Some in the liberal zones of the blogosphere are bemused by all of this. From Steve Benen at Rachel Maddow’s blog:
But even though Benen found the “murder” comment “disturbing,” he went on to acknowledge that it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounded:
Then he adds, with justice:
posturing: present participle of pos·ture (Verb)
Verb
Behave in a way that is intended to impress or mislead others.
Adopt (an attitude) to impress or mislead.
There’s a photo of Lindsey right next to the definition.
Speaking of gun control… Graham, and all the senators, kinda got upstaged on that today by Gabrielle Giffords.
Do she or her husband realize they’re nothing more than pawns in all of this? I realize they like the media attention, but their opinions are not any more important than any other person’s.
Remember that Hillary Clinton murdered Kathleen Willey’s cat!
Oh, and I got your well-regulated militia right here:
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2013/jan/29/attorney-driveway-murder-suspect-assumed-he-was/
I see that, in spite of the fact that Syria is saying it was attacked by Israel, both the BBC and The Guardian are leading with Gabby Giffords’ testimony.
I guess that’s because the Brits are just so generally freaked out by our attitudes toward guns in this country. I think they sort of think we’re nuts.
Taking Graham somewhat at face value — that Hilliary got away with murder in the face of a Senate hearing — is not that an insipid slap at his buddy McCain? After all, McCain sat there and fired blanks at the secretary of state. Is Graham saying McCain LET her get away with murder? Is Graham a few beers short of a six pack? I cannot get over the absolute collapse in the man as he turns away from his moderate, almost-statesman posture and becomes yet another political lunatic from South Carolina. It is sad to watch.
It can’t be easy to be Graham. On one hand, you’re supposed to be sane, reasonable and statesmanlike; on the other hand, you represent South Carolina.
What do the Hawaiian legislators think about all this?
Graham is right. It is well documented that Hillary, along with husband Bill, brutally murdered Vince Foster. And now this crazed woman is on a rampage killing our consolate staff, including the ambassodor. She must be stopped now before she kills again! How many more must die before this lunatic is locked up for good?
I am so sorry to see this once rational man deteriorate into political insanity. But no, I can’t vote for him again; I can’t trust him.
Don’t worry, Karen. After the 2014 primary, good old lovable Lindsey will have a change of heart.
I will gladly vote for Graham’s Democrat challenger, especially if said challenger is a lawyer named Sheheen. The problem is that too few voters understand either Sen. Graham’s deceitfulness or that lobbyists not only influence our government, they can make or break those elected to represent us.
Doug/Juan, I don’t think Lindsey is overly deceiptful nor do I especially think he’s a political opportunist. At least not in the extreme. I think Lindsey just plain buys into this neo-con all-war, all-the-time philosophy. Perhaps he ramps up the rhetoric a bit in the run-up to the election but seriously does anyone really still believe this man has one iota worth of reasonable thinking when it comes to foreign affairs, the military and especially Israel?
Yes, I do. Completely. No one comes closer to my way of looking at those things than he and McCain.
And let’s be clear — Hillary Clinton isn’t all that far from their positions on those things, although I’d still go with McCain and Graham. And Lieberman, whom I miss.
Speaking of which, it was nice to see Sam Nunn pop up at the Hagel hearing yesterday. Although I have to confess that I had a similar thought to one Tweet I saw from someone who admitted she didn’t know he was still alive.
He’s not only alive, but he’s out there fighting nuclear proliferation…
I should have said any non -neo-con. Brad has long ago proven his neo-con bona-fides.
Fox News: Fair and Balanced?
Just political posturing. Lindsey ihas a target on his back from former Senator Jim Demint funding Republican or Tea Bagger challengers from his multi-million job at a think tank.