This is an extraordinary clip, which I thank Norm Ivey for bringing to my attention. HuffPost sets it up this way:
When Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) celebrated his retirement from the Air National Guard last week after 33 years of military service, he was greeted at the ceremony by an unexpected guest: Vice President Joe Biden.
Though they hail from opposing parties, Graham and Biden have long had a close friendship, going back to their years serving together in the Senate. The South Carolina senator and 2016 Republican presidential candidate was particularly touched that the vice president attended his military sendoff.
Over the weekend, The Huffington Post spent a day with Graham on the campaign trail in Iowa for the latest installment of our original series, ’16 And President. We’ll have the full episode up next week, but the above clip is a short preview of what’s to come….
In it, our senior senator chokes up talking about Joe Biden, about whom Graham says:
If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, then it’s probably… you’ve got a problem. You need to do some self-evaluation. What’s not to like?… He’s THE nicest person I think that I’ve ever met in politics. He is as good a man as God ever created…
This is one of the more touching illustrations I’ve seen of my oft-stated thesis that politicians — despite what you may firmly believe — are people, and not monolithic representations of good and evil, as most partisan rhetoric would have it.
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Graham is not my first choice in Republican candidates, but Huntsman isn’t running. I trust Graham to act in the interest of the country rather than in the interest of his party. I can’t say that for most of the other candidates.
When you say you can’t say that of the other candidates, are you just referring to the Republicans, or do you include Hillary?
I was thinking Republicans, but, yes, I feel the same way about Hillary.
Bernie Sanders has been getting a ton of attention at campaign events, and I suspect it’s less about his politics than about his sincerity. Voters are looking for someone they can trust. Based on the little I know about John Kasich, I’d add him to the Trust list. And I trust Democrat Jim Webb, though as I’ve learned more about him, he has slipped a bit as a candidate for me. Graham is more progressive on climate change policy that Webb. If we were voting today, I would probably vote Graham.
Sanders comes across as sincere because he can’t win, so he’s not careful about what he says and does.
By contrast, poor Hillary has everything, so she has everything to lose, and she acts like it.
In some ways, Graham has the same freedom as Sanders, and acts like it. Which is what makes him so engaging. It’s also why I wish I could either cover or work in his campaign, just so I could be a fly on the wall as he does this. It’s going to be fun.
Did you ever see “The Candidate,” starring Robert Redford? It’s wonderful. He plays the idealistic son of a U.S. senator who wants nothing to do with politics. But then a political consultant (Peter Boyle) talks him into running by making a two-word promise to him, which he writes on a matchbook cover: “You lose.” Meaning, he can be free to be honest and candid. What happens after that is fascinating…
I have seen it, but it’s been a while. Not really a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington type of story as I remember. Isn’t the reason he won because he abandoned the whole sincerity thing?
Read where Joe may throw his hat in the ring for 2016. I volunteered for Joe in 2008, had the pleasure of speaking to him a couple of times. This go round I already signed up to help Jim Webb, a fellow Scots-Irish. I remember staying up until 2 am watching the last returns trickle in when Webb beat George Allen (remember macaca?) in the Virginia Senate race.
But if Joe runs…sorry bout that Jim.
Doug T, for your enjoyment, here are some video clips I shot while interviewing Biden when he was running for the ’08 nomination…
They’re low-res, and a maximum of three minutes each, but I really miss that old camera, which I could so conveniently hold down on the table where it didn’t distract the subject, and still see the tilting monitor window so I could aim… as you can see me doing during this interview with Obama…
Thanks Brad for the link.