The Washington Post‘s story on the New Hampshire cattle-call event last night was headlined, “14 Republican candidates not named Trump did some political speed dating. Here’s how they tried to stand out.”
Apparently, the most successful at standing out was Lindsey Graham, because he got the first individual mention in the story:
In perhaps the most searing criticism of the evening, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said he is “fluent in Clinton speak” and accused former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, of lying about her private e-mail server in the same way Bill Clinton misled the country about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky…
He got two other mentions, first in regard to ISIL:
Graham, whose lines were a hit with the crowd, summed up his outlook this way: “A clenched fist and an open hand — you choose.”
And then the final graf of the story:
“Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill saved Social Security by working together after they had a drink,” said Graham. “Maybe we need to drink more in Washington.”
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Of course, this is an illustration of what Frank Bruni was on about last week when he wrote that we (in the media, and as a society) got what we asked for in Trump: “We expect zingers. We require zing.”
Graham also said he’d send troops to Syria and hold territory there.
So…..if you liked the 2003 movie “Iraq War & Occupation”, and are looking forward to the sequel in even worse conditions, then you’re gonna love “Syrian War & Occupation”.
Hooah.
But allow me to quibble that we did not occupy Iraq. We never took along enough troops to do that. Now if we’d gone on in in ’91, we’d have had enough troops.
But Poppy was too prudent to do that…
Speaking of which, there was a good piece in the WSJ over the weekend by a senior Bush 41 official who listed the lessons from the Gulf War that started 25 years ago this week, and he makes a good case for the “prudent” approach: “Desert Storm, the Last Classic War.”
I’m trying to imagine Lindsey Graham taking a swing at me. Nope – can’t see it.
Did you see the recent WaPo story about Lindsey playing at soldier – and continuing to be promoted for simply being a US Rep?
I posted a link to the story. And the sad thing is now he’s getting $30K per year for the rest of his life for his pension. To accept that while being paid as a U.S. Senator is very poor judgment.
Awww, but he’s entitled to it!
Well, actually, he is — as would you or I be had we put in the years in uniform. Just as you and I are entitled to Social Security once we’ve put in the years, however hard we did or didn’t work…
The amount of his pension is based on his rank, right? And the article offers a pretty good explanation of how he got his promotions. He certainly didn’t do anything on the job to earn them. They were a perk based on his elected office.
He played soldier for all that time and got a nice perk worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Padded his resume, exaggerated/lied about his duties… nothing to see here. (Especially when you wear the Lindsey Graham fanboy goggles).
This looks bad on everyone. The military included. They basically have a policy of i) paying off current members of Congress and ii) explicitly forgiving them from having to do just about anything to “earn” either the promotions or the time in service. That’s why this stinks. At least Lindsey is now honest about how little he was doing for decades in the service.
And yet he uses his image in uniform at every turn…
So looks bad for everyone.
His pension is based on his rank, but I think you have to have two years in that rank; otherwise his retirement goes back to his previous rank plus his years of service. Not that many stay in to the age of sixty.
I have a recollection that Graham pretty much had to become a less active reservist, because the question came up as to whether there was a conflict of interest as a JAG officer after he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Still, Sen. Graham has made many trips into combat zones and has taken a special interest into the welfare of the troops. That’s not the same as using his personal time pressing flesh with his constituents. I think his military relationship is valuable to both his position as a senator and a reservist.
I agree, Pat.
I’ve got a good idea what Graham means by clenched fist. What’s an open hand? Diplomacy? I’ve not seen him express too much support for such an approach.