Republicans need to support President Barack Obama on foreign policy issues, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC) said Thursday, saying “the Republican leadership must stand behind this president.”
Obviously, that’s a far different tack than the one taken by Congressional Democrats with Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush.
“There is a chance here for the loyal opposition to become President Obama’s biggest political ally on Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan,” Graham said at a magazine forum in Washington D.C. “We have plenty of differences with President Obama, but I want to do everything I can to help him contain that threat.”
Graham then proceeded to bash conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, saying “only in America can you make that much money crying.”
“He’s not aligned with any party as far as I can tell,” Graham said of Beck. “He’s aligned with cynicism. And there’s always been a market for cynicism.”
Graham’s comments were later published on the website of The Atlantic, which is the publication hosting the “First Draft of History” forum in Washington this week.
Amazing, huh?
Graham also referenced how he enjoys saying “you’re crazy” to his constituents at town hall meetings, many of whom he referred to as “conspiracy theorists.”
That line reportedly received several laughs given all the negative press South Carolina has been receiving in Washington lately.
Once again, though, the real joke appears to be on South Carolina voters …
By Toyota Kawaski October 1, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Was that a Log Cabin Republican meeting?
By Elmer October 1, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Lindsey is king of the hill with the neocons. He will support anyone who favors racking up more debt for more endless wars in faraway lands.
Too bad Lindsey can not coherently explain in one paragraph why we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is it to find weapons of mass destruction, to instill democracy, to hunt down Osama, to kill a dictator, to oversee fraudulent elections, to eradicate the Taliban, to bankrupt our country, or to enrich the war machine?
As much as Lindsey whines, he should be careful calling anyone else a crybaby.
By Brian October 1, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Seriously, eff that noise.
By Jed October 1, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Good for Lindsey. The conspiracy theorists ARE crazy and Glenn Beck IS a nut, and there’s nothing wrong with saying it out loud.
I’m no lover of the GOP, but they really need to get their act together ’cause the crazy folks from Fox and the radio are running the show and every time one of the actually-elected Republicans (and I’m counting the RNC chair in that group) crosses them, they end up apologizing.
The only hope the GOP has of retaining relevance is not necessarily to move back towards the center, but to at least stop the crazy rush to the right. You know there are dozens of other Republicans who are tired of this shit too but are too afraid to say it.
Bravo Lindsey
By shaggy October 1, 2009 at 4:27 pm
is it me, or does lindsay graham in clown drag bear a remarkable resemblance to john wayne gacy?
By BigBen October 1, 2009 at 4:38 pm
From The Atlantic:
As for the fringe elements of the right (the birthers, for example) Graham said Republicans have to call them out–have to police their own ranks.
“We have to say that’s crazy,” Graham said when The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg asked him about the conspiracy theories that have sprung up on the right.
“So I’m here to tell you that those who think the president was born somewhere other than Hawaii are crazy. He’s not a Muslim. He’s a good man,” Graham said. (A comment that prompted Goldberg to ask if the two are mutually exclusive. Some explaining ensued.)
When asked how he communicates that sentiment to the conspiracy theorists themselves, Graham was blunt: “When I go to town-hall meetings, say, ‘You’re crazy.’ In a respectful way”–a comment the audience seemed to enjoy.
…
Will, you don’t agree that the birthers are crazy? DeMint has said this too. Good for Graham for having the guts to tell them to their faces.
By Clem October 1, 2009 at 4:41 pm
In the end, Health Care Reform (Obama style) with all its horrors, will be passed with the help of Sen. Nancy Graham.
The same people trying to hound Sanford from office are the people that were on Nancy Graham’s reelection statewide committee.
The man is a closeted pig…and he is more in touch with Vermont than SC>
By Rob October 1, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Lindsey Ghramnisty is an embarrassment to the republican party. Although, the republican party has been overrun with RINOs for sometime now. Juan McAmnesty was such a horrible choice to run for president. We had a socialist liberal and an old man that kept bragging how much he could be like a socialist liberal.
I want some conservatives with BALLS to run so we have a CHOICE!
We need conservatives to keep rising up and speaking out. Glenn Beck can claim to be a libertarian if he wants, as long as he keeps up the pressure on the racist socialist.
By Trey October 1, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Again
By Strom's Daughter October 1, 2009 at 4:58 pm
From The Making of Glenn Beck:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/21/glenn_beck/
“Over the course of many retellings, the tragedy of Mary Beck [Glenn's mother] would become the cornerstone event in her son’s personal narrative of redemption, and that tale of rebirth would became the cornerstone of his career. But the story Glenn Beck often tells about his mother is not quite the one recorded by the Tacoma paper. As Beck would later relate to millions of his listeners, his mother’s drowning was no boating accident. It was a suicide, he claimed, explained in a short note written on that fateful dawn and left on the mantel. And he said it happened in 1977, when he was 13, not 1979, when he was 15 (even though newspaper obits and government records confirm that a 41-year-old woman named Mary Beck died in Puyallup in 1979.) In fact, Beck’s first wife had never heard of Mary Beck’s alleged suicide until years after they married, when she heard her husband discussing it live on the radio.”
Glenn cries, he lies and throws shit pies.
Leave it to a closet case like Lindsey to recognize a fellow fraud.
By Skidmarks October 1, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Lindsey likes war.
He will never acknowledge that it was not the surge, but the bounties paid to Sunni tribal chiefs that crippled Al Quaida in Iraq and made it possible for us to lessen our involvement.
There is no way that a surge will stop the takeover by the Taliban – a religious movement – or lead to the demise of Al Quaida – which is now quartered in Pakistan.
By southernmapart October 1, 2009 at 5:41 pm
What a great place to bring up the Log Cabin Republicans! I don’t necessarily have to be talking about the subject of this article.
The Log Cabin Republicans, at least those in the upstate, are politicians and officials who pretend to be conservative but who are known to be either homosexual or bisexual.
Some of us could let these (s)elected creeps have their meetings and go on their way of guiding/grinding us into the ground, except for one thing. As a parent in a community with a Log Cabin Republican group, we find that our underage children (boys) are at risk of being approached by individuals who prefer same-sex sex. I do not claim that the Log Cabin Republicans are approaching our children. I am saying that our children are approached in the school system and in the community to snag them into the same-sex sex lifestyle. Fresh meat, I suppose.
Disclaimer: None of our local politicians “known” or suspected to be a
Log Cabin Republican has ever told me that they are a member of this group, so I do not have names to put on this comment. Those adults in the school system who are caught trying to snag children are often sent on their way without serving prison time. May be that some of our offenders are now in your school system.
By EM October 1, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Alot of people commenting on Twitter that Graham needs to be voted out. I’ve asked them if they can name a replacement..most are from out of state, but they do not think he is taking the Obama,socialist,crazy administration serious enough and needs to go. He is so close to McCain, who lost the election, that I’m not sure he can see clearly. Your thoughts?
By Hey, nonny, nonny October 1, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Shame on the voters of South Carolina for re-electing this buffoon!
By Liberty for Me October 1, 2009 at 7:01 pm
This man is a bigger traitor to Liberty than any socialist we have in government.I cant beieve idiots voted him back in…
By Strom October 1, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Way to steal images, Swill.
By NoObama October 1, 2009 at 7:41 pm
This is incredibly disappointing. I am thinking of running against him! Why the $#%! does he support this poor excuse for a president. Our troops are in harms way. The commanders have made clear and well reasoned requests for troops to support them and he is waiting (for a few weeks). The damn negro is going to Denmark to support the Olympic selection of Chicago. What a loser! They should call these commanders to Capitol Hill to testify while the $%!hole is overseas! Graham should go with him.
By Paul October 1, 2009 at 8:39 pm
The birthers, the tea baggers, the screamers, and the deathers continued extreme minority presence will become tiresome to mainstream America, if it has not already done so. To all the birthers in La, La Land, it is on you to prove to all of us that your assertion is true, if there are people who were there and support your position then show us the video (everyone has a price), either put up or frankly shut-up. I heard Orly Taitz, is selling a tape (I think it’s called “Money, Lies and Video tape”). She is from Orange County, CA, now I know what the mean when they say “behind the Orange Curtain”, when they talk about Orange County, the captial of Conspiracy Theories. You know Obama has a passport, he travel abroad before he was a Senator, but I guess they were in on it. In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over the most extreme religious right (people who love to push their beliefs on others while trying to take away the rights of those they just hate) and that’s who they need to extract from their party if they real want to win. Good Luck, because as they said in WACO, “We Ain’t Coming Out”. I heard that she now wants to investigate the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC).
By Rob October 1, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Lindsey Ghramnsty is gay. Since Obama has been president and everything you complain about the racist socialist is raaaaaaaaaaacist or homophopic, I have embraced racism and fag bashing. Screw them all. Time to kick ass and take this nation back!
NOBAMA!
By perry October 1, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I voted for Witherspoon!
By Phil October 1, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I love how the birthers are constantly mentioned. Especially since, in reality, there are actually so few of them.
It shows how weak the Graham argument is…they pick out a very small group and try to make them seem overly important.
Graham sucks.
By Soft Sigh From Hell October 1, 2009 at 9:26 pm
The “Robs” of the SC GOP have their Jackleg-Joe Wilsons and Jivin’-Jim DeMents and Ham-Fisted Jake Knotts’s to represent them. Such whining then over a little added diversity.
By Interloper October 1, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I would love to see ‘NoObama’ at speeches, debates and on television being watched very closely by Secret Service agents with one hand on their firearms. Go for it!
By madcock October 1, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Jim DeMint is planning to travel to Honduras to encourage the militaty dictators there to continue their coup against a legally elected president in opposition to the United States’ government’s long standing foreign policy.
This is a violation of the federal Logan Act, making it treason to encourage another nation to oppose US policy.
Yet what grinds the gears of this blogger and his fellow right wing nuts is Lindsay Graham saying Republicans should support the President of the US when they agree with him. That and the radical ideas that the President was born in the U S, and that a lying, drunk nut shouldn’t be the voice of a political party.
Just another example of why you can’t love America and support the GOP.
Here’s an idea. Why doesn’t the GOP support a treason trial for the traitor DeMint when he returns from meeting with his fellow right-wing fascists in Honduras. This can be followed by the death penalty being imposed by hanging him until he is dead like what the Tea baggers did to that census worker in Kentucky. Respect for the law would unfortunately make it impossible to right the word “Traitor” on his body a la the Tea baggers writing the slur(to them) “Fed” on the body of the poor census worker who dared to anger the GOP base.
And oh yeah FITS. Nice lie. Those Democrats that you claim never supported Dubya on anything voted overwhelmingly in favor of his scheme to invade Iraq.
By baker October 1, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Seems to me that Lindsey Graham’s comments on all this are pretty basic and pretty sensible. Not really sure what the criticism is all about on this matter.
By Birther October 1, 2009 at 10:24 pm
We never put a man on the moon. It was all staged. The world was created 6,000 years ago. Noah had dinosaurs on his ark. Saturday afternoon wrestling is real. Obama is a Muslim and was not born in the U.S. Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are true patriots.
God loves the U.S. the mostest.
By zoren October 1, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Madcackle-what you smoking, boy? Logan Act? I think you’ve done wet your pants from all that coughing…Please put down the pipe…
As for L. Graham, we all know that E. Rhamm’s got the “goods” on him…
I suspect that L. Graham is either fishing for a Supreme Court position which he will never get, or he’s about to join the Democratic Socialist Party with Bob Inglis.
By victor October 1, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Let’s see–it’s been over a month since the top US General in Afghanistan begged Obama for more troops. Nearly fifty soldiers have since needlessly died in the Afghan theater.
Obama still hasn’t made up his mind.
He is voting “present.”
Soldiers are dying.
Obama is still voting “present.”
Obama is not giving our troops the forces they need to win.
Securing the Olympics for Chicago is more a priority for Obama than winning in Afghanistan.
When was the last time Obama visited the troops in Afghanistan?
Passing socialized medicine is more a priority for Obama than winning in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, soldiers are dying needlessly for a president who is content to vote “present” in Afghanistan.
By Hey, nonny, nonny October 1, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Madcock,
You are either tragically misinformed or extremely naive.
By Laura Campbell October 1, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Obama has been under intense pressure to send more troops to Afghanistan. To my knowledge, he has not done so. Nor has he sent ships off the coast of Iran, which some are recommending he do.
He has to balance the military’s call, the soldiers who want to stay and “finish their missions, and rightfully so, or their fellow soldiers have died in vain, the far left who believe in absolutely no action whatsoever, and the pressure of allies.
Biden mentioned the use of special forces, drones, and other military technology to resolve these issues. I hope they will do so, if need be. The US has spent billions upon billions developing the technology. Like it or not, the president, nor military, cannot tell everything they’re doing or planning. Our soldiers die when they do so.
Just my perspective. I hope someday soon the world will be rid of the scourge of warfaring.
By T4 October 2, 2009 at 12:31 am
Idea!
Campaigning for SC GOP candidates would be the easiest money I’d ever make. All I’d have do is default to Limbaugh and Hannity sound bites; expound elitist immigration reform (which for most SC GOP voters is closet racism); convince a bunch of ‘nonresident imperialist’ that money is needed to liquidate SC public schools; hand Bibles out, all the while blaming SC’s problems on Muslims and gays; and finally, tell the good people of SC that Obama (you know guys, that black man on t.v.) is a Muslim terrorist from Kenya, educated at Columbia University and Harvard Law School for the sole purpose of destroying the American way of life.
Thanks Fits, for constructing an exemplary business model; light years beyond anything else in SC. Now, if only we could find a way to market it…
And also to you SC GOP voters, for wearing the “arrested development” badge so proudly!
By Kab Laughridge October 2, 2009 at 8:22 am
Just a heads up for the whipping boy Lindsey. As a South Carolinian, I find it appalling that such a weak excuse for a man represents one of the strongest and most resilient states in the Union. Never will I “stand
behind” Barrack Obama, as he despises traditional America and every thing that I hold dear. The left that Lindsey is so quick to support, supports him, or us, in nothing. Here Lindsey is demanding that “the Republican
leadership (as if there are any leaders in the Republican party) must stand behind this president” at the same time that we have discovered that your president hasn’t met with a single Republican since May. Lindsey
Graham is a joke and must be removed, as South Carolina deserves a real man in the Senate.
Know this Lindsey. Come election time, I will use AmericanRationale.com to come after you, full-bore.
By Get him out October 2, 2009 at 8:31 am
Oh yeah…. Line up behind the Obama, ’cause anyone who disagrees with him is a racist. He has won the favor of every little dictator in the world. He has apologized to the world for us being in existance. Yet how many millions/billions will we send out in disaster relief???
How many countires offered aid with hurricanes hit this state, New Orleans, or Galveston???? Not one plug penny…..
It is pretty sad when the President of France has to say the US is not being strong enough against Iran.
Biden said Obama would be tested…… N. Korea claims they have the bomb and are flaunting it…. Iran now admits it is about to have the bomb and is flaunting it…. Yeah they might let the inspectors in…. But that would be just so the inspectors can say…. yep they have a bomb…
This 4 years will be as bad (if not worse) than the Carter years…. Look at the unemployment rising (he was going to create jobs). With the deficit spending…. Inflation is next….
He will only be a 1 term President and Americam will rebuild again!
Time to vote Lindsey out!
By Follitics October 2, 2009 at 10:00 am
So what are you saying here? Oppose the president at all costs, even if it damages the country? Even if it costs thousands of American lives? Even if it further damages our economy?
Conservative Republicans are fond of screaming about patrotism. That’s an odd way to show it.
By Brandon October 2, 2009 at 10:36 am
The fact is we have to live with him until two thousand fort-damn-teen. Until then, could we at least get him to find a barber that can give him something other than a depression era bowl hair cut.
By Paul October 2, 2009 at 12:29 pm
We are all adults here, and as adults we know there are consequences for are actions, so if you do not agree with his policies, you can a) do nothing, b) support him, c) not support him, d) protest and picket, its your choice, live the dream! As for Orly Taitz, to this point she has not been successful because she does not have any proof, documentation supporting her claims except her wild rants. I would not bet the farm on this one. She has a mail-order-degree get someone with real credentials (Harvard, Yale Law School) not a crazy Russian immigrant with dual US/ Israel citizenship (where are her allegiances?). Have you even thought of who is paying for all these legal filings, her travel and all her wigs? Sorry she has no juice because she does not have any proof, documentation supporting her claims except her wild rants. I heard they are now playing the victim card as well. Please, feel sorry for us the “Birth Certificate” that we built our entire case around and that we have been dancing around turn out to be a big “Fake”. Her material might work on “Fake News” but not in a Court of the United States.
By Libb October 2, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I’m not a big fan of Lindsey but I give him props for calling out Beck the psycho.
And all you blustering so-called patriots should be ashamed. Did you stop for a second and consider that perhaps Graham is thinking about the true patriots, our men & women in the military?
By ICEMAN October 3, 2009 at 12:05 am
Everything Graham said was pretty much true. Besides, he’s the best thing SC has going for it when it comes to politics. Sanford left his career on the Appalachian trail..err, flight to Argentina. Graham is the most prominent republican figure when it comes to politics in the state (Clyburn probably the most prominent democrat). I’m a big fan of Graham because he is resourceful, and tries to get things done in Washington…unlike Demint who moans, gripes, and whines 24/7. If Demint were in office December of 1941, he probably would have voted with Jeannette Rankin, saying that war was too costly.
By Bill Brown October 6, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Graham is right on supporting policy to defeat terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. It’s a pity you don’t see that. Blinded by your own ideology.