U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (RINO – SC) was formally censured by another local Republican Party on Monday for supporting positions that have “debased the long-standing Republican belief in economic competition and a free market.”
Specifically, the Lexington County (S.C.) Republican Party voted to censure Graham for his support of government bailouts, amnesty for illegal aliens and President Barack Obama’s massive proposed energy tax, known as “cap and trade.”
Additionally, Graham was chided for his repeated efforts to pick a fight with fiscal conservatives within the SCGOP.
“U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has repeatedly demonstrated contempt and belligerence towards those members of the Republican party who support freedom, a Constitutional government and the Republican Party platform,” the resolution reads.
Here’s the complete text of the resolution:
Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham debased the longstanding Republican belief in economic competition and a free market by voting in favor of TARP and more government intervention; and
Whereas, TARP adds trillions to the national debt, contrary to the goal of fiscal health and sustainability put forth in the Republican party platform; and
Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has shown a willingness to debase our national sovereignty, shown disrespect for the rule of law and threatened our borders through his proposal of amnesty for illegal immigrants; and
Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham through his support of a cap and trade bill, reiterates his support for government intervention in the private sector in direct contradiction of the Republican principle of free markets, as stated by the Republican party platform; and
Whereas, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has repeatedly demonstrated contempt and belligerence towards those members of the Republican party who support freedom, a Constitutional government and the Republican party platform; and
Therefore, let it be resolved that the Lexington County Republican Party Executive Committee must regretfully censure U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and is grieved to respectfully request that the South Carolina Republican Party rescind the 2009 resolution commending U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, for his positions do not reflect a complete belief in the South Carolina Republican party platform and do not serve the interests of South Carolinians.
RESOLVED this 4th day of January, 2009 at the regularly scheduled meeting of the Lexington County, South Carolina Republican Party Executive Committee meeting.
Back in November, Graham was similarly censured by the Charleston County Republican Party.
“Lindsey Graham continues to hold the Republican Party hostage and undermines Republican leadership and party solidarity for his own benefit,” the Charleston resolution read. “(Graham) continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism.”
Two years ago, the Greenville County Republican Party censured Graham for his support of amnesty for illegal aliens.
Here’s a copy of the Lexington County resolution …
(click to enlarge)
By BSide January 5, 2010 at 9:23 am
Didn’t Congressman Keychain vote for TARP? He should be on the receiving end of some censures as well. This is a step in the right direction.
By Elmer January 5, 2010 at 9:26 am
This is simply awesome news.I am all for keeping up this type of grass roots liberty movement. I seriously doubt Lindsey even believes in the Constitution anymore.
Let’s boo Lindsey at any and all future South Carolina public events and tell him to resign.
By roofus January 5, 2010 at 9:27 am
Graham is SC’s gift to OBAMA…
By Baily Fife, NMBPD January 5, 2010 at 9:53 am
What about the Horry Co. RINOs? They had a meeting last night, why didn’t they censure her too?
By Carolinabeve January 5, 2010 at 10:26 am
Lindsey needs to go away, far, far, away. Any tin=me I have called his office, his aides are as smug as he. Hopefully we will get some needed changes soon!
By Crooner January 5, 2010 at 11:03 am
F**k the big tent, huh?
By ProGunGuy January 5, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Graham has known for a long time that he cannot show his face anywhere in public in SC (except INSIDE his $100 per plate fundraisers) without getting BOOed horrendously by the masses. My friends & I would show up and BOO him at every local appearance (and one day a few years ago he finally quit showing up). It was lots of fun for us, taunting such an effeminate, anti-Constitution RINO, and getting applause and “thumbs up” from everyone in the crowd. Graham would NOT have won his last reelection but for the piles of campaign money he got from sources outside our fair state.
By Ynotfirst January 5, 2010 at 12:39 pm
One of the worst Senators ever….
Elected via electronic voting machines, with no paper trail….
Hated by constituents.
Graham’s office refuses to assist the average citizens of South Carolina with nothing. They plain out refuse to respond to many requests that fall under their purview.
Little Militant Lindsey – a wannabe
Isn’t there a way to recall this jerk?
By No Name January 5, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I hope these County leaders have the votes to stay in place – because Lindsey demanded that the Bob Jones University mafia in Greenville remove Sam Harms for having the temerity to dare do this back then.
Wendy Nanney, Doug Wavle and Bob Taylor ran Patrick Haddon as the puppet replacement…in a county election with some very dubious vote counters… no doubt to preserve the protection racket that is run by Washington mafia against any institution like BJU.
Now the question is….with other Counties doing it….is anyone in Greenville brave enough to do a censure again or will BJU mafia snuff this out and earn more Lindsey love.
If this circus is all being driven by Romney 2012 forces….. which I think it is …will Romney be able to call off Bob Jones’ blocking action as ….Bob Jones III and Bob Taylor both came out surprisingly for the Mormon cadidate in 2008 the first time around.
So how about it Greenville…what’s it going to be…are you free or does Lindsey through Jones\Taylor\Nanney controll Greenville for Graham.
Cap and Trade is dead on arrival…it is all about Immagration now.
By Nice January 5, 2010 at 3:24 pm
It is good seeing Republican’s eat their own – and one of their most effective members at that. When it comes to “American values,” the “Constitution,” “Patriotism” et cetera, anybody who does think like I do OBVIOUSLY must be agianst all of these things, as well as hate eating apple pie because it is so darn American. At least that is how these county delegations appear to think.
By You're kidding, right? January 5, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Talbert Black, who is the State Director of Ron Paul’s group in the Palmetto State, was the author of last night’s resolution against Graham.
According to his bio page, he boasts about having “never voted for a Republican nor a Democratic party candidate for president.”
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/profile.php?member=Talbert_Black_Jr
How is it that a guy who has never voted for the GOP nominee for president is a member of the local GOP committee?? And why does he suddenly get to be the keeper of all things pure and holy when it comes to being a Republican if he’s not even a REAL Republican himself?!?
Give me a break. He should go back to being a member of the Libertarian Party or Constution Party or Working Families Party or whatever other fringe 3rd party is out there.
By Col. Pete Sercer, USAF (Ret.) January 5, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I was in attendance at the Lexington County GOP meeting last night. I witnessed the entire episode and never have I been more disappointed in our local Republican Party. The meeting was a farce, and I fear the actions of a few will tarnish the many good works done by the party as a whole.
It was pretty clear to those of us who were there that a handful of people, primarily those affiliated with last year’s Ron Paul for President campaign, were after a desired result – to censure Senator Lindsey Graham. They really didn’t care how they got it. Unfortunately, the Chairman of the party decided several questionable points of order in their favor – including whether there was even a quorum present, allowing them to push their agenda forward.
A few points to note:
On the e-mail notice that went out before the meeting, there was no mention of a possible censure resolution being brought up for debate and a vote. The reason – the supporters of the resolution didn’t want to give anyone time to organize against it. In fact, last night several Republicans thought the matter should be held over and brought up at the next meeting to give everyone time to digest the content of the resolution and the gravity of what they wanted to do. The Chairman ruled several things out of order, thereby clearing the path for the resolution to be voted on immediately. They definitely didn’t want to see this matter carried over to the next meeting because it would likely be defeated then.
Were proper procedures followed? Yeah, right. Was a quorum present last night to actually conduct business? Who cares. Was the proper committeeman or president from each precinct present and voting? We don’t have time for that. The Chairman even admitted that he didn’t have with him a list of the organized precincts or who should be voting from each precinct! We still do not have an idea if the people who claimed to represent the precinct actually should have voted or not. Surely we could have waited until next month to get a list so that the process is above reproach.
On a measure as important as censuring a U.S. Senator, you would think the party would go the extra mile to ensure everything was done correctly. Not even close. It wasn’t a concern and when other members of the party brought up these issues as they were ruled out of order. So at the end of the night, 13 people (out of 61 in attendance) voted to censure Senator Graham.
Liana Orr, who was in attendance and Tweeting during the meeting, had one of the most insightful posts about what was unfolding. “Sorry, I’m laughing so hard during this I can’t spell. They were doing roll call votes but then got sick of them…Yeah, it’s that kind of meeting.”
Col. Pete Sercer, USAF(Ret.)
By birddog January 5, 2010 at 6:38 pm
To: You’re Kidding Right,
Same way half the Rino’s in SC are members of their local GOP. Look at Lexington’s own Jake Knotts.
By Rylyn January 5, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Real Republicans in Lexington County are disappointed at the way this meeting was run and the railroad job that took place. Whether you agree with Senator Graham or not – rules are rules and there was not a quorum present and the Chairman did not know who voted. He just wanted to get it passed to humor the “Ron Paulitte Group” of which I’m sure he is a card carrying member. And Birddog, there are a lot of Lexington County Republicans who don’t claim Jake Knotts and if it were not for the uncommitted Dems in last years run-off he wouldn’t be Senator.
By Cooter Brown January 5, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Whut ‘xactlie iz a REEL ‘publican?
Whut doos da ‘publican stand fer? Dont reckon anieone knows…
If folks are in a tiss ova the centure ov a known liberal scalawag cause Mista Black penned it an had da gud sence naught t’ vote fer “conservative” like W…
Well, sounds t’ mee lik’ deir mite bee a little hope for the partie ov (cough! gag! spit!) Lincoln… bring in da Paulites!
Pingback: SC Ron Paul Bots After Lindsey Again : The Pink Flamingo
By Ynotfirst January 6, 2010 at 6:52 am
thank you for asking that famous question Cooter.
“What is a real Republican”.
Perhaps the party should read the definition again?
By chris January 6, 2010 at 9:38 am
South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham is a flop!
http://spectator.org/archives/2008/05/15/the-worst-republican-senator
Quit blaming Ron Paul supporters and look in the mirror!
By Barney January 6, 2010 at 10:21 am
Lindsey might have to take a chapter from Romney’s playbook and start paying people to show up at local Republican events to vote for him and keep him from being censured in every SC county.
When Lindsey was censured in Charleston, was it just a handful of disappointed Ron Paul supporters involved in that as well?
We need more counties to step up with the courage to censure Lindsey the socialist.
Hey Lindsey, did you ever find out where all our TARP money went? Didn’t think so.
By WorkingTommyC January 6, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Great question, Cooter!
Are we less worthy than the Democrats that Lindsey convinces to vote for him in the primaries and general elections?
If WE stand up for the Constitution and he does not, that makes US less worthy to be members of the Republican Party?
What are the qualifications to be a Republican?
Are you required to IGNORE the Republican party platform to be a Republican?
Are you required to frequently support members and policies of the opposing party ON KEY ISSUES ESSENTIAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF OUR COUNTRY to be a Republican?
Are you required to support the betrayal of America at every opportunity by opening the country up to terrorists, the TB-infected and other disease carriers, gang members, rapists, and anyone else that wants to cross the under-protected border?
Are you required to support a bail-out of rich elitist bankers with the TARP bill in order to be a member of the Republican Party?
Are you required to support RUINING the economy by supporting a bill based on a bunch of lies about the environment just so politicians can be enriched and the people impoverished?
It seems that every argument over who the “real” Republican is boils down to “us vs. them”. It also depends on if you’re talking about a “real” Republican as being typical of the corrupt elected officials like Graham–or if you’re talking about holding them to a higher, principled standard like the party platform to judge their “real” qualifications as a Republican.
On my side, I’d say we’re much more consistent with the party platforms than the neo-con establishment.
We’re also consistent in going after anyone or anything that is corrupt or violating the Constitution–no matter WHAT party they’re in. For one example, as much as I like a lot of the libertarian institutions, I’ve been appalled at what crap the CATO institute frequently comes out with
that is in direct opposition to the US Constitution because they’re seeking a national solutions instead of a state solution.
Tyranny has more faces than Lon Chaney. You have to be vigilant in ALL cases. In other words, GROW THE HELL UP and view the motives and words of ALL politicians and institutions–even the ones that you generally like–with a cynical and analytical mind.
If you get right down to it, we’re really going after Graham mainly on the basis of HIS individual betrayal of the AMERICAN PEOPLE not because he’s not being a “Republican” –whatever that is. We’re ALL ABOUT judging the individual in light of the law and Graham is anathema to the U.S. Constitution.
By ProGunGuy January 8, 2010 at 1:09 pm
There are untruths and half truths being spread about Talbert Black Jr, both by Sen. Graham himself, and by some of the comments posted by Graham sycophants right here on this blog.
Visit this link to read the facts:
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=31169
It is DISHONEST to say that Talbert Black “boasts about having ‘never voted for a Republican nor a Democratic party candidate for president.’” when anyone can go directly to that link and read otherwise right there in black and white.
Graham DESERVES to be censured (actually recalled) and every TRULY conservative voter in South Carolina agrees.