U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (RINO-S.C.) is threatening to delay the nomination of former “Republican” U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel as Barack Obama’s next Secretary of Defense. He’s also hoping to delay the nomination of John Brennan as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Graham’s beef? That’s easy: He’s looking to shore up his support among GOP primary voters in South Carolina, where he will face a primary fight for his seat in 2014. And what better way to do that than pick a high-profile fight with Obama over a major cabinet appointment?
“Graham is up for reelection in 2014 and has been, for the better part of his first term, someone who conservatives have viewed skeptically ? particularly in regards his support for comprehensive immigration reform (Lindsey Graham-nesty!) and his comments on climate change,” Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post wrote this week.
Actually Graham is wrapping up his second term in the U.S. Senate … but aside from that Cillizza’s analysis is spot-on.
Officially Graham is challenging Hagel and Brennan’s nominations because he wants answers regarding the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
“I don’t think we should allow Brennan to go forward for the CIA directorship, Hagel to be confirmed to Secretary of Defense until the White House gives us an accounting,” Graham said on CBS’ Face the Nation this week. “Did the president ever pick up the phone and call anyone in the Libyan government to help these folks? What did the president do?”
Those are good questions …
Another good question? Why wasn’t Graham beating the drum like this on Benghazi prior to the 2012 presidential election? Oh that’s right … he was too busy criticizing GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney for being too far to the right.
(Yeah … as if …)
Anyway, here are some things to remember about Graham as he wages this mini-jihad against the Obama administration: 1) He’s with Obama on raising taxes. 2) He’s with Obama on raising energy costs. 3) He’s with Obama on amnesty for illegal aliens (although we’re not as rabid as some on this issue). 4) He was with Obama on both of his U.S. Supreme Court nominees (in fact he shepherded through one appointee who later voted to uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare despite a glaring conflict of interest).
Bottom line? Graham is full of sound and fury on this one. His sideshow has little to do with a real investigation into a legitimate scandal … and everything to do with propping himself up for the next election. That’s why we believe the worthwhile drum-beating on the Benghazi scandal should be left to those who have some credibility …
Anyway, for more of our thoughts on Benghazi, click here …
UPDATE: It’s also worth pointing out Graham can rail all he wants against Brennan and Hagel, but there is no practical way he can block their nominations.
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47 comments
Graham does not like Hagel because Chuck’s first loyalty is not to Israel, while Lindsey is a paid prostitute for the military-industrial complex, the war profiteers and the Israel Lobby.
Hagel prefers to take money from terrorists like Hamas, rather than our ally Israel.
“Hagel prefers to take money from terrorists like Hamas, rather than our ally Israel.”
According to Breitbart News, the go-to source for dim-witted conspiracy cranks.
In any event, I’m impressed you guys voted for a closeted gay guy all these years. Maybe it’s a bigger tent that I assumed.
Graham does not like Hagel because Chuck’s first loyalty is not to Israel, while Lindsey is a paid prostitute for the military-industrial complex, the war profiteers and the Israel Lobby.
Hagel prefers to take money from terrorists like Hamas, rather than our ally Israel.
“Hagel prefers to take money from terrorists like Hamas, rather than our ally Israel.”
According to Breitbart News, the go-to source for dim-witted conspiracy cranks.
In any event, I’m impressed you guys voted for a closeted gay guy all these years. Maybe it’s a bigger tent that I assumed.
Graham has a brain disease called Benghazi and he’s making a fool out of himself.
Caught it from McCain.
Graham has a brain disease called Benghazi and he’s making a fool out of himself.
Caught it from McCain.
Caught it from Mc Caine ? Moron Likely!
At least, this should make the MSM which has seen him/her/it as a rational, reasonable Republican wake the hell up.
At least, this should make the MSM which has seen him/her/it as a rational, reasonable Republican wake the hell up.
If only he were as concerned with the lies that led us up to the Bush Iraq War.
If only he were as concerned with the lies that led us up to the Bush Iraq War.
Little late to Benghazi comments but every time I hear or read about it I keep thinking about the movie where the Colonel radioed “broken arrow” and all hell broke lose.
When I listened to Ms. Clinton’s remarks she kept talking about hundreds of thousands of cables, emails, phone calls and that she could not answer all of them. I agree.
However it would seem to me that if I were an Ambassador traveling in hostile territory and found myself in a situation with the enemy on my left, the enemy on my right, the enemy above me and the enemy about to crawl up my goddamn asshole that I could utter, yell, scream, email, skype, cable, twitter, face book a word/phrase that would cut through all the levels of bureaucratic bullshit and get me some fucking help without the formation of a goddamn Congressional Committee to assess the threat level.
Urban legend is that Hitler slept through the first hours of D Day Invasion because no one on his staff had the balls to wake the little bastard and tell him, They Are Back !!
I’m with you on all of that. Something in the system was broken. Serious steps should be taken to make sure it NEVER happens again. Graham is still a sniveling little shit, no matter what comes out of his mouth.
Little late to Benghazi comments but every time I hear or read about it I keep thinking about the movie where the Colonel radioed “broken arrow” and all hell broke lose.
When I listened to Ms. Clinton’s remarks she kept talking about hundreds of thousands of cables, emails, phone calls and that she could not answer all of them. I agree.
However it would seem to me that if I were an Ambassador traveling in hostile territory and found myself in a situation with the enemy on my left, the enemy on my right, the enemy above me and the enemy about to crawl up my goddamn asshole that I could utter, yell, scream, email, skype, cable, twitter, face book a word/phrase that would cut through all the levels of bureaucratic bullshit and get me some fucking help without the formation of a goddamn Congressional Committee to assess the threat level.
Urban legend is that Hitler slept through the first hours of D Day Invasion because no one on his staff had the balls to wake the little bastard and tell him, They Are Back !!
I’m with you on all of that. Something in the system was broken. Serious steps should be taken to make sure it NEVER happens again. Graham is still a sniveling little shit, no matter what comes out of his mouth.
Did ya’ll not hear Panetta and Dempsey’s testimony last week? Obama and Hilary were nowhere to be found, ignored pleas for help, and did nothing. They abrogated their responsibilities to put it mildly. If they don’t want to do their jobs, then they should leave office. They never ordered support, never asked, never picked up the phone and never called. THAT is why he is hammering them both and if you think the American people aren’t in support of Graham doing this you are not in touch or informed about this issue. When Panetta was explicitly asked, Did the president participate in the attack response, he said he was not there, did not call, did nothing, did not authorize any action to get our guys, who were hopelessly laser painting a target of the terrorists under the assumption they had air backup when they had shit, which got them killed. Same with Hilary, she blew it, and got those guys killed, followed by the biggest pile of lies over an American made youtube video, they both went on tv and told the families if the victims in private that are going after the guy who violated no law but exercised his first amendment rights in daring to criticize Islam in a stupid video which no one had seen. Meanwhile, the perpetrators have been interviewed by the NY Times as they walk around as free men, but several people but not the US government. It took another six weeks for any US investigator to get there. I’m really glad you all are fine with this deadly incompetence.
How convenient that you ignore the closed door testimony of David Petraeus when there is a lot of evidence that Benghazi was a botched CIA operation.
You seem to have forgotten that these senators KNOW what happened in Benghazi.
At least, the ones who attended the CIA presentations instead of standing around in front of TV cameras. like McCain was caught doing at the time.
They heard it from the CIA and David Petraeus when they testified behind closed doors…in secret.
John Kerry said at his hearing that at least one of those presentations took all day.
Do you remember Kerry asking Ron Johnson if he had attended? Of course, he shook his head “no”. That would be too close to the work the people who sent them there think they should be doing.
So, next time you see one of these GOP senators and a member of the 4th Estate does not ask them whether they attended the CIA presentations and, if so, did they learn nothing from it, they should be fired and you should wonder why you are not keeping up with this story any better than them.
You have no idea in this world what any of us are “fine” with. The criticism is of Graham’s grandstanding on the issues. He’s facing the toughest election of his political career. He’s a pandering political hack. He needs to go.
Agree! He’s done.
Done?Hahaha!
Graham will EASILY dispatch Bright and ,as the Republican candidate,be HANDILY re elected.
Graham PERFECTLY understands the voters of South Carolina.He does what he wants for five years and then the year before the election,feed them some of that Right Wing redmeat(see this article)and cruise to re election.
Then the whole cycle starts up again.
First, verbosity is not a virtue. Second, Criticism, without solution, is the meanderings of a fool. Read below.
Did ya’ll not hear Panetta and Dempsey’s testimony last week? Obama and Hilary were nowhere to be found, ignored pleas for help, and did nothing. They abrogated their responsibilities to put it mildly. If they don’t want to do their jobs, then they should leave office. They never ordered support, never asked, never picked up the phone and never called. THAT is why he is hammering them both and if you think the American people aren’t in support of Graham doing this you are not in touch or informed about this issue. When Panetta was explicitly asked, Did the president participate in the attack response, he said he was not there, did not call, did nothing, did not authorize any action to get our guys, who were hopelessly laser painting a target of the terrorists under the assumption they had air backup when they had shit, which got them killed. Same with Hilary, she blew it, and got those guys killed, followed by the biggest pile of lies over an American made youtube video, they both went on tv and told the families if the victims in private that are going after the guy who violated no law but exercised his first amendment rights in daring to criticize Islam in a stupid video which no one had seen. Meanwhile, the perpetrators have been interviewed by the NY Times as they walk around as free men, but several people but not the US government. It took another six weeks for any US investigator to get there. I’m really glad you all are fine with this deadly incompetence.
How convenient that you ignore the closed door testimony of David Petraeus when there is a lot of evidence that Benghazi was a botched CIA operation.
You seem to have forgotten that these senators KNOW what happened in Benghazi.
At least, the ones who attended the CIA presentations instead of standing around in front of TV cameras. like McCain was caught doing at the time.
They heard it from the CIA and David Petraeus when they testified behind closed doors…in secret.
John Kerry said at his hearing that at least one of those presentations took all day.
Do you remember Kerry asking Ron Johnson if he had attended? Of course, he shook his head “no”. That would be too close to the work the people who sent them there think they should be doing.
So, next time you see one of these GOP senators and a member of the 4th Estate does not ask them whether they attended the CIA presentations and, if so, did they learn nothing from it, they should be fired and you should wonder why you are not keeping up with this story any better than them.
You have no idea in this world what any of us are “fine” with. The criticism is of Graham’s grandstanding on the issues. He’s facing the toughest election of his political career. He’s a pandering political hack. He needs to go.
Agree! He’s done.
Done?Hahaha!
Graham will EASILY dispatch Bright and ,as the Republican candidate,be HANDILY re elected.
Graham PERFECTLY understands the voters of South Carolina.He does what he wants for five years and then the year before the election,feed them some of that Right Wing redmeat(see this article)and cruise to re election.
Then the whole cycle starts up again.
First, verbosity is not a virtue. Second, Criticism, without solution, is the meanderings of a fool. Read below.
Funny, I’m against Hagel and Brennan. But why the hell was John Kerry so acceptable to Lindsay and the gang?
They thought his Senate seat was winable and that Scott Brown would run. But, since they can’t seem to find a GOPer to go for it, maybe not.
Funny, I’m against Hagel and Brennan. But why the hell was John Kerry so acceptable to Lindsay and the gang?
They thought his Senate seat was winable and that Scott Brown would run. But, since they can’t seem to find a GOPer to go for it, maybe not.
I can see from this photo what some commenters have been saying elswhere…Lindsey is dyeing his hair blonde. I guess he figures Mitt got away with it, he can, too.
I can see from this photo what some commenters have been saying elswhere…Lindsey is dyeing his hair blonde. I guess he figures Mitt got away with it, he can, too.
Shit Lindsey Graham Says:
“Every member of Congress needs to get on board,” Graham said.
“It’s not fair to the president to let him, leave him out there
alone quite frankly. He’s getting hit from libertarians and the
left.”
reason.com/blog/2013/02/06/lindsey-graham-urges-colleagues-to-suppo
The guy is all over the map. He’ll oppose Obama when it means gaining political points with little to no cost, but ultimately he blows whichever way the wind blows. I’m sure as long as Hagel keeps the status quo, ol’ Lindsey will be quite happy. (That goes for McCain as well.)
Shit Lindsey Graham Says:
“Every member of Congress needs to get on board,” Graham said.
“It’s not fair to the president to let him, leave him out there
alone quite frankly. He’s getting hit from libertarians and the
left.”
reason.com/blog/2013/02/06/lindsey-graham-urges-colleagues-to-suppo
The guy is all over the map. He’ll oppose Obama when it means gaining political points with little to no cost, but ultimately he blows whichever way the wind blows. I’m sure as long as Hagel keeps the status quo, ol’ Lindsey will be quite happy. (That goes for McCain as well.)
“Why wasn’t Graham beating the drum like this on Benghazi prior to the 2012 presidential election?” What rock have you been living under? He’s been “beating the drum,” since this happened because he’s vulnerable in his primary. That he has to appear like a bigger nut than he is to appeal to the conservatives in South Carolina is telling.
“Why wasn’t Graham beating the drum like this on Benghazi prior to the 2012 presidential election?” What rock have you been living under? He’s been “beating the drum,” since this happened because he’s vulnerable in his primary. That he has to appear like a bigger nut than he is to appeal to the conservatives in South Carolina is telling.
Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, where his parents, Millie and Florence James Graham, ran a liquor store, the Sanitary Cafe.[1] After graduating from D. W. Daniel High School, Graham became the first member of his family to attend college and joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. When he was 21 his mother died, and his father died 15 months later. Because his sister was left orphaned, the service allowed Graham to attend University of South Carolina in Columbia so he could be near home and care for his sister, whom he adopted. During his studies, he became a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi.
This is from Wikipedia. I am confused about the close proximity of Central and USC.
Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, where his parents, Millie and Florence James Graham, ran a liquor store, the Sanitary Cafe.[1] After graduating from D. W. Daniel High School, Graham became the first member of his family to attend college and joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. When he was 21 his mother died, and his father died 15 months later. Because his sister was left orphaned, the service allowed Graham to attend University of South Carolina in Columbia so he could be near home and care for his sister, whom he adopted. During his studies, he became a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi.
This is from Wikipedia. I am confused about the close proximity of Central and USC.
Sweet Nancy has her thong on backwards.
Sweet Nancy has her thong on backwards.
I do believe Graham’s panties are always in a wad…..man is just weird.
I do believe Graham’s panties are always in a wad…..man is just weird.