Senator Lindsay Graham went on the record and said that the Republican Party needs to distance itself from the fringe. He looks at various media that is known for whipping up people into a frenzy and he feels it is hurting his party. His distain extended to Glenn Beck:
“Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party. He is aligned with cynicism and there has always been a market for cynics. But we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers.”
He extended his criticism beyond individuals to include movements like the ‘birther’ movement and speculated what it would have been like to write the founding documents of this country in an environment where news channels were on 24/7:
Reflecting comments made earlier in the day by his colleague and close friend, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Graham said he was deeply worried about “the passions of cable TV” whipping up the emotions of the public. “If you get rewarded for being a jerk you are going to keep doing it,” he said, before labeling “Talk radio, MoveOn.org, and the 24-hour news cycle” as the main culprits in polarizing the nation.
“Can you imagine doing D-Day with cable television?” he asked. “Can you imagine writing the Constitution — you know, O’Reilly says Ben Franklin’s giving in on something. Can you imagine having to do that in this environment?”
More at Huffington Post
Wow, more Glenn Beck stuff… I’m beginning to think you have some sort of weird crush on the guy. He seems to ALWAYS be on your mind…
Also, does anyone know if Chicago got the Olympics? I was just wondering since our President thought is was SOOOOO important that he and Michelle had to take his and hers jumbo jets with Oprah tagging along. Michelle had to sacrifice SOOOO much to make the trip, I just hope it wasn’t all for nothing….
“If you get rewarded for being a jerk you are going to keep doing it”
GL was rewarded for being a jerk. So are some people in government.
Chicago did not get the Olympics. Madrid or Rio de Janiero are still in the running.
I have always liked Lindsay Graham. I may not share his views on many issues, but I have always admired his character.
And you always seem to be noticing there, Hello. Maybe I should be asking you the same question?
Beck was on the cover of TIME. It’s easy for him to be on people’s minds.
Wow…
Money spent by Chicago so far gearing up for Olympics: $40,000,000
Cost to fly Michelle and Oprah on a jumbo jet: $500,000
Cost to fly Obama 24 hours later on yet another jumbo jet: $700,000
The look on Obama, Michelle and Oprah’s faces: Priceless
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).
Welcome Paul. There certainly is a strange mix of folks out there. I will grant you that. I haven’t heard of some of your list.
I heard both Graham and McCain and I was impressed with both of them. Graham’s comments were very thougtful. He stressed that, of course, he wants the President to succeed, because if he isnt’s successful the whole country loses (well, something like that).
Wonder why he hasn’t run for president?
And let’s not forget the batsh!t-crazy “truthers”!
They should be included also. I just don’t think that any of them are Republicans, are they?
I’ve rented a table at the Fall Festival tomorrow. I’ll be the one selling the tinfoil hats over by the politician’s tables.
Maybe you will walk away a rich woman.
At last some leadership from a leader in the GOP! Graham and McCain will save this party yet! The cynic in me tells me there was a backroom deal here. I have been monitoring Beck’s antics and he has begun to talk of being a non-partisan hatemonger rather than a Republican one. This way he can continue to hammer away at the President without tarnishing the party brand.
So that’s what Lindsey Graham says, huh? You know what the slowest mouse in all Mexico says?
“Chicago……FAAAIIILLLLL!”
Am I the only Republican on this blog who is capable of acknowledging the leadership and courage Sen. Graham shows in the video above???
My God, I’m beginning to understand the purpose of the tin foil hats. They block out anything fact-based, responsible, or reasonable, even when it comes from the mouth of a highly regarded Republican Senator. These hats may never go out of style, but I hope their wears follow Glenn Beck and get the hell out of the Republican party.
I’m not a Republican…
You sure are all over them kissing up then. Just what are you?
Why Moon, I’m shocked! I’m a ‘moderate’ independent, just like you 🙂
Like I’ve said before, I’m an right leaning independent. I choose to be an independent because I don’t agree with the Republican party line on some social issues.
Have you ever voted Democratic?
And if you are moderate, then I don’t know the definition.
I’ve got your back on that, Last Best Hope. Lindsay Graham is a perennially sensible fellow. He was one of the very few persons of either party who came out of the Clinton impeachment mess looking good. He’s smart, he has a versatile resume, he has worn the uniform, and he simply will not roll over to mass imbecility and hysteria. As a Lincoln-era Republican, it astounds me that one of the most admirable Republicans is from South Carolina, the home of a recent Republican embarrassment (who, oddly enough by my lights, was defended by Senator Graham).
“And if you are moderate, then I don’t know the definition.” – the same could be said about you…
How unoriginal. I don’t think you know much at all about my politics or political views. You border on being a political reactionary.
I respect Lindsay Graham’s views on national security and fiscal responsibility, but the Senator strikes me as a John McCain-wannabe. Lindsay Graham came into power on a pledge that he would never stray from conservative principles. But he has become very soft on illegal immigration and lukewarm toward conservatives.
His inevitable future presidential campaign will be a losing proposition, just like it was for the original maverick who also liked to poke conservatives in the eye.
Kelly, how will anyone ever win an election if the far side of either Rpublicans or Democrats are the only ones who run?
The moderates and the lean right/lefts really make up the bulk of the electorate. Had McCain not put Palin on the ticket I expect he would be in the White House. Palin’s base loved her but those people would have voted Republican anyway. McCain needed to bring in someone who would not chase off the moderates. Instead he chose a deal breaker for them. What’s even sadder, I think he knows it now.
The far side of the Democrats (Obama) beat the moderate side of the Republicans (McCain). You may try to use Palin to explain that away, but moderate Republicans have not experienced many election successes. Romney would have done much better than McCain.
Case in point: Bob McDonald is very conservative — despite the hype from his thesis, he appears to be headed for victory.
Thank you NoVA. Graham did defend Wilson, but for not apologizing on the House floor. He also said what he did was unbecomming of a Congressman.
Hello, M-H is a genuine moderate. She takes a hard line on abortion but I can accept that. I would like the GOP to be as open to pro-choice candidates as the Dem’s are to pro-life.
Kelly, get real. McCain lost because of Palin.
Kelly, what planet are you on? McCain lost because of Palin. He would have gotten a the same bump from a true Conservative who did not alienate moderates and independents. McCain could have won with Romney but Romney had behaved like a jerk in the debates.
I think that McDonnell is very conservative but he is presenting himself as a moderate Republican, quite successfully I might add.
I don’t think Obama is representative of the far side. I think he is a unique phenomena who was being primed for office as least as far back as the 2004 Democratic Convention. I knew then he would run. Obama also ran as a populist, more or less. His was a unique situation for which there are no models for comparison.
As for moderate Republicans, who hasn’t been a moderate Republican? Bush? Bush? Reagan? Nixon?
State offices vary so much it is difficult to compare from place to place.
Romney might have had a different choice for VP. Furthermore, how can you predict that when he couldn’t make it out of the primaries? McCain would have brought in many of the moderate voters if he had not put Palin on the ticket. Now far right Republicans might not have supported him, I can’t speak to that, but I can speak to moderates.
Your political knowledge is truly awe inspiring … oh wait, you are just expressing an opinion that can neither be proved nor disproved. I am sure the majority of readership on this blog agrees with you, but that still does not make it true ….
I do think Obama is a representative of the far side … he has nationalized GM, taken over much of Wall Street and pushed for government-run health care.
Kelly, You are using party line descriptors here to help prove your point. Is Obama liberal? Yes, on many things. Is he of the far side, I don’t necessarily think so. Use of the words ‘nationalized’ and government-run health care somehow aren’t conjuring up the same image for me.
GM- what really would have happened had GM gone under without Govt. prop up? What happened with Chrysler? Was this situation more severe? How many other jobs would have folded with GM gone? I have heard non-politicos suggest joblessness double what it is now. There are so many layers of the automobile industry it is hard to know how many different industries and job sectors might really have been affected.
Wall Street- everyone I know who is not involved in politics but who is involved in finacial dealings has said that had to happen. (Bush and Obama) The TARP has actually started making money for the government now. Had the govt. imposed more regulations in the first place, maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today and maybe Maddoff wouldn’t have run off with so many fortunes.
health care–we have govt involved in health care already. Schips, medicaid, medicare are all govt programs. I am not sure I would call them govt-run health care programs. Maybe govt paid health care programs.
A close relative of mine is on medicare. It costs that person over $300 a month for Medicare. Sort of makes you wonder when medicare is going to catch up with everyone else’s costs.
Kelly, you are right, most people agree with me. The problem is that most Republicans also agree with me. Palin was a catastrophe, there is no doubting it. But the loudest voices (the Palin base) not only celebrate her ignorance and arrogance, they also swallow hook-line-and-sinker, and then mindlessly and loudly repeat hateful Palin-style whoppers as a way to express their fanaticism. This is what Graham was speaking to, and it was about time someone did.
If not, the result will be that the more educated, common-sense Republicans come to think independents like M-H make more sense than the so-called voices of the conservative movement. It causes otherwise reliable Republicans to drift away from the flock, less inclined to vote, and less inclined to vote Republican.
This is why the current state of the party is less and less people screaming louder and louder. Screaming louder doesn’t mean you get to vote twice. It just turns people off.
Long-term, the know-nothings will be even more catestrophic for the party than their current mascot.
LBH: I did not say that most people agree with you. I said that most people on this left-leaning blog agree with you. Big difference.
I am not a Republican per se and could not care less what supposedly more educated, common-sense Republicans think (I am sure you are well educated — so am I, so let’s not get into that game).
I can see that you have a strong bias against Palin — her inexperience definitely showed during the campaign, but she was no less experienced than Obama. We have certainly seen the results of his inexperience in dealing with diplomacy, race, military, economy, etc. She certainly could not have done any worse than Obama has done so far.
MH: I agree that the federal government is already knee deep in the areas that you mentioned. Given the current poor state of the economy, there is little evidence that government meddling has helped. As promised, the various bailouts kept the unemployment rate below 8% just like the experts promised, … oh wait, … we are now very close to 10%.
Kelly, I don’t think anyone is capable of nailing the present economy to a T. There are no models. It took a long time to get there and it will probably take a long time to undo it.
Paulson was one of the best. Geithner is supposedly one of the best also. How do we know if the ‘govt meddling’ helped or not? The only way to have told that would have been to allow a complete collapse. I don’t think that is what any of us wanted. The magnitude of the problem was far beyond that of the Great Depression, from what I have been told.
Kelly, thank you for not being a Republican per se. Your world view is so entirely skewed that I should hope that no one mistakes you for one (although there is a fat chance of that since your comments toe a line somewhere between Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
If you want to see left leaning, you should try living or working closer in to DC, or inside DC. This blog is about as left leaning as John McCain, which is as it should be in a traditionally common sense Republican county (with our fair share of educated people). We had a bunch of yahoos take over for a short while and I thank God that period is over.
LBH: You have unwittingly hit upon a key point, which is that the conservative movement is rather unfocused and leaderless at present. Stephen Hayward discusses this in today’s Washington Post ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100103889.html?hpid=opinionsbox1).
You are able to take cheap shots at the conservative philosophy, because its public face is currently represented by the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh rather than respected intellectuals like Irving Kristol and William F. Buckley. But if you think that concerns over redistribution of wealth and government intrusion into business and medical care are somehow skewed, then you really should expand your horizons beyond the national capitol region.
I read that article and agree with it other than giving a little too much credit to Beck for bringing an intelligent person on to his show a few times. The premise is exactly what I have been saying: the yahoos are getting too much attention and the intellectuals are MIA. But I am not alarmed by the second part of that equation because the intellectuals are biding their time as they should be after the disappointments of the Bush administration. The Conservative philosophy needs to be recalibrated and repackaged so it doesn’t sound like more of the same.
The problem is that these hyper-partisan attacks on the President are so often arbitrary and so often illogical that they are sounding more foreign to true Conservatives (the intellectuals) than a moderate Democrat or an Independent. The staunch but loyal opposition I would like to see from Republicans is instead being provided by conservative Senate Democrats. My fear is that Palin, the scream team, and their followers will push common sense Republicans out of the party. The only Republican Congressmen who make any sense these days are retired.