I’m pretty sure that Lindsey Graham was going to get a primary challenge anyway, but voting for Elena Kagan in committee definitely assures one. He has four years to prepare for it and a lot of things will have changed by then, but being somewhat reasonable on things like judges and climate change has made Graham one of the right’s least favorite Republicans.
I think Graham is a clever man who isn’t actually all that bright. He’s got political smarts and he’s a pretty good lawyer but I don’t think he’s very well educated overall and he doesn’t understand a lot of things. His main virtue is that he doesn’t see the other side as pure evil and he doesn’t pretend to see us that way either. He does recognize the need to tackle some problems even with the Democrats in power. But it’s not like we can trust him. His word is not good. He’s about three-quarters of the way to being a decent human being, but he’s not there yet. For the Republican base, though, he’s a heretic and a traitor, and he’ll have a hell of a time keeping his seat in 2014.
when I heard that today, I immediately wondered whether he was gonna a) not run again in 2014 or b) hope for a cabinet appointment. Since the last two Defence Secretaries in Democratic administrations were Republicans maybe he’s aiming to become Robert Gates’s replacement. Wouldn’t be surprised. And a nice vote here or there may be his way of endearing himself to Obama.
Seems like he’s reaching for a little of the the old school McCain mojo. But isn’t there a big difference between having a “maverick” profile in Arizona vs. in South Carolina? Or perhaps the GOP is universally crazy no matter where you go now.
“Mavericky” is not the defense it once was. Even though it appears that McCain will survive a primary, it is amazing to see the changes happening within the GOP.
Graham will probably face a primary from the right no matter what — but predicting that far in the future given the rapid changes happening now is nearly impossible. Bennett in UT is about as conservative as it can come, but that was not enough to this “tea-bagger” crowd.
When Republicans were doing a good job of reaching out to Independents, being a “maverick” was a good tag to have. One of the qualities that “independent” voters almost always profess to have is that they “vote for the man, not for the party”, so a candidate who at least looks like he’s casting his votes the same way looks good to independents – even if the reality is that the so-called “maverick” generally votes along party lines except on high-profile votes where his vote really doesn’t matter or on pet issues to build his image (McCain’s was Campaign Finance Reform to rebuild his credibility from his role in the Keating 5 scandal).
But when the movement conservatives started with their “purity purges” that kind of strategy turned into bad news. McCain saw it in 2000, when he lost the nomination to the feckless son of privilege whose only claim to fame was that he shared a last name with a president that was universally loathed by movement conservatives. The movement conservatives would rather have had Bush Jr. than McCain and they made it happen. So the “maverick” and “independent” labels have fallen out of favor.
My gut tells me that Graham just thinks that by the time the political cycle works its way back around in 2014, the Tea Party movement will have blown itself up. Or, if it hasn’t, that the Republican Party will have marginalized itself so much that he can break away, run as an Independent and win in SC anyway. Or possibly that if the Tea Party guys end up winning the battle for the soul of the party he’d rather not be beholden to them and he’ll go take a lobbyist job instead. Some combination of that – I can’t imagine anyone with half a brain wanting to belong to Jim DeMint’s crazytown party, and Graham has always struck me as having at least half a brain – even if he’s working with a moral compass that has been demagnetized.
My guess is that Graham has decided not to run in 2014.
That of course is if his action wasn’t some of McConnell’s kabuki to offset Obama’s attack on Republican obstructionism yesterday.
One mavericky vote does not a maverick make.
BTW, it happens that Samuel Maverick (yes, the one who refused to brand his cattle) moved to Texas from the part of South Carolina that Graham represented in the House.
What, nothing on the Breitbart cluster fuck? Man that is awful how terrified Vilsack was. It’s like oh, he TOOK BREITBART’S WORD AT FACE VALUE instead of actually investigating.
My guess is that Vilsack has never heard of Andrew Breitbart. Too busy Agging.
I smell political heebie-jeebies among the White House political staff in this one. Yes, I know there have been denials.
I don’t know, would the WH really involve itself with such a junior official as to demand Vilsack remove her?
Haha, if it weren’t for that fact that it’s our side being humiliated (again) this thing might be funny in a dark kind of way.
It made it to FoxNews. It risked becoming a distraction.
I think yes the White House would.
And yet we have a former President and Vice President both admitting on camera, on multiple occasions, that they broke the law by sanctioning and championing torture. They could even be described as gleeful in their admissions. Yet they remain untouched and ensconced firmly in the bosoms of their right wing brethren. Safe from the the truth and the law.
Quite the paradox, isn’t it?
The USDA has had a history of serious racism with regard to benefits to black farmers, especially in the South. Clinton appointed Mike Espy to fix that, but the prototype of the Breitbart scandal Wurlitzer drove Espy from office because he accepted two football tickets from Tyson Foods.
I suspect that at the state level there is still a lot of racism among USDA employees and that Vilsack has not faced up to it. The reason that Vilsack gave for not hiring her back once it was clear that it was a smear job shows a bit of cowardice. That could come from the White House political operatives or it could come from USDA managers who wanted an excuse to let Sherrod go.
Once I heard Dickhead was involved, I know it was a smear job. How could anyone in the WH not know?
trusting Ms. Lindsey is a ridiculous thought.
he’s only less than 50% of the way to being a human being.
the thought of Graham being a pariah just boggles the mind.
then again, these are the nutjobs that didn’t think a UTAH REPUBLICAN was ‘conservative enough’.
There is a whispering campaign among Republicans in SC about Mr. Lindsey. And some who are promoting it would use your “Ms. Lindsey” formulation.