Graham Not As Special As He Thought

[Carole]

Did Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) really believe he was special? Did he think he was the one and only person who could sell his political soul to the Obama machine and not get thrown under it the first time it served the administration's purposes? In the past few days he has learned he's no less expendable to the president and his cronies than any incumbent Democrat who has sacrificed their career for the Obama agenda.

Senator Graham along with Senators John Kerry (D) and Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) have been working for months on the latest "comprehensive" legislation to become part of the Obama remaking of America. Their energy and climate bill was scheduled to be unveiled Monday as bipartisan even though Senator Graham was the only allegedly Republican lawmaker likely to support it. But as he waited for his big moment to betray his party and the majority of his constituents, Senator Graham found out that Democratic leaders will push immigration reform instead of his climate bill in a desperate attempt to save their own political skins.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), trailing in polls in heavily Hispanic Nevada, has chosen to pursue legislation that would provide legal status for illegal immigrants before pushing a climate change and energy bill and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) will happily oblige.

This left Senator Graham completely shocked that the same people who passed the non-stimulating stimulus, the hugely unpopular multi-trillion dollar Obamacare and are currently pushing the over-the-top financial reform bill will prioritize the Obama agenda item that best serves their ambitions, not his. "This comes out of left field,” said Mr. Graham, “I’m working as earnestly as I can to craft climate and energy independence, clean air and jobs, and now we’re being told that we're going to immigration. We haven’t done anything to prepare the body of the country for immigration."

Of course like any humiliated dupe, Senator Graham resorted to the age-old impotent tactic that has done nothing to help all other dupes in history; he wrote a strongly worded letter. In his missive sent Saturday to Senate leaders, Mr. Graham said he will withdraw his support for the climate measure if Mr. Reid moves forward on immigration first. He also called Reid's apparent shift toward immigration "a cynical political ploy" that could derail months of effort on climate change. If you listen very carefully you can actually hear the dismissive snorts coming from the recipients of that letter.

And so on Saturday evening, Senator Graham officially decided to walk away from Senate talks on climate change and energy legislation prompting the bill's remaining sponsors to cancel Monday’s unveiling. Senator Kerry released a statement which read in part, "Regrettably external issues have arisen that force us to postpone."

Of course those "external issues" are an incompetent president who has been outworked on illegal immigration policy by the state of Arizona, a desperate majority leader with virtually no hope of keeping his job and the preposterously shocked Republican In Name Only who just found out he's not special at all.

 

[Geo Patric]

nothing like good, objective, unbiased journalism!

This is a joke. Graham has finally surrendered to the right wing attacks on the President. Just a month ago his priorities as well as his unfounded criticisms appeared to be a lil different:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who is currently trying to help President Barack Obama out of the thickets of immigration and climate change, showed his claws Friday, declaring he’ll drop out of negotiations on a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws if health care passes.

“The first casualty of the Democratic health care bill will be immigration reform."

in the end, an idle threat, but... ok... so the tactic failed once... what the hell... it is worth another try. it is not like the American people actually listen. But, what does he have to say about the efforts of climate change itself?

The energy reform bill to be released next week will include $54 billion in government-backed loan guarantees for the nuclear industry, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday.

The measure will put a price on carbon emissions through penalties tailored to specific economic sectors, which is “far more business friendly” . . .Graham [said]

The bill would also expand offshore drilling and — for the first time — permit states to share revenue from it, offer tax breaks for big manufacturers to make their facilities more energy efficient and encourage development of more hybrid automobiles and trucks fueled by natural gas.

Finally, the proposal would remove the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon, choking off an emerging debate between the White House and Congress.

and so on.... and the whitehouse response to his current disingenuous bluster?

the only way to make progress on these priorities is to continue working as we have thus far in a bipartisan manner to build more support for both comprehensive energy independence and immigration reform legislation.

- Carole Browner, Whitehouse

But the partisan atmosphere in Washington could wipe out those gains . . . Graham said.

gee... you think?

sorry... Talking (out of both) Sides is another right wing Wolf dressed as an independent sheep.

 

[Objective Voice]

I've always believed that politicians who vote against a measure simply because it doesn't appeal to their own interests or even their constituents isn't always a good thing. Sometimes, you have to vote for legistlation that is in the best interest of the People, not only those in our particular voting block, district or state.

 

[justabubba]

oops

thought this was going to be a thread about franklin graham being uninvited by the army to conduct the pentagon prayer service