Lindsey Graham (almost) gets his ass handed to him

Senator Lindsey Graham during a town hall meeting at Furman University in Greenville, October 12, 2009.
Photo by Patrick Collard of the Greenville News.






I didn't get the chance to attend Lindsey Graham's raucous town hall meeting, since I was working late Monday night. But the right wing of his party showed up, solidifying those reasons why South Carolina Democrats rarely challenge him.

The upstate Bob-Jones-faction of the South Carolina GOP elected both of our Senators (who come from the upstate): Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham. Despite all the juicy rumors that have consistently flown around the still-unmarried Graham, he seems virtually untouchable as far as the vote goes.

And there is no question, Graham is not as far-right as DeMint, who makes him look like a bastion of centrism.

Just like the town hall meeting I attended in Travelers Rest (which is, incidentally, right down the road from Furman University), the local right wing came out in droves. I would not have enjoyed the spectacle. If Graham had shown up at the one I went to, I am sure they would have eaten him for dinner similarly.

But he didn't get to be Lindsey Graham for nothing. (I have written here before about how well he can work a crowd). He stood there, all 63 inches of himself, and staunchly defended his record as "conservative" (even when it isn't) and didn't back down:

Senator tells some to 'chill out' during town hall meeting at Furman
By Ben Szobody • Staff writer • October 13, 2009

An often clamorous crowd blasted, grilled and occasionally cheered Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in a town hall meeting Monday that centered on health care reform but returned repeatedly to his controversial positions on climate change, judicial appointees and immigration.

Graham returned the fire with a grin, at times shouting over his most boisterous critics and telling some who questioned his Christianity and party loyalty that their minority conservative views wouldn’t succeed without the political coalitions he said are necessary to serve the majority of Americans and attract enough votes in Congress.

“If you don’t like it, you can leave,” he said.

Some did.

The 75-minute forum filled several sections of Furman University’s Timmons Arena and attracted demonstrators, critics with handheld cameras, shouts of “traitor” and “Sotomayor” — and a smattering of supporters.

Graham repeatedly told those who shouted to “chill out” and addressed most of the hot-button issues that have rankled some in the state’s conservative epicenter, including a newspaper column he co-authored this week with Democratic Sen. John Kerry that called for climate change legislation.

One man told Graham he had “betrayed” conservatism and made a “pact with the devil” by working with Democrats and asked when Graham would switch parties. Pockets of the audience whooped, stood and stomped on the risers.

Graham said he’s not going anywhere and would grow the party instead, defending his conservative credentials on issues such as abortion and guns and calling the view of Libertarians who believe President Bush was a war criminal “nuts.”

Graham said, “We’re not going to be the party of angry white guys,” to more shouts and a sudden rush of personal cameras.

A woman who had been carrying a sign that condemned “unconstitutional, anti-Christ, socialist, federal, deficit-spending programs” told Graham that “God does not compromise” and that he had violated his oath of office by supporting federal ideas including health care reform that overstep states’ rights.

he was supported by more stomping, clapping and cheering. Graham asked her how she’d voted for president, and she identified Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party as her choice.

Graham then said he wasn’t there to please her, and that her party had lost the election “marketplace” of ideas.

He rejected the idea that the federal government should stay out of health care, saying few people want to get rid of Social Security and Medicare, and he defended his Christianity.

He drew some applause by saying he opposes Obama’s government option for health care because he said it would drive private enterprise out of business and add hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. However, he said he’s not afraid to ask people who can afford care, like himself, to pay more, and that more competition, deregulation and tort reform are all ways to lower costs.

“If we do nothing, we all lose,” he said.

On climate change, Graham said he’s working with Kerry because he wants to expand off-shore drilling and increase nuclear power as a way to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil, and that some caps on greenhouse gases are a reasonable trade-off to get a bill through Congress.

On Afghanistan, he said it’s crucial to increase American forces to allow the safe training of Afghan police and soldiers. To make progress through congressional action, he said to some boos, it will take working with Democrats to form Afghanistan benchmarks.

On his vote to confirm Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Graham said he’s trying to return to the old way of confirming judges based on their legal qualifications to avoid the “never-ending assault” faced by nominees. He said Sotomayor is no worse than Justice David Souter, who she’s replacing, and noted that longtime Sen. Strom Thurmond voted for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is widely viewed as a liberal judge.

Graham told a friendly questioner that he is “dead-set” against hate crimes legislation that he said would elevate crimes based on sexual orientation to special federal prosecution, which he said is a precursor to recognizing same-sex marriage. Without a coalition, however, he said the measure will pass because there aren’t enough Republicans to stop it.

On illegal immigration — the root of many Greenville conservatives’ mistrust — Graham said he’s all for a border wall, as well as tamper-proof Social Security cards that will help the government crack down on employers who hire the immigrants.

He said he also wants to identify the 12 million illegal immigrants here now, make them pay taxes, learn English and hold a job, then send them home to the immigration line if they want to become citizens.

In the end, Graham told a decidedly right-leaning crowd that he wants to build coalitions that will keep the country’s politics “center-right.”

“America is not only worth fighting for, it’s worth getting criticized for,” he said.

(((sigh)))

And so, I stand between the proverbial rock and the hard place.

The lefty-politico in me despises how hypocritical I feel Graham is on most issues; I particularly despise his anti-woman and anti-gay politics. However, the human part of me smiles at Graham's scrappy-hound ways; one envisions the big dogs surrounding the little dachshund or chihuahua, who comes out unexpectedly snarling and snapping and scaring away the big bully-dogs. Tee hee!

But this is also, I realize, exactly how he keeps his job. He used this whole thing as one long campaign commercial: Damn, it's tough being moderate in a state with all these wingnuts, he winks at the audience.

He's probably right, too.

I still pine away for someone to take the place of Fritz Hollings. But as long as the upstate-economic engine keeps chugging along (page down here for my explanation of that phenomenon) and people keep moving here, upstate conservatives will still be calling the shots for the state. The right wing has successfully cut off all media access from liberals, as I have written before, and upstate lefties are without even an Air America radio station for ideological aid and comfort.

Aside: Do you see how white that audience is? This is South Carolina!

Shocking news: Another politician embarrasses South Carolina

Congressman Joe Wilson, who undoubtedly embarrassed his southern mama with his bad manners last night.






As soon as I heard the heckler during President Obama's speech, I knew what state he was from.

I just knew, probably because of my recent town hall meeting experience.

I cringed, told Mr Daisy what I thought, Twittered OH NO (or something to that effect) and waited to be proven right. And I was. I am just grateful it wasn't Bob Inglis (far too polite to do that, even if in full ideological agreement with the heckler) or somebody closer to Greenville County.

But still: ANOTHER RIGHT WING EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE STATE. Ye Gods.

Politico writers Daniel Libit and Victoria McGrane:

On his Twitter feed Tuesday, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) wrote that at a parade he attended in Chapin, “many people called out to oppose Obamacare which I assured them would be relayed tomorrow to DC.”

It wasn’t quite the next day, but Wilson did indeed bring the August town hall boorishness to Washington when he shouted “you lie” at President Barack Obama during Wednesday night’s health care speech before Congress.

Within 15 minutes after Obama wrapped up his remarks, Wilson’s website server had crashed and his Wikipedia page had been locked on account of “vandalism.”

In an interview with CNN immediately after the president’s address, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called Wilson’s behavior “totally disrespectful,” and joined a chorus of Democrats calling on the congressman to apologize.

Wilson’s office soon followed with a statement expressing regret for the outburst.

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill,” Wilson said. “While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”

A short while later, Wilson’s office put out a notice that the congressman had called the White House to personally apologize. A Democratic source told POLITICO that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accepted the congressman’s apology.

This is not the first time the Wilson has stirred controversy with his remarks.

In 2004, Wilson was forced to do a similar walk-back when he challenged the patriotism to Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), calling the Democrat “viscerally anti-American.”

That same year, Wilson grabbed headlines again when he called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for testimony the Democratic presidential candidate and Vietnam veteran gave to a Senate panel in 1971 about the Vietnam War.

“Many veterans, including myself as a veteran,” Wilson said at the time, “view John Kerry’s testimony that day as one of the worst public slanders ever against the valor and character of the American military.”

That statement drew the rebuke of former Democratic senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland, who noted that Wilson had in fact avoided fighting in the war by receiving a student deferral.

As stated above, Wilson memorably shouted "You lie!" Apparently he believes this will get him re-elected.

Politico's Glenn Thrush writes:

All eyes were on Barack Obama entering Wednesday night's address to Congress, but a little-known South Carolina Republican may have done more than the president’s combative speech to unify besieged Democrats around health care reform.

The night's defining moment — which Democrats hope to transform into a turning point – came when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted "You lie!" as Obama claimed his plan wouldn't offer free care to illegal immigrants.

Wilson's boorishness — for which he quickly apologized — enraged audience members on both sides of the aisle.

It also overshadowed a speech that included some of Obama's harshest attacks on his GOP critics to date, including a denunciation of "death panel" alarmists as liars — a veiled swipe at Sarah Palin — and a warning to Republicans who want to "kill" reform.

Well, what did you think of the speech? Comments welcome on the speech, Obama, and ill-mannered Joe Wilson.

Jerome Corsi is a freak, and other updates...

Left: Senator Barack Obama at Furman University, during the South Carolina primary. Photo from Greenville News.

~*~

Is he in trouble? I think so.

The big news this week has been all about Jerome Corsi's best-selling attack-book, titled The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality.

Jerome Corsi, you think... Corsi? Where have I heard that name before? Aha. He is one of the guys who swift-boated John Kerry, co-authoring the similar 2004 hit-book Unfit for Command.

The Obama campaign has issued a 41-page pdf file itemizing the falsehoods in the book. And yeah, they come out swinging. They expose Corsi as a world-class right wingnut who buys into various popular conspiracy theories (North American Union, 9/11, Obama's a closet Muslim, maybe) among other bizarre documented beliefs. Jonathan Martin of Politico.com believes the real purpose of the aggressive response is to make it very clear that Obama is NOT John Kerry, and won't take it lying down:

But, as made plain by the title and faux book jacket, the goal is also to demonstrate to fretting Democrats, Republicans plotting attacks and reporters watching it all that they won't be "swift-boated" in the way John Kerry was in 2004 starting with Corsi's book, "Unfit for Command."

To prove this point, they don't stop at merely fact-checking each questionable claim in the book -- they also set out to attack Corsi for his fringe views, discrediting the messenger.

Of course, the lies in “The Obama Nation” almost pale in comparison to the bizarre, conspiratorial views that Jerome Corsi has advocated in his broader work," writes the Obama campaign in what amounts to an introduction, noting the author's fear of a purported North American Union, belief that there was a government coverup of 9/11 and past anti-Catholic comments.

In moving so aggressively to prove that they aren't Kerry, Obama's campaign seems to have taken a page out of the 90s-era Clinton playbook. Obama may decry the partisan rancor of the past two decades, but by launching a withering counter-attack against his enemies he's also aping one of the most effective elements within the Clinton arsenal. When they came under assault from the right-wing, they gave no quarter, responding with not just a vigorous defense but an equally vigorous counter-offensive aimed at discrediting their enemies.

Well, thank God for that. I'm one of the people who thought John Kerry looked like he had his thumb up his ass while he was under vicious attack by the swift-boaters. Responding intelligently to random nastiness is part of the job description as Commander-in-Chief, and Americans need to see if Senator Obama is up to the task.

But I can't help but worry. If you keep throwing shit, some of it always sticks. The Republicans are very desperate, and they are pulling out the stops. As a result, I think Obama is in trouble. The dog-whistling Stealth Antichrist Campaign has not abated. And now, we've got this nutso book to contend with. I say, roast Corsi on a spit. It shouldn't be too hard, since he sounds like a member in good standing of the Black Helicopter Faction of the GOP:

Corsi is an unabashed partisan. In 2006, he mulled a run for president under the hard-right Constitution Party’s banner and last year he signed on as a senior strategist for a group that intended to become to the right what MoveOn.org is to the left.

But his outrageous assertions and fringe theories — which include allegations that President Bush worked to eliminate the borders with Mexico and Canada and the assertion that Kerry is a Communist — have hurt his credibility on the right, as well.

Corsi’s co-author on the Kerry attack book, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth spokesman John O'Neill, downplayed Corsi’s role after the left-leaning press watchdog group Media Matters exposed Corsi’s venomous postings in the conservative blogosphere.

On the blog FreeRepublic.com, Corsi wrote that pedophilia “is OK with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press,” that “RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters” and that Kerry is “Anti-Christian, Anti-American.”

Last year, Corsi released a book charging President Bush was secretly plotting to create a North American Union by merging the U.S. with Canada and Mexico.

And Number One on the best-seller list!

This sort of thing makes me hyperventilate.

~*~

Some time ago, I linked Michele Obama Watch, while neglecting to mention this in a post. My apologies! This is a great blog, carefully chronicling (and to some degree, analyzing) media coverage of Michele Obama.

For example, recent analysis of an article in NEW YORK magazine titled Black and Blacker, the Racial Politics of the Obama Marriage:

Having read and re-read this article several times, however, I think the point that [author Vanessa] Grigoriadis was attempting to make was that the Obama’s - and particularly Michelle - don’t “act” the same when fundraising, campaigning, and trying to win a presidential campaign as they do when the cameras are not on or when they are among “friends”. As Grigoriadis puts it:

Michelle is the type of woman rarely seen in the public eye. She’s a well-educated woman who is a dedicated mother, successful in her career, and happens to be black…Michelle must project herself as black to one community, but she also must act white to another,…

“Acting white”? What if anything any of this has to do with the “racial politics of the Obama marriage”? Perhaps in reading the entire article, MOWers might be able to discern what the point of this article was intended to be. Cause I really need to understand exactly what she meant by it being so rare to see a a well-educated woman who is a dedicated mother, successful in her career. Isn’t that what we not only expect but demand from our First Ladies? Surely we don’t expect her clothes to come from a stores not ending in “Mart”.

As I said, a great blog, and they are ON the case.

Speaking of Michele in the media, there is a lovely article about Michele in EBONY magazine this month. The article isn't online, but some good clips of Michele at the EBONY site.

I hope Michele will address the Democratic Convention in splendiferous fashion! Stay tuned, sports fans!

Well done, good and faithful servant

Left: John Edwards, photo from C-Span's Campaign Network.


Goodbye, good friend! We'll be seeing you around. As we say here in the south, don't be a stranger.

We love you and Elizabeth. Kisses and hugs; go with God.

~*~

Edwards to Quit Presidential Race

By NEDRA PICKLER – January 30, 2008

DENVER (AP) — Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies, The Associated Press has learned.

The two-time White House candidate told his staff that he planned to make the announcement at a 1 p.m. EST event in New Orleans that had been billed as a speech on poverty. The decision came after Edwards lost the four states to hold nominating contests so far to rivals who stole the spotlight from the beginning — Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"He just said it was time to get out," said Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, Edwards' rural affairs adviser. "I still don't like walking away, but it was John's decision."

The former North Carolina senator will not immediately endorse either candidate in what is now a two-person race for the Democratic nomination, said one adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement. Clinton said Wednesday that Edwards called her to inform her about his decision.

"John Edwards ended his campaign today in the same way he started it — by standing with the people who are too often left behind and nearly always left out of our national debate," Clinton said.

Obama told reporters Edwards had exited the race in a "classy" way. "I think he's run a great campaign," said Obama, who aides said also spoke with Edwards Tuesday and asked for his endorsement. Obama aides said Edwards called again Wednesday morning to confirm the news he was dropping out.

In a statement from his campaign, Obama said Edwards "spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn't popular to do or covered in the news."

"While his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America," the statement said.

Four in 10 Edwards supporters said their second choice in the race is Clinton, while a quarter prefer Obama, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo poll conducted late this month. Both Clinton and Obama would welcome Edwards' backing and the support of the 56 delegates he had collected, most of whom will be free to support either Obama or Clinton, though some will probably look for guidance from Edwards.

Edwards' advisers said officially he would "suspend" his candidacy, but that was simply legal terminology so that he can continue to receive federal matching funds for his campaign donations.

An immediate impact of Edwards' withdrawal will be six additional delegates for Obama, giving him a total of 187, and four more for Clinton, giving her 253. A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the Democratic nomination.

Edwards won 26 delegates in the Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina contests. Under party rules, 10 of those delegates will be automatically dispersed among Obama and Clinton, based on their vote totals in those respective contests. The remaining 16 remain pledged to Edwards, meaning his campaign will have a say in naming them.

Three superdelegates — mainly party and elected officials who automatically attend the convention and can support whomever they choose — had already switched from Edwards to Obama before news of Edwards' withdrawal from the race.

Kate Michelman, an adviser to the campaign and former president of NARAL-Pro Choice America, said she spoke to Edwards Wednesday morning and was disappointed to hear he planned to leave the race.

"He felt that this was the moment to take this step, given the reality of this campaign. This campaign has been about two celebrity candidates — excellent and qualified candidates — but celebrity candidates," Michelman said.

Edwards waged a spirited top-tier campaign against the two better-funded rivals, even as he dealt with the stunning blow of his wife's recurring cancer diagnosis. In a dramatic news conference last March, the couple announced that the breast cancer that she thought she had beaten had returned, but they would continue the campaign.

Their decision sparked a debate about family duty and public service. But Elizabeth Edwards remained a forceful advocate for her husband, and she was often surrounded at campaign events by well-wishers and emotional survivors cheering her on.

Edwards planned to announce his campaign was ending with his wife and three children at his side. Then he planned to work with Habitat for Humanity at the volunteer-fueled rebuilding project Musicians' Village, his campaign said.

With that, Edwards' campaign will end the way it began 13 months ago — with the candidate pitching in to rebuild lives in a city still ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Edwards embraced New Orleans as a glaring symbol of what he described as a Washington that didn't hear the cries of the downtrodden.

Edwards burst out of the starting gate with a flurry of progressive policy ideas — he was the first to offer a plan for universal health care, the first to call on Congress to pull funding for the war, and he led the charge that lobbyists have too much power in Washington and need to be reined in.

The ideas were all bold and new for Edwards personally as well, making him a different candidate than the moderate Southerner who ran in 2004 while still in his first Senate term. But the themes were eventually adopted by other Democratic presidential candidates — and even a Republican, Mitt Romney, echoed the call for an end to special interest politics in Washington.

Edwards' rise to prominence in politics came amid just one term representing North Carolina in the Senate after a career as a trial attorney that made him millions. He was on Al Gore's short list for vice president in 2000 after serving just two years in office. He ran for president in 2004, and after he lost to John Kerry, the nominee picked him as a running mate.

Elizabeth Edwards first discovered a lump in her breast in the final days of that losing campaign. Her battle against the disease caused her husband to open up about another tragedy in their lives — the death of their teenage son Wade in a 1996 car accident. The candidate barely spoke of Wade during his 2004 campaign, but he offered his son's death to answer questions about how he could persevere when his wife could die.

Even as Obama and Clinton collected astonishing amounts of money that dwarfed his fundraising effort, Edwards maintained a loyal following in the first voting state of Iowa that made him a serious contender. He came in second to Obama in Iowa, an impressive feat of relegating Clinton to third place, before coming in third in the following three contests.

The loss in South Carolina was especially hard because it was where he was born and he had won the state in 2004.

Associated Press Writer Mike Baker in North Carolina contributed to this report.

~*~



NOTE: The last video was posted by Peace Takes Courage, not the Edwards campaign.

Gator in the bushes

A bit extreme, wouldn't you say? Watch out for them Gators!

Student Arrested, Tasered at Kerry Event

By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press
AOL News Posted: 2007-09-18 14:32:56

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A University of Florida student with a history of taping his own practical jokes was Tasered by campus police and arrested after loudly and repeatedly trying to ask U.S. Sen. John Kerry questions during a campus forum.

Andrew Meyer, 21, spent a night in jail before his release from jail Tuesday morning on his own recognizance. He had no comment when he left. His attorney, Robert Griscti, did not return messages seeking comment.

Videos of the Monday night incident, posted on several Web sites and played repeatedly on television news, show officers pulling Meyer away from the microphone after he asks Kerry about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush were both members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.

University spokesman Steve Orlando said Meyer was asked to leave the microphone after his allotted time was up. Meyer can be seen refusing to walk away and getting upset that the microphone was cut off.

As two officers take Meyer by the arms, Kerry, D-Mass., can be heard saying, "That's all right, let me answer his question."

Audience members applaud, and Meyer struggles for several seconds as up to four officers try to remove him from the room. Meyer screams for help and tries to break away from officers with his arms flailing at them, then is forced to the ground and officers order him to stop resisting.

As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student's "very important question," Meyer yells at the officers to release him, crying out, "Don't Tase me, bro," just before he is shocked by the Taser. He is then led from the room, screaming, "What did I do?"

Meyer was arrested on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace, according to Alachua County jail records, but the State Attorney's Office had yet to make the formal charging decision. Police recommended charges of resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions, a misdemeanor.

University President J. Bernard Machen issued a statement Tuesday saying he requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the arrest. Officials said it would determine whether the officers used an appropriate level of force.

Machen called the situation "regretful" in an afternoon news conference and said two officers involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the probe.

"We're absolutely committed to having a safe environment for our faculty and our students so that a free exchange of ideas can occur," Machen said.

Kerry said Tuesday he regretted that a healthy discussion was interrupted and that he never had a dialogue end that way in 37 years of public appearances. He also said he hoped neither the student nor police were injured.

"Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. That was a law enforcement issue, not mine," he told The Associated Press in Washington.

Meyer has his own Web site and it contains several "comedy" videos that he appears in. In one, he stands in a street with a sign that says "Harry Dies" after the latest Harry Potter book was released. In another, he acts like a drunk while trying to pick up a woman in a bar.

The site also has what is called a "disorganized diatribe" attributed to Meyer that criticizes the Iraq war, the news media for not covering the conflict enough and the American public for paying too much attention to celebrity news.

Associated Press writer Andrew Miga in Washington contributed to this report.

Does anyone know any more about this incident?

Update: Media Matters has written on this incident, and links to right-wing Michael Savage, who decided to pile on by calling one of the law enforcement officers a "bull-dyke fascist" on his website.