2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumLindsey Graham hits bottom
He claims Hillary Clinton got away with murder in Benghazi while blocking immigration rights for same-sex couples
BY JOAN WALSH
Oh, that Lindsey Graham, that formerly moderate, mavericky senator from South Carolina. Only a day ago he was among eight senators who seemed to be defying the Tea Party gridlock of the last four years, joining together to back a framework for comprehensive immigration reform. Now hes threatening to kill any legislation that includes protections for same-sex couples, growling to reporters, Why dont we just put legalized abortion in there and round it all out?
Good one!
An irritated Sen. John McCain, whos now spent a full 24 hours looking like someone we havent seen in at least six years, shot back, We havent even gotten that far yet. This is thrown out by the people who think we have gotten into the details, which we havent.
Um, thrown out by the people who think we have gotten into the details? One of those people is one of your seven Senate partners, Sen. McCain.
Thats not the only crackpot Tea Party talking point from Graham over the last day. He also claimed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got away with murder on Benghazi, and threatened to put a hold on former Sen. Chuck Hagels nomination as defense secretary because well, theres no connection between Hagel and Benghazi. Graham says hes mad that outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta hasnt yet answered his questions about the Sept. 11 attack, so hell block Hagel, whom hes already attacked as anti-Israel, which would seem to have nothing to do with Benghazi.
more:
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/29/lindsey_graham_hits_bottom/
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)dballance
(5,756 posts)Here is the full context of the comment. I think he was referring to her testimony. Certainly it may have been a poor choice of wording and he might have made it more clear by ending the sentence with "...in her testimony" rather than assuming people would infer that's what he meant given it was so close to his prior sentence.
I can't stand Graham, but I didn't like it when the GOP similarly took Obama out of context on "You didn't build that" so I don't want to be a hypocrite and do it to them no matter how satisfying it may feel.
Van Susteren: Senator Hagel has been nominated by the president to be the new secretary of defense. How are you going to vote on that one?
Graham: It will depend on what he says at the hearing Thursday. But the one thing I'm not gonna do is vote on a new secretary of defense until the old secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, who I like very much, testifies about what happened in Benghazi. I haven't forgotten about what happened in Benghazi. Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my view. She said they had a clear-eyes view of the threats. How can they have a clear-eyes view of the threats in Benghazi when you didn't know about the Ambassador's cable coming back?
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)poor choice of words or not
dballance
(5,756 posts)The only reason it got traction is because it makes a great, sensationalist headline that will drive ratings and web traffic.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)context; if he didn't mean it literally, it's on him to own the words and apologize for them. Democrats are not obligated to start tsk, tsking and offering up excuses for him and/or them.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Inuca
(8,945 posts)karynnj
(59,475 posts)In context, it is clear that he is using the phrase "got away with murder" to mean that she was not held to account. Had they been speaking of something that did not involve the deaths of people, this would have been understood in the colloquial way he likely meant. The problem is that people died -- and others to the right of Graham have said it was her fault. This makes his comment ambiguous. Is he going further than the far right and not just saying she was negligent, but saying it was murder, which would mean intent? I seriously doubt that. Or was he just using a common colloquial phrase when he clearly should have known better?
(Even not held to account ignores 5 hours of testimony.)
CBHagman
(16,968 posts)...I don't buy it that nuance even matters here. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the use of the phrase "got away with murder" owed less to Graham speaking off the cuff than it did to trotting out a prearranged phrase.
This is not the GOP being gosh-darn sincere. It's about getting the administration and, by extension, Democrats.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)dballance
(5,756 posts)But I still believe he meant it with respect to her testimony. Although the GOP is flat out stupid I have my doubts they'd really want to call the most popular SoS in recent history a murderer and flat out say she "murdered" Ambassador Stevens and 3 other Americans in Bhengazi.
Some Dem with a spine needs to stand up on one of these shows and point out there were more than 50 attacks on US consulates and Embassies while W. was in office and there was no media coverage and no hearings about any of them.
Oh, if it was a meme they wanted to start they really blew it. Just like with McShame's and Rant Paul's questioning I'd bet Graham has helped to add points to Hilary's approval rating.
frylock
(34,825 posts)please put that in context for us, won't you?
dballance
(5,756 posts)Or are you going to play McCain and say my answers are unsatisfactory?
frylock
(34,825 posts)when he said "Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my view." if you want to defend this fool, then knock yourself out. democrats should be very vocal in their condemnation of this idiot and his choice of words.
brush
(53,475 posts)weeks ago instead of grandstanding in front of cameras to trash Susan Rice. If they had their questions to Panetta would have been answered. John Kerry just gave that same advice to (I forget his name) who tried the same BS tactic with Hillary last week.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)their balls in her briefcase, loosely translated.
Beacool
(30,244 posts)Regardless, he still is a jackass!!!
rgbecker
(4,806 posts)Just wondering.
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)Bucky
(53,795 posts)Or wiki. I mean, what the fuck?
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Come out, Lindsey. You'll feel much better.
butterflygirl
(44 posts)You know deep down you are in love with John McCain.
pink-o
(4,056 posts)I would've posted it, but I figured someone beat me to the punch!
But y'all realize, Lindsay would never "hit bottom". He's gotta BE a bottom.
FSogol
(45,360 posts)Dan
(3,524 posts)JaneQPublic
(7,113 posts)...with the other guy hitting his bottom.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)He must have ignored it or failed to listen to the report and what is he doing trying to keep weapons of war and high capacity magazines and clips on the market. This is something we can hold him and others nit willing to stand up to the NRA and get these weapons off the market. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
moman
(73 posts)Graham always plays this game with an election near.The Nuts who run the Republican cult down here in SC call him a "moderate(gasp!) or their favorite,a RINO.So he spouts off a bunch of Right Wing BS and plays the race card a Little bit and the good ol bos are singing his praises again!
polynomial
(750 posts)To begin many know the University system is prolific with fraternities and Graham belonged to one of those, Pi Kappa Phi, which has the star and the lamp as icon symbols on their coats of arms. From my view that context seems reasonable for the star perhaps its Jewish, and lamp looks very Arabic. Does that mean Graham is fond of Jews or of Arabs? That should be a hard laugh and giggle.
Think about it, College students learn to join a union from the start, they call it a fraternity, of which many are tax deductible, those 501 c things, but in fraternities in college they get money for research that could impact national standards or advance their personal achievements let say in the electronics or biomedical sciences.
Heck millions are spent by the Army, Navy, Air force for advanced secret research stuff Americans dont even see. Being able to participate in serious studies would be a cool thing to be able to get into, though the insiders have been doing that for decades. Or think about these state universities are subsidized by public taxes. Perhaps our taxes find a way to Lindseys old university.
Then we hear personal crap in public interviews that violate the basic mission statement of Grahams fraternity it wreaks in the stench of decadence in poor leadership. Besides, Lindsey always condemning unions, but paying due when he belonged to a union/ fraternity.
Or, endorsing fatalism by speaking up for automatic weapons where women should use machine guns to protect themselves. Lindsey Olin Graham is loaded with leadership that promotes a sick society. Ladies and Gentlemen of America what we need is dialog that does not need women to have to use a machine gun to protect herself. America does not need to resort in torture to gain victory in a war. War is ugly enough torturing to succeed is a failed culture.
Filibuster Harry
(666 posts)lastlib
(22,981 posts)there's no depth this side of hell that that POS won't sink to....
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)Sorry, I misread your subject line. Nevermind...
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)This assclown was my congressman, and is now one of my two senators. There is no "bottom" with this jerk.