Does this dress make me look fat?
Posted on 06/17/2007 12:52:12 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
WASHINGTON -- Lee Rogers, chairman of the Anderson County Republican Party, was at the beach last week when his cell phone rang. It was an urgent call from one of Rogers' Upstate GOP activists.
"He asked me what I was going to do to find somebody to run against Lindsey Graham (next year)," Rogers said. "I explained to the gentleman that's not something I can put together as a single county chairman. That's got to happen with the people."
It could be happening.
Graham, a Seneca Republican nearing the end of his first Senate term, has taken plenty of heat before, but perhaps never like this.
Thanks to his high-profile help in crafting an immigration reform bill that has stalled in the Senate, constituents call and leave screaming messages on his office voice mail.
"NO AMNESTY! NO AMNESTY!" one repeat caller yells for a minute or more in angry overnight messages that greet his aides in the morning.
Graham's staff estimates that his Senate offices have received about 3,000 letters, phone calls, e-mails and faxes about immigration in the last month, most of them critical of him. Talk-radio hosts within and beyond South Carolina deride Graham as a Ted Kennedy toady.
Rush Limbaugh has taken to calling him "Lindsey Grah-amnesty."
Bloggers challenge his manhood, assault his patriotism, mock his intellect.
Still worse for where he comes from, they belittle his Southern bona-fides.
Furious Republican loyalists lobby online for someone -- anyone -- to step forward and challenge Graham in the 2008 primary when he seeks re-election.
One Web site, dumplindsey.org, gets dozens of comments a day, few of them friendly.
"Did anyone go and see Benedict Arnold Graham and bring rotten eggs and tomatoes?" a blogger named j--richard wrote in the comments section of a Greenville News article about a recent appearance there by Graham to boost the immigration bill.
The names of possible GOP primary challengers to Graham fly across the Internet:
Gov. Mark Sanford and Rep. Gresham Barrett. Attorney General Henry McMaster. Charlie Condon, Mark McBride, Oscar Lovelace. Greg Ryberg and Buddy Witherspoon.
The name mentioned most often is State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel.
In an online survey Thursday, SCHotline.com asked whether Ravenel should break his treasury campaign pledge not to challenge Graham next year. Among 342 responders, 53 percent said "yes" while 47 percent chose "no."
"He's humbled and flattered that there are folks out there who are mentioning his name as a (Senate) candidate, but he believes in honoring his commitment," Scott Malyerk, a spokesman for Ravenel, said Thursday. "Nothing's changed."
With Graham's high national as well as statewide name recognition and his campaign war chest approaching $4 million, GOP political operatives say, any window for mounting a viable campaign against him is closing fast.
"There could be some potential political damage, but whether or not his nomination is in jeopardy, I don't know," said Rogers of Anderson County. "If somebody's going to do it, they need to do it now, and they need to get at it."
Graham said he's ready for any opponent, Republican or Democrat.
"Anyone who runs against me better get up early and stay late because I think I've been one heck of a good senator for my state and my party," Graham said Thursday in an interview. "I intend to seek office on the basis that I am not afraid to do what needs to be done."
Lindsey, you are living in denial, and it isn't in Egypt
I don't think these knuckleheads understand how mad we conservatives are.
Comment:
Se Senor Grahamnesty.
Plenty of illegals get up every morning early for their trek to Home Deport and get on their knees, looking East and say “Gracious Senor Grahamnesty”.
Dang, he’s a hottie!
Stay out if you don’t have the brass cajoles to take on this RINO.
Even if it means not doing what the overwhelming majority of your voting constituents wants you to do. That's not courage, that's Bushit as well as asinine.
CALL! CALL! CALL! CALL! AND KEEP CALLING TILL THE LINES FRY!
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti illegal immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them. This is a bipartisan issue not a Conservative or Liberal issue BUT AN AMERICAN issue.
I think if someone runs against him in the primaries - the grass roots will make sure that candidate has the resources to beat Lindsey - the limp spined Rino!!
“That answer should be decipherable at Open Secrets . Graham gets a fair amount of money from Agribusiness and Contractors, but he receives more than most Republicans from law firms. These might well be immigration lawyers, by whom and for whom the Senate Amnesty bill has been written.”
Thank for the info!
LOL!!
‘Graham...thought he would be on the McCain-Graham ticket and become VP in 08..... Now, with McCain’s declining poll numbers, Graham may be in search of a Plan.’
Exactly what i believe. Graham was acting like a puppy dog to McCain. Doubt, Rudy, Mitt or Fred will think Lindsey’s a good VP candidate. Hope SC can find a good R candidate to trounce Graham(and any Dem) in his re-election bid.
Does this dress make me look fat?
If Graham cracker is the nominee, then the Dhimmis will nominatge an anti-illegal-immigrant candidate and gain another seat in the Senate. A word to the wise is sufficient.
First, we must stop calling this crisis an “immigration issue.”
It is a massive invasion of the United States by foreigners, the largest demographic shift of populations in the history of the world.
Like any invading army illegal aliens pouring into America are taking over the country, occupying territory, seizing resources and seeking to change our laws, customs and language.
Meanwhile the government in Washington does not appear to even be aware of the true nature of the invasion. President Bush sent 200,000 troops to guard Iraqi borders but could spare only a tiny handful to guard our own.
Where am I wrong?
Great Caesar's Ghost! This guy's more delusional than I thought!
Somebody grab the tranquilizer dart fast!
Just say NO to Illegal Alien Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
LOL!
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/17382983.htm
To claim that Graham takes all the anger directed at him in stride would be a stretch.
But he says the political fire and brimstone comes with his job - especially the way he views it.
“You can call me by any name you want to call me,” Graham said. “I’m 51 years old, and I’m not going to be deterred by ugly things being said about me. If I am no bigger than that, I’m in the wrong job. If I cannot withstand the ugly things being said about me in order to do what I think is right for my state and my country, then I’m letting most people down.”
While Graham expressed confidence that he will gain re-election next year, he said he is willing to risk losing his Senate seat if that’s the price for taking on tough problems.
“I had rather lose my job as a senator than to pass the buck and not deal with the hard problems,” Graham said. “I have never been afraid of talking about difficult, emotional issues because I believe that’s what most people want me to do. People are really upset that our borders are broken, and I am, too.”
Graham is no stranger to controversy. Sometimes he seems almost to revel in it.
From floating the idea of raising taxes to solidify Social Security and advocating due process for alleged terrorists, to joining the “Gang of 14” centrist senators who prevented a Senate showdown over judicial nominees - Graham has been in the middle of the thorniest issues.
Liberals exorcised Graham in 1998 for his leading role in the House impeachment trial of President Clinton.
Now, hard-core conservatives are accusing him of giving lawbreakers a piece of the American dream by backing legal status for the estimated 12 million undocumented foreigners in the country.
Whether the immigration bill becomes law or dies in Congress, many GOP operatives back home believe that Graham will survive the struggle.
“Lindsey Graham’s shopping basket of talents and performance on a range of issues is pretty big,” said Rick Beltram, chairman of the Spartanburg Republican Party. “He has support in the manufacturing base, he’s got support on trade and textile issues. The polls that we’ve done privately show that he’s still a pretty popular guy in the Upstate of South Carolina.”
CONTROVERSIAL POLITICS
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s outspoken stances on high-profile issues have often put him in the spotlight. His current support for immigration reform is the most recent in a series of flaps that have angered some conservatives in South Carolina and beyond:
DETAINEES: In the last two years, Graham was among a handful of Senate Republicans who successfully pushed for less aggressive interrogation methods in questioning suspected terrorists. He also insisted that detainees see the evidence used against them during trials before new military commissions.
At the same time, Graham’s leading role in denying detainees habeas corpus rights to challenge their confinement in federal court has infuriated many legal scholars and human rights activists.
JUDGES: Graham was in the “Gang of 14” senators - seven Democrats and seven Republicans - who in 2005 forged a compromise in handling President Bush’s judicial nominees.
Though Graham’s willingness to work with Senate Democrats outraged some conservatives, he says the deal led to Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.
LAWSUITS: A military lawyer, Graham was one of three Senate Republicans who helped block Congress last year from capping medical malpractice lawsuits.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM: While completing his House tenure in 2002, Graham supported the landmark bill putting new limits on political contributions. He and Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, introduced a bill last year to prohibit incumbent senators from fundraising more than 18 months before their next general election.
SOCIAL SECURITY: Graham pushed an ambitious proposal in 2003 to introduce voluntary private accounts in exchange for higher taxes to cover the loss of revenues from such accounts.
CIVIL RIGHTS: Graham cosponsored a successful resolution last year apologizing to lynching victims, most of whom lived in the South, for the Senate’s decades-long failure to pass legislation aimed at stopping such murders.
So?
Yeah, his fax is off the hook (not taking calls) this weekend. Been trying all weekend. Either ran out of paper or someone left it off the hook.
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