Free Republic

....And he said that both the GOP nominee, Dede Scozzafava and the conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman were both out of the mainstream of the upstate New York district – which lead to the victory of Democrat Bill Owens Tuesday night.

Preventive detention will continue to have a place in the war on terror. BY LINDSEY GRAHAM and JOHN MCCAIN When President Barack Obama declassified and released legal memoranda from the Department of Justice, he opened the door to a drawn-out battle over the Bush administration's use of coercive interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists. We believe that any subsequent attempts to subject those who provided such legal advice to prosecutions are a mistake. They will have a chilling effect on the candor with which future government officials provide their best counsel. The country must move on from debates about the past,...

Key lawmakers from both parties have held tentative talks about overhauling the Social Security system, and Congress could turn its attention to the federal retirement program as soon as this fall if a bipartisan concensus emerges, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said yesterday. "I am hopeful. It's a tough issue," Hoyer (D-Md.) said in an interview. . . . . So far, Democrats have found a willing partner in the Senate, where Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has stated his desire to work with President Obama to make changes to keep Social Security solvent. . . . . Graham...

Two leading Republicans say Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to become a Democrat highlights the hostility moderates feel from an increasingly conservative GOP. “You haven't certainly heard warm encouraging words about how [the GOP] views moderates,” said Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, one of the few remaining moderate Republicans in the Senate. Snowe said the party's message has been, “Either you're with us or you’re against us.” Her frustration was shared by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), who slammed right-wing interest groups for pushing moderates out of the party. Specter switched parties Tuesday after a recent poll showed him badly losing a Pennsylvania...

When it comes to immigration, it seems the chaos on the border is exceeded only by the chaos in Washington. That is especially curious since Members of Congress are usually famous for being able to read which way the political wind is blowing. In this case, however, it appears they would be well served to commit to reading the results of a recent, reputable bi-partisan national survey of voter attitudes on immigration. What its findings show is not at all startling, and is indeed testimony to the common sense of US Americans. With solutions to border, immigration, and guest worker...

Lindsay Graham on Fox Now. Says there was never any agreement on bailout bill between dems and Repubs. Best nugget: Dems have inserted provision into their bill to give several billion (with a "b") dollars to ACORN. ACORN is probably the most corrupt organized crime organization involved in voting fraud and intimidation. There is no bill. Rep. Barney Frank was on MSNBC wailing about Repub treachery and bad-mouting all the Repubs who met today with Bush. Chris Dodd said, "I'm going home" and walked out. My sense is that the Dems tried to bully McCain into supporting the Dem bill....

Other conservatives in this dependably Republican state are unhappy with Graham for supporting the failed Senate effort to legalize illegal immigrants and for his role in the 2005 bipartisan compromise that preserved the right of the Senate minority to filibuster judicial nominees. In the midst of this unease, several local Republicans -- including the lieutenant governor -- have floated the possibility of challenging Graham from the right for the GOP Senate nomination next year. In Connecticut, Republican Rep. Christopher Shays has a different problem. Last year, he narrowly survived a Democratic tide that left him the sole Republican holding a...

Yesterday, a GOP aide, who is one of my sources in the Senate, gave me the rundown on what's happening with the Senate immigration bill.. First of all, on Tuesday, after the first cloture vote, the bill was supposed to come out around 2:30 P.M. on Tuesday. However, it didn't actually get handed out until around 5:15 P.M. This was a problem, in and of itself, because we're talking 373 pages and the 2nd cloture vote is on Thursday. That was a lot of material for these senators to pour through in such a short time. Then on Wednesday morning,...

Lee Rogers, chairman of the Republican Party in Anderson County, S.C., was at the beach last week when his cell phone rang. It was an urgent call from one of Rogers' 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, nearing the end of his first Senate term, has taken plenty of heat before, but perhaps never...

A broad immigration bill to legalize millions of people in the U.S. unlawfully failed a crucial test vote in the Senate Thursday, a stunning setback that could spell its defeat for the year. The vote was 45-50 against limiting debate on the bill, 15 short of the 60 that the bill's supporters needed to prevail. Most Republicans voted to block Democrats' efforts to bring the bill to a final vote. The legislation, which had been endorsed by President Bush, would tighten borders, institute a new system to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers in addition to giving up to 12...

(Columbia) -- US Senator Lindsey Graham has amassed roughly $3.7 million for his 2008 campaign. The South Carolina Republican doesn't have a formal opponent. But he has more money than most of his Senate colleagues facing re-election next year. Graham says he doesn't know who might challenge him, but he will be ready for anyone. He says he's serious about keeping his job. Only three of the 32 other US senators facing re-election in 2008 have more money. Those are Republican Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. Graham served...

President Bush: We’re now approaching the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — and the families of those murdered that day have waited patiently for justice. Some of the families are with us today — they should have to wait no longer. While we are glad to see that KSM and the other killers will (hopefully) now pay for their roles in 9/11, more than anything we wanted President Bush to first take the fight to the enemy and do whatever was necessary to prevent another attack. He has not faltered and he has not failed.Despite the ridiculous interference by...

Three military veterans in the Senate -- one a Vietnam POW, one a military lawyer, one a veteran of both World War II and Korea, and all Republicans in good standing -- want Congress to prohibit the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of all people detained by the U.S. military, no matter what their status. The Bush administration has threatened to veto their effort. Here are 10 reasons the bill Sens. John McCain, John Warner and Lindsay Graham are championing deserves support, and why the White House is wrong to oppose it: • It is ludicrous on its face to...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record)'s role in a compromise on filibusters against President Bush's judicial picks did not go over well with some GOP regulars in this Republican state. The first-term Republican, who in 2002 succeeded Strom Thurmond, was among 14 lawmakers — seven from each party — who abandoned their leaders and reached a deal among themselves. They agreed to confirm some of Bush's stalled federal court nominees while leaving the door open for rejecting others. "It's one of the hottest issues I've seen since I've been chairman," said Katon Dawson, South Carolina's GOP chairman for three...

The filibuster isn't a noble institution, it's a tactic - and one with a checkered past, at that. Liberals decried it in the 1960s when segregationist Southern Democrats used it to thwart the will of the majority to block civil rights legislation. But at least that tawdry application of the filibuster was consistent with its purpose in the United States Senate as a procedure to force legislative compromise.

Senator Lindsey Graham is on Chris Matthews right now. He is just loving the attention he is getting from the liberal media tonight.

CALL SENATOR LINDSAY GRAHAM'S OFFICE IN COLUMBIA SC TO PROTEST HIS SELLING OUT TO THE DEMOCRATS BY AGREEING TO ENTER INTO A "COMPROMISE" ON THE FILIBUSTER. DON'T BOTHER WITH THE US CAPITOL NUMBER OFR HIM; IT'S ALWAYS BUSY. HIS NUMBER IN COLUMBIA IS: 803-933-0112

9 Republicans Who Will Make or Break the Constitutional Option Vote

3/7/2005 GOP senator Graham rankles some over comments on Lincoln By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor Senator Lindsey Graham has ignited a new furor in Washington over comments he made over the weekend referring to his state’s difficulty in “getting over” President Abraham Lincoln, with apparent reference to Lincoln’s role in the civil war and the freeing of American slaves, RAW STORY has learned. “We don’t do Lincoln Day Dinners in South Carolina,” Senator Graham told a Lincoln Day gathering in Tennessee Saturday. “It’s nothing personal, but it takes awhile to get over things.” According to a Knoxville News...