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After the Republican presidential debate in Myrtle Beach last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Fox News, "I hope people in the country understand that we're Ronald Reagan Republicans in South Carolina. We believe in peace through strength and we're not isolationists." In an interview the next day, Graham's fellow South Carolinian Sen. Jim DeMint said on Fox Business,"If we spread ourselves too thin around the world we're not going to be able to defend the homeland, particularly with the level of debt that we have right now. It's foolish for us to think that we can have military bases...

Last Thursday — which happened to be the 220th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights — the Senate passed a defense bill that demonstrates just how cavalier Congress can be with our fundamental liberties. Given the opportunity to clarify existing law and confirm that American citizens are not subject to indefinite military detention at the order of the president — Congress punted. After a debate in which key members seriously contemplated empowering the president to "Gitmo-ize" Americans suspected of terrorist activity, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 leaves the question open. Maybe he can, maybe he...

Complete title: ‘On What?’--McCain Says He Didn’t Know Defense Bill He Approved Repealed Military Ban on Sodomy, Bestiality Video at link (CNSNews.com) - Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that he did not know that the 926-page Defense Department authorization bill that came through his committee and was approved by the Senate last week on 93 to 7 vote included a provision that would repeal the military’s ban on sodomy and bestiality if the bill becomes law. CNSNews.com asked McCain: “Senator, did you read the Defense authorization bill that...

Under the ‘worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial’ provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is set to be up for a vote on the Senate floor this week, the legislation will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports the bill. The bill was drafted in SECRET by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), before being passed in a closed-door committee meeting without any kind of hearing. The language appears in sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA...

Sen. Rand Paul Defends American Citizens Against Indefinite Detainment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rghhz_t5POo&feature=player_embedded Good video.

Remember that debate between Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, where Mr. Gingrich suggested we should expand and strengthen the Patriot Act in the name of protecting US citizens from terrorists? Mr. Gingrich indicated that there exists a line between criminal law and the war on terror, and that we need not worry the government will overstep its bounds. While Americans enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend and join the annual running of the bulls celebration at malls and retail outlets, something sinister is taking place in Congress – and it should scare the hell out of you. If the President and...

While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself. Senators need to hear from you, on whether you think your front yard is part of a “battlefield” and...

IF YOU THOUGHT POLICE BRUTALITY WAS BAD … WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT CONGRESS WANTS TO DO NEXT WEEK The police brutality against peaceful protesters in Berkeley, Davis, Oakland and elsewhere is bad enough. But next week, Congress will vote on explicitly creating a police state. The ACLU’s Washington legislative office explains: The Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a...

Can the president use the military to arrest anyone he wants, keep that person away from a judge and jury, and lock him up for as long as he wants? In the Senate's dark and terrifying vision of the Constitution, he can. Congress is supposed to work in public. That requirement is in the Constitution. It is there because the folks who wrote the Constitution had suffered long and hard under the British Privy Council, a secret group that advised the king and ran his government. We know from the now-defunct supercommittee, and other times when Congress has locked its...

These days, virtually all Republicans call themselves “conservatives” and claim to be dedicated to cutting spending, balancing budgets, reducing debts and limiting government. Most of them are liars. The failure of the super committee this week was but the latest reminder. The super committee was supposed to figure out how to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. If it failed, the result was supposed to be $1.2 trillion in “automatic cuts” over the next decade, with about $600 billion of that coming from the defense budget. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said any such cuts would be “devastating”...

WASHINGTON -- If U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to know why his foreign aid bill has stalled in the Senate, he need only look in the direction of the junior senator from South Carolina. In an extraordinary clash between Republican senators from the same state, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint forced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to postpone consideration this week of a $53.3 billion foreign aid bill, backed by Graham. DeMint demanded the bill be debated by itself and not combined with other spending measures. “I respect and work well with Lindsey, and I share his goal to secure our...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that he does not believe that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay will close because the Obama administration has not found better options for holding enemy combatants. “I have tried to be as supportive as I know how to be in creating flexibility for the executive branch and not micromanage the war,” Graham told Attorney General Eric Holder, who was testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

(snip) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the dinner was scheduled long before POLITICO reported about the sexual harassment allegations that have since rocked Cain's campaign. "I never met Herman Cain, I'm going to meet him tonight at dinner," said Graham, who is expecting the Cain controversy to die down. "He's going to meet some people in town. I think people are intrigued by him." (snip)

(snip) Graham said it is crucial for the U.S. to continue to support Israel, and said the president has "thrown Israel under the bus" by talking about settlements and pre-1967 borders. "It is our best friend in the Middle East," Graham said. He did praise the president for sending military advisers into Uganda.Graham said he is hoping to hear more on foreign policy from the Republican presidential candidates. "Rick Santorum is speaking like Ronald Reagan better than anybody else on peace and strength," Graham said. "Ronald Reagan confronted the challenges of his time. He did not isolate America." Graham declined...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who’s taken on tough tasks from immigration reform to climate change, faces another one as he calls for spending billions of dollars overseas on unpopular foreign aid programs that he insists are vital to U.S. national security. With Congress facing mandatory spending cuts and previously sacrosanct military programs on the chopping block, Graham is trying to protect funding for foreign aid even as most Americans oppose it – 71 percent in a recent poll – and other Republican leaders call for focusing U.S. resources at home. “It is a tough sell, but you can be...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hailed the death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Thursday but chastised Congress for its hesitance to assist anti-Gadhafi Libyan rebels and for criticizing President Barack Obama’s use of U.S. military resources to assist in air strikes. “I’m very disappointed in Congress,” said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Congress took an irrational view of the War Powers Act. I guarantee you that a lot Republicans who wanted the War Power Act invoked would not have asked for it to be invoked if President Obama were not president. To me, national security...

In March, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was urging President Barack Obama to better define the U.S. military’s role in Libya and seek Congress’s approval to use force in the north African nation. But after a day touring the streets of Tripoli and meeting rebel leaders who overthrew the regime of Col. Moammar Qadhafi, Kirk praised Obama’s handling of the Libyan conflict as a undeniable “success.” “This is a victory for the United States military, for our British and French allies, for NATO, for the president of the United States, but most importantly for the Libyan people. …” Kirk said in...

The president of local biotechnology firm GenPhar is accused of defrauding the federal government out of at least $3.6 million the company received to research vaccines against deadly diseases. The charges are contained in federal indictments unsealed today that also accuse GenPhar president Jian-Yun Dong and his estranged wife of making at least $31,000 in illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and his political action committee. Dong, who also is chief executive officer of GenPhar, is accused of submitting false claims to federal agencies, converting grant funds to his own use and committing wire fraud to scam the...

(snip) Beyond South Carolina, Graham thinks the GOP should look to all corners of the country, “our pretty deep pool,” for its vice-presidential nominee. The Northeast, he predicts, could be the place to find a leader who balances the ticket. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, he says, would be excellent. Or, if Republicans were looking to Florida, freshman Sen. Marco Rubio, “a good guy, would obviously be very helpful.” Those two names, I say, are obvious. Graham smiles and floats another: Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor. “I know it would create problems on the social side,” he...

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Like a proud father looking to relinquish control of the family business, Sen. John McCain is pushing soft-spoken Sen. Rob Portman to take a more assertive leadership role on Capitol Hill. Long impressed with Portman’s policy expertise and agreeable demeanor — “It’s a trait I wish I had more of,” the often-prickly Arizona Republican said — McCain strongly urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to appoint the Ohioan to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction and continues to encourage his freshman GOP colleague, at times rather strongly, to be more aggressive. This isn’t the first time that McCain, his...

Four of the Senate’s top voices on foreign policy voiced their support Friday for the Obama administration’s move to formally recognize rebel leaders as the legitimate governing authority of Libya. “We welcome the Administration’s decision to recognize the Transitional National Council (TNC) as the legitimate governing authority of Libya,” said Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) in a statement.

A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable shows that Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain promised to help Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi obtain U.S. military hardware in 2009. The cable, released by the open information group WikiLeaks, reveals the pledge came at meeting that was attended by other prominent members of Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).In the meeting, Muatassim Qadhafi, the Libyan leader’s fifth son and national security adviser, requested U.S. assistance in obtaining military supplies, both lethal and non-lethal. The cable indicates that McCain was the dominant voice among the congressional delegation in a...

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says the recent debate over the nation's debt ceiling shows he's in line with the tea party. The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Graham met with the Charleston Tea Party on Monday in a rather relaxed meeting. A year ago, the meeting was so tense with tea partiers questioning his positions that the senator asked the media to leave.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on Monday called on the U.S. government to send more money to Middle East countries in turmoil to push them toward democracy. Speaking to the Columbia Rotary Club, Graham — the ranking Republican on a Senate foreign policy subcommittee — said he is working on a $1 billion package of aid for Egypt before that country’s November elections.

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today released the following statement applauding President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power in Syria, and urging other nations to also call for and take action to end the Assad regime: “We applaud President Obama for calling on Bashar al Assad to leave power, a position we have long argued should be the policy of the United States.(snip) “We urge other nations to join the United States in demanding an end to the Assad regime, whose legitimacy is clearly exhausted. We...

ROCK HILL, SC - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said the recent downgrade of the country's bond rating by Standard & Poor's is a "wake-up call" for national leaders to keep looking for ways to boost the economy and spur job creation. The S.C. Republican also said it's important for bipartisan talks on those issues, saying neither political party alone can solve the major problems facing the country. Graham spoke Thursday before more than 50 attendees of a luncheon held by the Rock Hill Rotary club. His talk focused primarily on the economy, military efforts in the Middle East and immigration...

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says a balanced budget is the only way to deal with the country’s long term fiscal situation, even as the White House continues to reject the proposal as “draconian.” Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union" Sunday, Graham said that Republicans would raise the debt ceiling only in exchange for the requirements in the “Cut, Cap and Balance” legislation the House is expected to vote this week. That bill would cut government spending to 2008 levels, cap spending for the next decade, and require the passage of a balanced budget constitutional amendment. “For those three things,...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham conceded Wednesday that he and his fellow Republicans are now eating their own words as they try to convince the country they are working to stave off a federal default. “Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months. How many Republicans have been on TV saying, ‘I’m not going to raise the debt limit.’ You know, Mitch [McConnell] says, ‘I’m not going to raise the debt limit unless we talk about Medicare.’ And I’ve said I’m not going to raise the debt limit until we do something about spending and...

As Congress and the president try to strike a deal to cut spending and raise the debt ceiling, one Republican Senator tells ABC News that prospects look bleak. “Right now I’m very worried,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told ABC News “Subway Series.” “If I were a betting man, I’d bet no [deal].” (snip) Senator Graham said Republicans should be willing to accept a deal that curbs entitlement spending and increases tax revenues by closing loopholes. (snip) The obvious solution, Graham said, is for Republicans to give some ground on taxes and for Democrats to give some ground on entitlements. But...

Bill - S. 1323: "Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and ordered to be placed on the calendar" "Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort." The Final Vote was 69-27 in favor. 17 "Republicans" joined Reid in support of his Class War ideology propaganda game (a vote which carries not weight). 24 Republicans wanted no part of this (along with 1 Dem) So who...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sen. Lindsey Graham is the kind of Republican whom tea party activists want to boot from the Senate, though even they think he’d be hard to oust in a primary three years from now. If South Carolina’s political insiders are correct, Graham has little to worry about in 2014 despite a flirtation with Democrats on politically explosive issues that has enraged many in South Carolina’s tea-party-influenced, conservative GOP base. That anger was on display recently in Greenville, S.C., when tea party activists attending a presidential campaign rally for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) sported “RINO Hunter” T-shirts and...

U.S. senators are spending more tax dollars traveling the globe than ever before. Channel 9’s Washington bureau discovered some elected officials are racking up record expenses on flights, food and sometimes booze.(snip) Lindsey Graham was on the same Afghanistan trek and has racked up similar expenses. (snip) But senators aren't just using tax money to visit war zones. Other senators from other states have sipped cocktails at the Eiffel Tower and taken trips to Greece, London and China.Some spent time at the luxurious Conrad Hotel in Brussels -- a hotel with spa service and an in-house restaurant specializing in shrimp...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned on Tuesday that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is "serious" about attacking European cities in order to pressure European officials to cease their airstrikes against Libya. "He actually means it," Graham said of Gadhafi. "Hitler meant it. He means it." Graham spoke in a colloquy with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and used borderline apocalyptic tones about the need to remove Gadhafi from power. "I know we're a war-weary nation, but there is no upside to Gadhafi staying in power," he said. "That is a national security nightmare for this country." Graham added that while the top...

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Thursday the survival of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime could spell the end of NATO. “Logically you can exact that if he [Gadhafi] outlasts NATO, the Arab spring is over,” said Graham. "…He will take it out on his people, I think it will affect the price of oil and would be the end of NATO because NATO taking on Gadhafi and losing -- its going to be very hard for that organization to go off to another war and be taken seriously.” Speaking on the Senate floor, Graham and...

Well, John McCain and Lindsey Graham are at it again. Every neoconservatives favorite pair of Senators have subjected opponents of action in Libya and the future of Afghanistan as "isolationist". I'll address the ignorance of the neo conservatives regarding over extension of force in a future post, but right now they need to be called out for their pathetic defense of our current interventions. Let me say that like most or all conservatives I supported invading Afghanistan because as we all know they were harboring Bin Laden. No brainer. I supported the invasion of Iraq on the basis he had...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that any Republican-backed plan to raise more government revenue would have to come from eliminating subsidies and tax deductions, not by raising taxes. "No one on the Republican side is going to vote to raise taxes, but I think many of us would look at flattening the tax code, doing away with deductions and exemptions and take that revenue and help pay off the debt," said Graham on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Congress should not interfere with U.S. operations in Libya. "Congress should sort of shut up and not empower [Libyan leader Muammar] Qadhafi," Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Congressional critics of the Libya action have been floating the possibility of defunding military operations there, or invoking the War Powers Act to force and end to the military operation. "I would take the course that conservatives have been taking for the last 30 years -- The War Powers Act is unconstitutional, not worth the paper its written on," Graham declared. "It's an infringement...

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized his party's presidential candidates and congressional leaders for increasingly advocating an international isolationism that he said repudiates the legacies of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The South Carolina senator mocked seven GOP presidential candidates' discussion of foreign policy in Monday night's New Hampshire debate as "shallow" and full of "platitudes."(snip) "I was very disappointed that no one articulated why it matters if we win or lose in Afghanistan," Graham said. "No one articulated what would happen if (Libyan strongman Moammar) Gadhafi stays in power. So we have Republicans talking about stopping...

The term “isolationist” is much like the word “racist” in that it has become almost useless due to its overuse. For example, if the Left rightly considers Ku Klux Klan members racist—but also members of the Tea Party who merely criticize President Obama “racist”—such a glaring logical disparity cries out for a reassessment of terminology. A word that can mean anything can quickly become meaningless—and it also becomes a great rhetorical weapon in a political environment that substitutes smears for thoughtful debate. Such was the case at the Wall Street Journal last week which published an editorial entitled: “The Kucinich...

(snip) Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said Mr. Obama "was absolutely wrong" in his decision to intervene in Libya. "I'd bring them home as quickly as possible," Texas Rep. Ron Paul said of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, "and I'd get them out of Iraq as well, and I wouldn't start a war in Libya, I'd quit bombing Yemen, and I'd quit bombing Pakistan. I'd start taking care of people here at home, because we could save hundreds of billions of dollars." "I was incredibly disappointed," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. "No one seemed to have a passion for...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that it’s time to consider international intervention in Syria to avoid the further “slaughter” of people there by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. “If it made sense to protect the Libyan people against Gadhafi, and it did because they were going to get slaughtered if we hadn’t sent NATO in when he was on the outskirts of Benghazi, the question for the world [is], have we gotten to that point in Syria,” Graham said on the CBS' "Face the Nation."

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is hopeful that his bill to create a National Infrastructure Bank will move through the Senate this year. The bill could be the best shot for those seeking to boost transportation, energy and water infrastructure investment in a Congress focused on “rapacious” spending cuts, Kerry said. The Kerry bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), would create an independent, nonprofit bank that would leverage private investment into infrastructure projects. The bill was introduced in March.

The 18 Senators Who Approve Breaking The Internet To Protect Hollywood from the not-cool dept Last fall, we noted that the Senate Judiciary Committee had unanimously voted to approve COICA, a bill for censoring the internet as a favor to the entertainment industry. Thankfully, Senator Ron Wyden stepped up and blocked COICA from progressing. This year, COICA has been replaced by the PROTECT IP Act, which fixes some of the problems of COICA, but introduces significant other problems as well. A wide cross section of people who actually understand technology and innovation have come out against PROTECT IP as written...

Despite the past two and a half years America has been run by a president who is in every respect a socialist with communist tendencies, the pathetic GOP cannot effectively mount a first-tier candidate to seriously challenge this diminutive Marxist professor. Why? Because for 40 years the GOP has used the rhetoric of conservative Ronald Reagan, but the tactics, strategies and policies of RINO Richard Nixon. Indeed, Reagan is lionized by today's GOP and has been for 30 years since his two successful presidential terms (1981-89), yet it reminds me of the words of Christ rebuking the hypocritical and power-hungry...

NOTICE: FR DOES NOT AND WILL NOT SUPPORT ABORTIONIST, GAY RIGHTS PUSHING BIG GOVERNMENT STATISTS FOR PRESIDENT!! This message is intended for those posters on FR who seem to have missed my prior statements in this regard and insist on advocating for these bastards. I'd rather shut the place down than be involved in any effort to install abortionist/gay rights pushing RINOS like Romney or Giuliani into the White House!! Do NOT push this crap on FR. Take your business elsewhere!! And I don't care how long you've been here!!

(snip) Shortly after Obama’s speech, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters that he is prepared to go out on a limb for the president to support his plan for investing billions of dollars to spur democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. “I am willing to take the bruises and stand by Obama to engage countries like Egypt and Tunisia and stay involved in Libya and finish the job in Iraq,” Graham said. “I am willing to take American dollars at a time when we’re flat broke, go back home and suffer the consequences of sending aid to Egypt...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), when talking to Capitol reporters, said that Fox News makes it difficult for him to garner support for his stance on immigration reform, which includes a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens already living in the country. The senator, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that Fox News using the word “amnesty” during the 24-hour news cycle has hindered support for his position on reforming the U.S. immigration system, which lawmakers on both sides say is broken. “In today’s world, it’s very hard for bi-partisan agreements to be formed,” said Graham, “because...