Ah, to be Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) when he is getting praised by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post!
What a joy it must be for the senior senator from South Carolina to go down this road:
"The people that call me a RINO would call Ronald Reagan a RINO," he protested. "Reagan worked with Tip O'Neill to increase taxes to save Social Security."
Ah, Lindsay, whats the matter? You can not take that there are Republicans that see things differently from you? Is that it?
Now, I think that by and large, Sen. Graham is one that I would refer to as instinctively conservative. The natural thought process is that of a conservative.
But there are some really serious issues that Sen. Graham just gets wrong.
One of those is the willingness to deal with the Dear Leader, President Obama on two issues.
The closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center and so-called illegal immigration "reform".
The issue that Mr. Milbank is focused on is the closure of the detention center.
The Dear Leader, President Obama, made it a hallmark in the opening days of his administration. Why the Dear Leader, President Obama, went so far as to sign an executive order that the detention center would be closed by January 20, 2010.
OOPS!
Well, January 20, 2010 has come and gone. And there are still enemy combatants still imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.
And to make matters worse, the Attorney General, Eric Holder, decided that hey, a really swell idea would be to try the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammad, not only in civilian court. But right in New York City, mere blocks from the World Trade Center site.
And now, Mr. Holder and the Dear Leader, President Obama, are backtracking on that.
Here comes Sen. Graham offering the Dear Leader, President Obama, a, ta da!-compromise!
The Dear Leader, President Obama, can send Mr. Mohammad to a military tribunal and he would help provide the votes to fund the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. And also try another way to try the baddest of the bad terrorists.
This is why Sen. Graham does not get it.
See, the terrorists do not care one wit about our legal system. Or how some people would rather make an impression on the world than protect the American people. The terrorists will use our legal system and the natural sense of fair play against us. That will make us less safe. It will embolden those who aim to kill as many of us as possible, disrupt and destroy our way of life.
That is why we must use the military tribunals, not civilian courts to try those who have or will do any of the above. And, those that we are holding should not be held on American soil. That of the 48 contiguous states, Alaska or Hawai'i. And yes, these are enemy combatants and they have declared war on the United States.
That is why it is mind-numbing to conservatives when someone like Sen. Graham, a JAG in the marine corp, wants to cut this kind of deal with an administration that will bend it on its ear.
I do believe that Sen. Graham thinks this is a good compromise.
But, what Sen. Graham does not mention in his attempt to paint former President Reagan as a RINO is this.
Mr. Reagan had a Democrat-controlled House and a Republican senate. He knew that he could not do what really needed to be done in regards to Social Security. He needed a compromise. And a commission decided the tax hikes that "saved" Social Security. Which may go belly-up well before 2020.
Some compromises are a good thing.
What Sen. Graham wants to do in regards to Guantanamo Bay and military tribunals is not the way to go.
And getting praised in the pages of the Washington Post adds little to those that think his ideas are not all that great.
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