Gotta win re-election. Gotta win re-election. Gotta win re-election.
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
(CBS News) Until President Obama details his actions on the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Sen. Lindsey Graham will block votes on his nominees to head the Department of Defense and the CIA, the South Carolina Republican vowed today on "Face the Nation."
Graham said he'll heed advice floated by fellow Armed Services Committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., not to filibuster Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as defense secretary and John Brennan as CIA director. But, citing a recently unearthed letter that then-Sen. Joe Biden sent in 2005 pressing for further information before a vote on former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, Graham said he's going to urge the message among his colleagues, "No confirmation without information," and will place a hold on the confirmation votes - an action any Senate member reserves the right to take - until the White House explains its garbled talking points following the Libya attack.
Five days after what would come to be deemed an attack by extremists with "linkages" to al Qaeda, Amb. Susan Rice appeared on "Face the Nation" and said the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was "spontaneous," prompted by an inflammatory anti-Muslim video that had led to protests in Egypt and elsewhere. Graham, who led the protest that resulted in Rice removing her name from the secretary of state shortlist, issued the charge of "stonewalling" by the administration.
"I'm not going to stop until we get to the bottom of it," Graham said. "We know nothing about what the president did on the night of September 11, during a time of national crisis, and the American people need to know what their commander-in-chief did, if anything, during the eight-hour attack.
"...I don't know what the president did that evening," he continued. "I don't know if he ever called anyone. I know he never talked to the secretary of defense. I know that he never talked to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. ...I know the secretary of state never talked to the secretary of defense. This was incredibly mismanaged. And what we know now, it seems to be a very disengaged president."
Ok. I understand holding up the nomination of CIA John Brennan would be important. I fully support Lindsay Graham on that.
However, when you add Chuck Hagel to the picture, basically Graham is throwing Hagel under the bus, whether he wants to admit it or not.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Check out Senator Graham and his awesome interrogation of Chuck Hagel. Makes you really like him, right? NOT!
So this is a complete reversal of Senator Graham's original intentions:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/...
Sen. Lindsey Graham isn't committing to blocking former Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination to be secretary of defense.
Instead, he wants President Barack Obama to do that for him.
The South Carolina Republican issued a statement Tuesday morning saying he hoped the "Obama administration will reconsider his nomination."
Late Monday, he described Hagel's appearance last Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee - on which Graham sits - as less than "confidence-inspiring." Republicans on the committee peppered Hagel with critical questions about his past position on negotiations with Iran over its nuclear question, statements some have thought suggested he was not an ardent supporter of Israel, and other issues.
So far, no Republicans have stepped forward with a commitment to filibuster Hagel's confirmation.
It would be unprecedented for one to do so.
Unprecedented. UNPRECENTED!
Well, it certainly was unprecedented for Lindsay Graham and other GOP bozos to continue to vote to increase funding for the Iraq War and Afghanistan Wars so that fighting the Great Recession in the end would be more difficult.
Shoot, with all the many Americans still unemployed and underemployed, we still have not received an apology from Senator Graham and his minions over their pro-war votes during President Bush's years. Maybe they know what they did but they just want to hide any concealing of information because they're concerned about the reputation of the Republican Party.
Sorry Senator Graham but we're not buying your arguments, except where you say Chuck Hagel is a good man. Well, actually, we knew that already. He was transparent and took responsibility for his actions in the Iraq War voting and aftermath. That's being a straight shooter.
But Graham, you're no straight shooter.
Ok. Time to get on the DSCC's asses.
Mailing Address:
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
120 Maryland Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
Phone (202) 224-2447
Fax (202) 969-0354
http://www.dscc.org/
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