To quote Nelson from The Simpsons, "Haw Haw!":
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Charleston County Republicans in South Carolina censured Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Monday for, the local Republicans argued, not being conservative enough.
The censure document against Graham included more than two dozen points, such as Graham supporting President Barack Obama's nominees for the Supreme Court and also working with Democrats, according to the Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina.
The vote to censure Graham was 39-32. It was conducted by secret ballot.
"He really represents the establishment and the 'usual' in Washington," Cameron Groen of Johns Island told the South Carolina newspaper. - TPM, 5/13/14
Of course Graham has a big war chest for re-election and has several Tea Party opponents, including this guy:
http://www.motherjones.com/...
Can a state politician repair his image after serving six months in jail for cocaine possession? Former South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel might find the path to political redemption a little tricky after the first season of his reality TV show, Bravo's Southern Charm, was defined by regular bouts of intoxication and an out-of-wedlock baby with a woman 29 years his junior. But that won't stop him from trying. He wants to test the model established by Rep. Sean Duffy (a Wisconsin Republican and Real World alum) by running for Congress after starring in a reality show.
"Should the current US Sen. Lindsey Graham be the nominee," Ravenel said during a post-show interview on Bravo last month, "I'm going to throw my hat in the ring as an independent candidate, because I think the voters need to have a choice." Graham is facing an easy Republican primary next month, so Ravenel is likely to get his wish. Ravenel told Mother Jones that he's consulting venders and preparing efforts to collect the 10,000 signatures he'll need to get on the ballot. During the course of the show's first season—a show that, per Bravo, "goes behind the walls of Charleston, South Carolina's most aristocratic families to reveal a world of exclusivity, money and scandal that goes back generations" and drew, on average, 1.1 million viewers per episode—Ravenel has consistently described himself as a fiscally conservative and socially moderate libertarian. He's an acolyte of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.): against Obamacare, opposed to foreign interventions, but pro-gay marriage and in favor of ending the war on drugs. "The government should be limited, small, and should stay out of both the bedrooms and our boardrooms," he says in one episode.
Ravenel, 51 years old with a chiseled jaw and slicked-back hair straight out of central casting for a Southern politician, has good reason to hope that voters aren't overly concerned with what goes on in peoples' bedrooms. But he wasn't always controversial. A multimillionaire land developer and son of a former US House member, Ravenel first tried his hand at politics in 2004 when he ran in the Republican primary for an open Senate seat. He came in third, missing the runoff vote by 1 point behind the eventual winner, Jim DeMint. In 2006 he was elected treasurer of South Carolina. - Mother Jones, 5/12/14
With guys like these, Graham is sure to win his primary but can he avoid a runoff?
http://www.usatoday.com/...
Here's one of the safest bets in American politics: Incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham will win the most votes when South Carolina Republicans hold their primary on June 10.
The question is whether Graham will get more than 50%, thereby avoiding a risky runoff.
No fewer than six Tea Party-type Republicans are challenging Graham in the primary, trying to get themselves into a one-on-one showdown with the incumbent senator that would theoretically take place June 24.
In terms of simple math, the size of the Republican field makes it harder for Graham to win the 50% he'll need to avoid a runoff. But the sheer density of the field has made it difficult for any of the little-known challengers to break out of the pack.
"Is anybody going to get traction? Who knows?" said former South Carolina Republican chair Barry Wynn, who has given money to Graham over the years. "If anybody does get traction, that means a runoff, and a runoff could mean vulnerability." - USA Today, 5/11/14
That might be why Graham is pushing this:
http://www.salon.com/...
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is expected to force a vote Tuesday on a nationwide ban on abortion at 20 weeks. The measure has very little chance of passing the Senate, but Graham is facing a June primary, so he’s probably just getting muscular about restricting reproductive healthcare in an effort to drum up his base.
Graham also wants Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow concurrent votes on his abortion ban and a measure from Sen. Richard Blumenthal that would prohibit states from enacting burdensome and medically unnecessary regulations on abortion providers. “We’re going to talk about the 20-week pain-capable bill, and we’re going to ask Sen. Reid to allow us to have a vote. Sen. Blumenthal has a bill that’s really a top priority of the pro-choice community. So let’s have a vote on both. I think the topic’s worthy of debate. I know he’s very sincere and I’m very sincere,” Graham said of the plan. “He said every senator needs to be on the record. I agree with that.”
Fetuses at 20 weeks are not “pain-capable.” This antiabortion talking point has been refuted as pseudoscience by nearly every major medical association, including the American Medical Association and the British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (And smaller studies from researchers at Harvard University, University College London and other institutions.) And the measure that Graham is pushing here isn’t even something he’s come up with on his own. It’s draft legislation from Americans United for Life, which is basically the ALEC of the anti-choice movement. Graham may be the force behind it in the Senate, but he’s not the author of the measure. It’s a cut-and-paste job and a disingenuous piece of legislation intended to scale back legal abortion as defined by Roe v. Wade, plain and simple. (Seriously, look at this thing. All someone like Graham needs to do is slap his name on it and assign it a number. It’s a joke.) - Salon, 5/13/14
And promoting this:
http://www.thestate.com/...
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's newest campaign ads tout the Seneca Republican's efforts to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
The six-figure media buy announced Monday by the campaign includes statewide television, radio and internet ads showing Graham's support for the construction of the Keystone pipeline, expansion of domestic oil drilling and support for building nuclear power plants in South Carolina.
Former S.C. House Speaker David Wilkins, also a former ambassador to Canada, says in the 30-second television ad, "Lindsey Graham was the first member of the Senate to visit the oil sands. Every drop of oil we get from Canada is one less drop we have to get from countries in the Middle East, countries that don’t like us. Lindsey Graham understood that before most people understood it." - The State, 5/12/14
It's amusing watching these clowns shamelessly compete against each other, especially clowns like Graham.