After Opposing Stimulus, Lindsey Graham Will Take The Money

Oh, Lindsey Graham, he is one of our favorites! The South Carolina Senator has, for weeks, cast himself as one of the stimulus package's most fervent opponents. This time last week, he and John McCain were in the well of the Senate, performing a grand duetto buffo di due gatti against the stimulus, and when the media metanarrative required that someone take a ream of paper and wave it around in the air with dramatic flair, Graham was only too happy to accommodate.

Ah, but now the bill's passage draws nigh, and lest you think he was going to school us all by allowing South Carolina to become a laboratory for whatever the hell economic plan he thought would work better, guess again. Graham will take the dollars, thank you, even if he's not convinced it will be of any good! Or so he told Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: South Carolina will get money out of this bill.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: Should South Carolina take the money?

GRAHAM: I think that, yes, from my point of view, I -- you don't want to be crazy here. I mean, if there's going to be money on the table that will help my state, but I've got a job to do up here, and that is to try to help people and not damn the next generation. We had a $415 billion package to help people who have lost their jobs, that cut taxes, that create new jobs. We've got a spending bill, not a job creation bill. And we're being all things to all people.

Shucks, Lindsey, if you don't think it'll do South Carolina any good, by all means, don't take it!

Comments

[grf67]

Graham is not stupid, but he is disingenuous and a hypocrite. He fits right in to the republican party.

[Bushwillresign]

Mr. Graham, what caused the worst depression in America since the Great depression in america?

Mr. Graham: What is "Tax cuts for the wealthy Americans"?

Mr. Graham, can you think of any way to get America out of this terrible depression that Bush and Co. left for President Obama?

Mr. Graham: What is "Tax cuts for the wealthy Americans"?

[rockinroll]

I am SO sick of these Republicans. They are the ones that approved of all the Thieving that got this country into this Financial Depression. How dare they even comment on what is to be done! Why is anybody paying any attention to them and why is the Press bothering to cover this? They are as bad as the Octoplet
Mom. They create the problem and then think they should have anything to say about how to fix it - Really?

[DotMatrix]

^I'm with you, rockinroll. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[MaryanneAZ]

This would be a good time to go on their websites en masse and email the hypocrites. Perhaps a flood of email messages might crash their system and get a news story on the amount of email these frauds are getting. I've emailed them before, but this seems like a good time to hit "Send Message" again. Just a thought.

[1088]

The Republicant senators should not get any money for their states. Only the three who voted for it should. Also, all the Governors who apposed the bill should not take the money either. The Republicant party are filled with hypocrisy. I cannot stand them, period!!

[yankeeinoxford]

lindsey, we've all got to appreciate how principled you are. Standing up to the stimulus.....voting against it.......going on all manner of programs and trashing it.....and then.....wait, taking the money! Principles, ethics and integrity. I know the repubs like to use these big words....if only any of them knew what the words actually meant. If you you believe so fervently in what you are doing, Mr. Graham, no one says you have to take the money. He really shouldn't be allowed to have it both ways....but then again, why should his constituency have to pay for his idiocy.

[byla]

Uh, maybe because it's his constituency that put him in office.

[bellabeach]

Lindsey and his GOP buddies are the biggest bunch of hypocrites...we need to call his office and ask why he feels entitled to any of the taxpayers money for his state, when he doesn't have the B@@ls to vote for it!!

[DianeGhil]

Amen to all of these comments on the GOP hypocracy. Graham and his buddies wouldn't work for the good of the country no matter what what happening. They just want to work for their dying party.

[hackerblaster]

vote this dirtbag and all the other republican dirt bags out of office.

[independent32955]

like i said earlier, they have a single clause in the bill, "if you don't support it, your state or district will not share in the monies that would have been allocated for you". Would cut the bill's cost so the fiscal conservatives would be happy, or would have passed under unanimous consent.

lindsay wants to show his backwater constituents that he's against Obama and the Dems while bringing money in to help them from the Obama/Dems plan. and what's REALLY sad is that his duplicitous BS will play by and large to those folks.

[nellpost]

email his office! call his office! write to the local papers -- they do have papers in south carolina, right?

[learntofly]

Lindsay Graham is fair game, but knocking a whole state is not cool.

That said - I emailed!

[Rogan]

Papers in South Carolina? Not for long...

[ByeByeBushie]

Where are his uncomprimising values? Where is his unshakable resolve?
Anyone who voted against the package should NOT take a dime. That would leave more for the supporters and the Republicans have proven that they don't know what to do with money anyhow.

We must never forget that this is a REPUBLICAN mess that was captained by GEORGE BUSH.

All this money has to be spent to save what Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, Phil Graham and their ilk have RUINED.

I have had more than enough from the weak, inneffectual loser that is Lindsay Graham- haven't you?

[x004Ronin]

If the stimulus plan works, don't be surprised if Lindsey Graham names one of the bridges being built in his state by the stimulus package after himself.

[Larkinvos]

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, playing the part of Lindsey Graham,
JIM NABORS!!!

[filo]

Well Golllllleeeee !

[momof3inGA]

ROFL!

[Catjya]

TWO FACED BIGOTS,got the nerve to want a piece of the stimulus.DEMS should hit them over the head with this fake outrage.

[Kreskytim]

If he'd only come out of the closet he won't have to work so hard to prove himself.

[chronic]

*OUCH*

Truth hurts!

[redsongia]

It's so obvious once you say it.

[Scott3843]

I've been saying the same thing for years.

Oh, Lindsay. Do yourself a favor already. (And give all of us yet another reason to scoff at the right wing's hypocrisy!)

[StillAmused]

The least Graham can do is dress formally when the check arrives. My personal favorite is the pale yellow organza gown and open-toed heels.

[chronic]

LOL

[FrozenNorthObserver]

Lindsey takes a wide stance on all issues.

[Scott3843]

Excellent...

[SeaKitten]

"Shucks, Lindsey, if you don't think it'll do South Carolina any good, by all means, don't take it!"

What an absurd take. How about this. Lindsey should demand that the equivalent of what this "stimulus" bill is going to exact from SC taxpayers should simply be returned via checks to the taxpayers of his state. Let's just take it by population. SC has 1.44% of the US population (as of 2006). So, let's take 1.44% of 800 billion and give a check to each adult in the state (about 75% of the states population). The check would be almost $4000 per person. Gee, how's that for immediate stimulus?

[McBushMcSame]

And they can start paying for all of their own services that are funded by the rest of us taxpayers.

Let's see how long that $4000 check lasts when they have to spend it all to supplement their new sovereignty. When the $4000 doesn't cover the cost, the next hurricaine, etc. what will they have left to "Stimulate" with?

GOP spin just digs you into a deeper hole. But you're far too dizzy to figure that out.

[chronic]

LOL @ dizzy

[SeaKitten]

I guess I can lead a m0r0n to water, but I can't make him think. I was just talking about the stimulus bill. The existing approaches to the soaking of tax payers by federal, state, and local governments to overpay police, teachers, petty bureuacrats and others who "service" them will continue. My plan would provide immediate economic stimulus. The spending bill before Congress now is simply a wish list of programs that have little to no short term impact, but do establish and extend wasteful programs that will haunt taxpayers for decades to come. That's not spin, that's reality. If you don't see it now, your eyes will open when you mature.

[FEARTHETRUTH]

................."what will they be left to "Stimulate" with"?........
How about two empty hands?

[redsongia]

Excellent freaking plan. For once let these "no government interventionists" walk the walk.

[Rogan]

Then you kids can figure out how to organize yourselves, so that, for instance, some of your li'l rebate checks, can get spent on filling potholes...

...oh, never mind. If you don't understand how "public services" work, now, why should I hurt myself, trying to explain...?