GOP Senator Lindsey Graham May Pay High Political Price For Supporting Elena Kagan

Sen. Lindsey Graham's decision to support President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, makes it increasingly likely the South Carolina Republican will face a primary challenge when he's up for re-election in 2014.

Graham, a moderate Republican, became the first GOP Senator to signal he would back the high court pick on Tuesday when he was the only member of his party on the Senate Judiciary Committee to cast a "yes" vote on Kagan's nomination.

The Post's Chris Cillizza reports that South Carolina political gurus say Graham's support for Kagan "ensures he will face a serious primary challenge":

"It's no longer a question of 'if' but 'who' and 'how many'," said one South Carolina Republican operative about a Graham primary challenge. The source added that Graham's approach on high profile issues of late is "putting Lindsey's friends and supporters in a really tough place."

Richard Quinn, a Graham consultant, defended his client -- noting that the Senator is "not a demagogue". Added Quinn: "He's a thinking person's conservative. I expect him to do well among voters with IQ's in triple digits."

This isn't the first time the Republican Senator has found himself at odds with members of the South Carolina GOP community.

Earlier this month, Graham was criticized as "out of touch" for making disparaging comments about the Tea Party movement. The Republican Senator has also been censured by multiple GOP groups in his home state for working with Democrats on climate change legislation as well as for voting in favor of the Wall Street bailout.

Comments

[powhatan1]

08:03 PM on 07/23/2010

LG = R I N O

[Nina Flora]

06:55 PM on 07/22/2010

i think graham is too wishy washy without much backbone. i remember his questions to the last supreme court lady that obama wanted and got...he has not stood up for my ideals for our supreme court justices so i cannot condone his actions. sorry..

[Richard Colley]

04:38 PM on 07/22/2010

Lindsay Graham was probably among the least likely Republican Senators to break ranks with the right wing conservatives and to support Elana Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court. Apparently, this signals a shift in Senator Graham's thinking toward the moderate wing of his party and away from the GOP monolith. Perhaps he will follow the lead of Senator Arlen Specter by abandoning the company of Republican nut cases and re-affiliating with the Democratic Party. That thought may be off the wall -- but the fruit of the Republican "Southern Strategy" has already begun to rot. No amount of Tea Party hoopla can hide or repair the schism and restore Republicanism to former glories.

[powhatan1]

08:04 PM on 07/23/2010

HA...LG is a complete RINO!

[coloradoanimallover]

04:14 PM on 07/22/2010

Graham should be commended for voting with his brain. He has guts. The Dems didn't need him to vote for Kagan, but he did so anyway. Reasoned thought eventually wins out and mob mentality eventually loses. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

[billhodges]

04:05 PM on 07/22/2010

Rino Graham I suspect knows he is toast in his next election and will do what he wants until he is ousted. Too bad the people of his state could not force him out now and put a true conservative in his place

[CarolinaYankee]

04:08 PM on 07/22/2010

We have a true conservative, only difference this one has a brain and a conscience not like the Jr. Senator DeMented. And I do not vote for either one, just sayin.

[powhatan1]

08:04 PM on 07/23/2010

proves that LG is a RINO.

[efffox]

03:49 PM on 07/22/2010

How pathetic is it when a truly "sane" Republican't may lose his seat because he's not a complete lunatic! The conservatives are making the country a laughing-stock and keeping America from being the great country it once was. Sad.

[CarolinaYankee]

04:17 PM on 07/22/2010

That is why I would NEVER vote for DeMented, I would vote Alvin in before him, at least Alvin cares about the people, and he is just as smart as TundraBarbie.

[powhatan1]

08:05 PM on 07/23/2010

He is not a republican..he is a RINO...so duh..republicans want him out...Y=The Dems would do the same if it went the other way...You all can have him...ew

[senatortruth]

03:33 PM on 07/22/2010

edrice222

What a sorry excuse for a political party... the republicans are a complete and utter joke. They do absolutely nothing to solve the serious issues of the day. They have no vision, no plan, no coherence of any kind. The only thing that unites them is their adolescent prejudice, their hatred of Obama, and their commitment to making sure he doesn't succeed, ignoring the terrible cost to the country and the difficulty and suffering of it's people.
This is not a political party... it's an emotionally arrested assortment of high school bullies and thugs who have no business holding power of any kind... they show no decency, intelligence, integrity or ability to achieve or do anything of merit. The need to control, punish and bully those of their own party who attempt to do the right thing is ludicrous and disgusting.
They have indeed sunk to a level that bears close scrutiny... they cannot be trusted to do anything that is in the best interest of the country or it's people.
They are a lost cause, a mess, and an embarrassment to themselves and to America.
****************************************

TRUTH, and Fanned.

An ULTIMATE example is the Law Firm of James Baker, Buhs Crime Family "lawyer",

who defended the Saudis against the lawsuit brought by the families of the 911 victims.

Money over country, EVERY TIME...

[edrice222]

04:11 PM on 07/22/2010

A perfect example.
Thank you senatortruth.
Very respectfully and gratefully fanned for truth.
#601.

[powhatan1]

08:06 PM on 07/23/2010

And the Dems do such great work too..Pshaw..You are in la la land and need some serious reality lessons

[BlackTantalus]

02:59 PM on 07/22/2010

Atilla the Hun would laugh at Americans for having to distinguish between right wing extremists, and extreme right wing extremists.

[Jordan Rogers]

02:58 PM on 07/22/2010

Huffington Post, do NOT mistake sensibility or responsibility for moderation!! Graham still holds conservative views on everything, he's just willing to at least talk to Democrats to get some things done, maybe. You are unintentionally pushing the center of the political spectrum to the right when you label moderate conservatives as moderates. So what if he votes for some of Obama's judicial appointments, what else has he crossed the aisle for? Hardly anything! Just because he's not a hard-right-wing firebrand does not make him a moderate! He's a decent guy who's willing to act like an adult instead of a child with his fingers in his ears screaming "NO!" and "SOCIALISM!!!"

[powhatan1]

08:06 PM on 07/23/2010

Hes a rino

[Schmice]

02:53 PM on 07/22/2010

"I expect him to do well among voters with IQ's in triple digits." Well, that seals his fate then, doesn't it.

[jackbutler5555]

02:22 PM on 07/22/2010

I think this may be a brilliant stratagem.

There has never been a doubt that Graham would be challenged in a primary.

So, why not lure in as many Tea Party candidates as possible to run against him, thereby dividing up the anti-Graham vote? Then he would not need to get 50 percent plus one.

If there is a runoff, South Carolina Republican leaders will worry that if Graham loses, he might switch or run as an independent. (Since the Democrats have no chance of winning a senate seat in South Carolina, they may even endorse him.) It seems to be working in Florida with Charlie Crist.

With so many Tea Party candidates running, the chances are that one of them could actually win. And, as we found out in Nevada, that nominee can run a self-destructive campaign, with Graham as an independent seeming to be the rational choice, as is the case with Reid.

I think with both parties, the fringe elements can destroy their chances in a quest for the middle of the road voter. There is a lack of pragmatism among the ideological right and left.

[William Diaz]

01:47 PM on 07/22/2010

Being reasonable, thoughtful or intelligent are all cardinal sins among the Republican faithful. It is no wonder that Sen Graham, as a veteran, current reservist and noted legal mind would have problems with the party of 'NO' and Beck/Limbaugh.

I heard someone say sometihng funny recently about Sen Graham, that with the recent disintegration of Sen McCains honesty, integrity and faculties, that Sen Graham now had the responsibility to be the 'reasonable Republican not from Maine'. So true....

I dont always agree with Sen Graham, but I always respect his opinion.

Have a great day!

[powhatan1]

08:07 PM on 07/23/2010

wow...I thought that was the cardinal sin of democrats...living in dream land..KumBiyah

[William Diaz]

08:25 AM on 07/24/2010

Yes, living in a dream land is a cardinal sin of those who aren't Republican, that is why we try not to do it. Since free thought and speech are sins to Republicans, they try not to do those things, or support them.

Have a great day!

[jeremyfive]

12:46 PM on 07/22/2010

What, that there might be some "thinking" going on in South Carolina? Yeah, that's gonna cost him.

[CarolinaYankee]

04:10 PM on 07/22/2010

Cute!! Thanks alot, there is alot of " thinking" going on down here, however we are grossly outnumbered...LMAO

[Poiks]

12:29 PM on 07/22/2010

It trouble me that so many of my fellow liberals are slamming the Republicans for potentially punishing Graham for this, while we do the exact same thing to people like Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson whenever they break from the Democratic "peloton". C'mon people...let's TRY to be objective.

[ywcachieve]

12:38 PM on 07/22/2010

False.

[Poiks]

12:53 PM on 07/22/2010

How is it false? I provided a fairly specific example.

[MikePS65]

01:36 PM on 07/22/2010

I think this is a reasonable criticism. The difference, I think, is in the unspoken foundation of your argument - that the two parties are similar in any way. They're not. The Democrats are trying to govern. The Republicans are trying to win/score points for good advertising/keep jobs.

So when we see the folks we elected becoming obstacles to reforms that we hired them to make, we find it frustrating, unproductive and generally contrary to the forward motion and change we wanted, and we take them to task for it. When Republicans see people like Graham breaking, they punish him not because of how it affects the country, but because he's broken their one and only commandment - "Thou shalt not agree with Democrats." It's all about context.

The Republicans aren't a governing body, because they have only one agenda - to be the antithesis to the Democrats, regardless of progress or rationality or honesty. We expect more from our representatives, who at least have a to-do list that relates to actual policy and governance.

[Poiks]

01:49 PM on 07/22/2010

Mike, I think you have a good point in that Lincoln/Nelson were taking obstructive action, while Graham's action was constructive, or maybe more accurately in removing an obstruction. Excellent point, thanks.

[edrice222]

12:25 PM on 07/22/2010

What a sorry excuse for a political party... the republicans are a complete and utter joke. They do absolutely nothing to solve the serious issues of the day. They have no vision, no plan, no coherence of any kind. The only thing that unites them is their adolescent prejudice, their hatred of Obama, and their commitment to making sure he doesn't succeed, ignoring the terrible cost to the country and the difficulty and suffering of it's people.
This is not a political party... it's an emotionally arrested assortment of high school bullies and thugs who have no business holding power of any kind... they show no decency, intelligence, integrity or ability to achieve or do anything of merit. The need to control, punish and bully those of their own party who attempt to do the right thing is ludicrous and disgusting.
They have indeed sunk to a level that bears close scrutiny... they cannot be trusted to do anything that is in the best interest of the country or it's people.
They are a lost cause, a mess, and an embarrassment to themselves and to America.

[skillz38]

12:37 PM on 07/22/2010

Well said....#258

[edrice222]

01:53 PM on 07/22/2010

Thank you skillz... #66 for you.

[alreadyfamous]

01:42 PM on 07/22/2010

I could not have expressed it better. thank you edrice222. that is the sort of comment that should be printed as fliers and handed out.

i would not ever vote for a republican to office. they are truly empty headed and know how do to one thing well and that is scream, yell very loudly and refuse to realize that the republican party under bush has destroyed this country in eight years, like a virus. President Obama is the Vaccine against this aggressive virus and he is doing a better job than anything that absolutely anything Bush/Cheney ever did.

republicans are so hateful they care absolutely nothing about any one of President Obama's agenda they just want to destroy him completely.

how all of America cannot see how republicans just want power and they HIDE behind this thing they made up of "bigger government" which is a fear mongering notion that government is evil and will destroy the world if they try and help people. That is truly the message.

republicans laugh because for all their dangerous amount of cuts to education, not supporting unemployment, the environment, is leaving Working Class Americans to really suffer while republicans don't even want to tax the huge corporations that support them, out of fear. so they must come up with something that will scare us even more. Calling it BIGGER GOVERNMENT. it trickles down alright. leaving the middle class with all the burden.

the republicans are destroying the american dream.

[edrice222]

03:58 PM on 07/22/2010

Thanks already famous for your post. :-)
Agree 100X... Fanned #29.

[powhatan1]

08:08 PM on 07/23/2010

wow what a pleasant and open minded thinking person you are here.