South Carolina U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. I view Graham as a fairly devout and longstanding republican. I, in contrast, am not, and I view Graham as distinctly to the right of me. But that being said, I much admire the independence of mind that he often exhibits. He is not a conservative, but more importantly, NOR is he some mealy-mouthed or wishy-washy "moderate" as the conservatives and liberals like to try to paint him. (See previously in this space my Politics 101 lesson: liberals and conservatives have very few plays in their playbook. One is to attack anyone who disagrees with them as being some kind of radical on the other extreme, and if that doesn't work or lacks credibility, then Plan B is always to say the person is a "mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy 'moderate'", but I digress, although I tie this in down below).The far left and far right would find this very hard to believe, but it is actually possible to view issues independently and with an independent, informed mind and viewpoint, such that certain of one's opinions come out on the right, others on the left, and others somewhere in between. That doesn't make a person a "mealy mouth" or "wishy washy". Rather, it makes the person one who has an independence of mind and spirit that so many of our politicians could learn from (sorry Jeeves to end a sentence on a preposition).
So what made me blog about Graham tonight is that I saw him on the fox Greta show tonight, and he was there very directly going off on Harry Reid and Reid's whole escapade last night of saying "we have a deal on the public option and a new bill which is great for everyone, but you can't see it and I can't comment on it." Graham was also going off on how this new "deal" or new "bill" or whatever you want to call it doesn't get rid of the public option at all, but rather just attaches a "trigger" to it, which I'm fully confident will be framed by the dems in the language of the bill as a "trigger" that is almost certain to occur, meaning the "new" Reid bill is one designed to almost assuredly bring about a public option a few years down the line.
So the bottom line? It just struck me, as I watched Graham tonight (his views on Reid and the dems' health care "reform" desires are spot on, as far as I'm concerned) -- Here's a guy full of conviction and vinegar on this issue, pulling no punches when it comes to what the dems are trying to accomplish. And that's mealy-mouthed, as the far right freaks like Slimebaugh and Savage and Hannity like to accuse him of being? That's taking no real position? That's "riding a fence" as Draconem likes to accuse me of? That's wishy-washy? Puh-lease. No, it's none of those things.
Rather, such rhetoric is just the moronic, anti-intellectual Plan B (as described above) for which liberals and conservatives have no further play. They really don't know what to do with us devout Independents. And I love being a thorn in both of their sides, and hounding them to the outskirts of Hell, until the day they stick me in the ground (which, BTW, won't be for another 70 years at least). As I like to say, We're Everywhere, and We Ain't Going Away.
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