From David Corn at POLITICS DAILY:
John McCain & Lindsey Graham: The Mean Girls of the U.S. Senate
I have a theory about human social evolution: life doesn’t progress much after high school. This week, I can thank John McCain and Lindsey Graham for providing empirical data that supports this hypothesis.
Here’s how government should work: lawmakers ponder the great issues of the day in serious manner and then decide, according to their own beliefs and values, which policies are best for their constituents and the public. But in the past few days, we’ve seen government-by-hissy-fit, with Sens. McCain and Graham, the Batman and Robin of cranky self-proclaimed GOP mavericks, placing personal petulance ahead of the common good.
As the Senate on Saturday was in the process of repealing the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans out-in-the-open gays and lesbians from serving in the military, McCain practically threw a tantrum on the Senate floor, decrying “this bizarro world” and denouncing senators in favor of repeal for “acting in direct repudiation of the message of the American people.” (Never mind that most polls show majority support for repealing DADT.)
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How to explain this? It seemed more personal than policy — as in he really doesn’t fancy seeing a victory for President Obama, the fellow who prevented McCain from becoming BMOC.
Graham’s behavior was more outlandish. On Sunday, the South Carolina Republican said that he wouldn’t vote for the START treaty that will reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arms because “this lame duck [congressional session] has been poisoned.” And what poisoned it? In part, Graham said, it was the passage of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal. Here was a U.S. senator saying he wouldn’t take up the critical issue of nuclear nonproliferation because he was peeved by the repeal of DADT, which sailed through on a 65-to-31 vote. Governing via tantrum?
It gets worse. The day before the Senate overturned DADT, Graham was complaining that the workload in the Senate was too much for him and he was too close to physical collapse to handle a vote on START […]
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Poor Graham. Many Americans work more than one job just to feed their family and to keep from being tossed out of their home. Yet he was bellyaching about some end-of-the-year heavy-lifting that was occurring because the Senate, partly due to GOP obstructionism, had not finished its important business. By the way, the START treaty was signed by the United States and Russia in April; that had allowed Graham and other senators plenty of time to think about it.
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And it gets worse. On Monday, the Huffington Post reported that early last week, McCain and Graham had tried to cut a deal with the White House: they offered to deliver enough GOP votes to ratify the START treaty, if Obama and the Democrats would sideline any vote on DADT. The White House said no, thanks.
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When McCain and Graham didn’t get their way, Graham groused he was too overwhelmed to deal with the treaty, and McCain tried to kill the agreement by offering an amendment that would force the United States and Russia to renegotiate the pact. The Senate rejected his amendment on Saturday. Which probably irritated the hell out of him. On Monday, Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser for President George H.W. Bush and who supports START ratification, accused McCain of assailing the treaty because of his anger over the repeal of DADT: “To play politics with what is in the fundamental national interest is pretty scary stuff.” I look forward to McCain yelling at Scowcroft to get off his lawn.
Your movie title hits the nail on the head. My advise to Sen Graham is that he needs to distance himself from Sen Crankypants, who seems to be doing what he can to take down his own image. Holding the Sarah doll is a hoot … although I picture her standing on the truck’s running board.
lindseypoo won’t distance himself. especially since the teabaggers will be after him, and he won’t be getting any support from the fringie religious right.
thanks for noticing the caribou barbie doll, afa! 😀 lindseypoo needed something in his hands, but i didn’t want to offend anyone by putting what he would really like there. 😉
those two need to ride off to “Broke Brain Mountain”. i finally figured out how to subscribe to the site. i’m getting all cutting-edge. happy (late) birthday! nonnie.
oooh!! brokebrain mountain! 😮 i might use that one day. yayyy! a subscriber! one of these days, i should try to find out how many there actually are.
thank you for the belated bday wishes, fotc. i had a very nice bday this year. 🙂
happy belated b day
thanks dcAp!
mmwwaaahhhhh!!!
Dude, Raw Story’s managing editor says he has pictures of a sleepover that Lindsey had with a man. I saw it on twitter this morning. As wretched and deplorable as he votes, I actually feel compassion for someone this twisted up. (Don’t throw things at me…I know, but it’s such a fucked-up tale in self-loathing.)
P.S. I love the word conniption. 🙂
were they wearing footy pajamas? i don’t always trust raw story. they’ve been wrong many times (but they’ve been right a lot, too). i used to feel compassion for lindseypoo, but when capt underpants ran for president, lindseypoo became a nasty brat. he’s only gotten worse since his crush lost, so i have very little empathy for him now.
when i was a kid, i knew another kid (don’t remember who it was) who always used the word conniption. someone was always having one. i don’t know why that particular word occurred to me, but i’m glad it did, because i think what capt u and lindseypoo are doing can be best described as conniption fits.
The thing that made me pay attention was Rogers mentioning the pics being in front of a lawyer presently.
Corn was awesome for the “Mean Girls” reference, spot on.
corn’s article was awesome!
You didn’t dress Lindsey-poo in drag, but you do have have playing with a Caribou Barbie. Too bad he’s one of the few male Republicans who isn’t having wet dreams of playing with the real Caribou Barbie.
i didn’t dress up lindseypoo in drag, because it upsets capt underpants when they’re out in public. as for caribou barbie, lindseypoo hates her, but he can’t say so aloud, because it reminds capt u how stupid he was for choosing her. look closely at lindseypoo. he’s not playing with the caribou barbie, he’s squeezing her with murderous anger. look at his expression and the look in his eyes. he hates her, but he won’t be able to survive a primary in south carolina if he ever said so.
Yeah, if Lindsey-poo ever said anything cross about Sarah, he might have Darling Nikki Haley after his job.
Oh, and check your hotlist on the Big Orange.
if not nikki, all those guys who were running against her and lost. even worse, someone hand-picked by jim demented.
just got back from the big orange. you might be sorry i visited. 😉
nonnie – you are my idol and always always always make me smile and laugh
this thread is cracking me up
awww shucks. 😳
Nonnie’s the boss princess! I’m guaranteed smiles, and I’m smarter after reading. 🙂
you say that now, but when you see one of my comments in the next post, you’ll change your mind, because i know how you hate thinking about dewlaps. 😮 besides, i could never be as princessy as you. i may be princessy, but i’m not blingee princessy.
Oh, fuck. Hold me. 😯
maybe it won’t be so bad, now that you can brace yourself.
*laughing nervously*
i can’t believe you haven’t gone over yet. put on your victoria secret’s bra. it will make you powerful, and nothing will hurt you.
I’m there! 🙂
I think lindsey does dirty, unthinkable things to caribou barbie, judging from his expression. 😯
and then he flagellates himself afterward. do you watch boardwalk empire? there’s a government agent that’s nuts. he does really bad things, and then he punishes himself. that’s what lindseypoo probably does when nobody’s watching. well, maybe capt u watches. he’d probably like that.
Haven’t seen BE. I’ll look it up.
i can’t answer you up there, because we ran out of thread, so i’ll tell you here not to be scared. i’ll be over in the new post so you won’t be scared, and i just took a shower, so i smell good. 🙂
I smell good, too. I was at Victoria’s Secret a couple of hours ago and sprayed Supermodel perfume on me. 😀
does supermodel perfume make your boobs perk up?
Yes, if sprayed directly on the breasts. However, a better bet is the new bra line, “Miraculous.” Where once I had breasts, I now have tits. They enter the room 5 seconds before I do.
i really do need some new bras, and vs makes the best ones. straps always fall off my shoulders, and it’s so annoying. that doesn’t happen with their bras. i’m tired of staple-gunning the straps to my shoulders. it hurts. 😥
Treat yourself! 🙂 And you’re right. I used to have that problem, too. If I adjusted the straps, the band would hike up. But no more.
Maybe that’s the secret. 🙂 I’m not crazy about sounding like an ad, but what’s good is good.
just don’t go to a place called victoria’s secretions. totally different!
not only are their bras comfy, but they last for almost forever, too. i think i’ll go there, but not until after the holidays.
McGramps should really just retire already. He’s done his duty & is just a cranky old man.
Which word do you like best?
Polimudgeon
or
Curmudgitician
thats curmudgeon & politician combined/ that’s John McCain!
i think asshole works for him. he doesn’t even deserve his own word. he makes more of a fool of himself everyday. if arizonans aren’t embarrassed by reelecting him, it’s because they’re either just as nasty as he is, or they’re just as senile as he is.
For the record, I like “Curmudgitician”
But yes, outta there would be better.
and captain underpants still works, too! 😉
Just think how angry he’ll get when he finds out his gypsie caravan is built on a Soviet truck! Been watching a lot of the parade of fools on C-span and it is just like grade school kids who don’t get their way. As far as Lindsey’s tired remarks, might I suggest getting out there in the real world where you bust your ass all day doing hard physical work, sweating a lot, getting crap all over you on some days and getting so goddamned dirty you don’t even want to sit in the car without changing clothes. Besides not getting a hefty six figure salary with all the perks, we also don’t get a chair to sit in either.
jerry, i think the goopers are managing to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. the public sees them now as a bunch of whiners. the bitching about the 9/11 vote made them look not only nasty but downright unamerican! their hypocrisy is out there for all to see. when you have 9/11 first responder swarming the offices of tom coburn, even people in oklahoma will hear about it. then you have lindseypoo (who is already on the teabagger shitlist) whining about how hard he has to work, and that’s not going to sit well with people who would be happy to have his job. on top of it all, yertle mcconnell and jon kyl look rather limp and impotent (isn’t that how princess sarah would put it?) as a bunch of senators on their side of the aisle vote with the dems and get START ratified and dadt repealed. is it possible that this signals the return of the rational republicans (RRR)? will yertle and kyl and capt u and lindseypoo be in the teabagger caucus with some of the fringies who will be seated in january? this is gonna be interesting. i’m starting to wonder if there are going to be some changes in parties. it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the moderates decide to switch to independent.
RRR was the name of home railroad (Recycle RR) on my old home layout! What you speak of has already come to pass too.
i see the future. i have espn!
i am beginning to wonder when cindy-poo (who holds all the bucks) finally gets up and dumps her bigoted petty husband. maybe when he starts soiling his pants and Juanita (the illegal maid of course) wont do his underwear.
i doubt that cindy lou see capt u very often. she probably stays married to him, because it would be too much of a hassle to divorce him. too many houses to split up. i think he embarrasses her, but she still likes being a senator’s wife. my guess is that she’s counting the days until he kicks the bucket so she no longer has to pretend that she likes him.