Why Senator Lindsey Graham Lacks Credibility

By Columnist TRB - For more than a week Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Arizona) have been doing their best to drum up support for Congressional Hearings to look into the details of the terrorist attack this past Sept. 11 on U.S. personnel, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya in Benghazi, Libya. The Ambassador and three of his aides were murdered. At the time, the CIA attributed the attack to unrest throughout the Middle East over an anti-Islam film on the internet. U.S. intelligence also believed that radical Islamic groups used the "cover" of the public protests to mask their involvement in the attack on the Ambassador and other U.S. personnel. According to many sources and public statements made by members of Congress, U.S. intelligence operatives have said they held back the information about involvment of radical groups during their investigation because they did not want the group or groups to know they were being investigated. Accordingly, the administration's UN Ambassador, Susan Rice, was not told about the involvement of radical groups in the event and made several television appearances during which she discussed the Behghazi incident as part of the overall public demonstration on Sept. 11.

McCain and Graham entered the picture when both accused Rice of trying to mislead the American public with her statements regarding events in Benghazi. Rice claimed that she was merely using "talking points" given to her by the CIA and was not aware of any other facts at that point in the investigation. It seems that she is telling truth. So they have backed off Rice. Now they want Obama.

Of course these two angry white guys have been after Obama for a long time, and perhaps not coincidentally. One must keep in mind that McCain ran against Obama for the Presidency in 2008 and lost. But it doesn't stop there. His campaign manager for that failed bid for the White House was none other than Sen. Lindsey Graham. Some political writers have suggested that McCain never got over that failed campaign in 2008. Some even say it changed his personality. There was a time when McCain actually had a sense of humor. Now he seems mean-spirited. But McCain's story is at least public knowledge. Graham's is not.

Perhaps no one remembers Graham as the House "manager" who brought the case for Impeachment of President Clinton to the Senate in 1998. Graham, 57, had spent months selling the Impeachment on Sunday news programs. Unmarried himself, and even thought to be Gay by some, Graham, the anti-Gay crusader who earned a 0% ranking from a coalition of human rights groups, and voted against every piece of legislation designed to broaden Gay rights, was beside himself with disgust over the behavior of the randy and unapologetic Clinton. According to Graham, the Impeachment was a "moral issue." No one could argue against that. Making out and so on and so forth with Monica in the Oval Office on government property and time was seen by many as beyond the pale. Others saw humor in a womanizing U.S. President, prone to answering questions with other questions - some of them brilliant. For example, Pres. Clinton once answered a question thusly: "It depends upon what the meaning of 'is,' is," he said.

Most lawmakers, however, unlike the radical right-wing Graham, did not believe Clinton's personal behavior was worthy of a conviction. Graham would have to find another way to waste vast sums of taxpayer's money.

During Bush II's regime Graham joined with other radical right-wingers in Congress to form what was called the "Gang of 14." All were lawyers. Their goal was to find a way to legally circumvent the filibuster, i.e. the practice of lawmakers holding up legislation or appointments to the bench by speaking - literally for as long as they wanted. The Gang of 14 found a way to permanently destroy the filibuster. But instead of ending filibusters, they used it as a bargaining chip to get a promise from the Democrats that they would not filibuster Bush's Supreme Court appointments unless they could be proven unqualified for the bench. In this way, Bush II, working in tandem with Graham's Gang of 14, secured three ultra-conservative appointments to the Supreme Court bench during his two terms as President.

And how can we ever forget Lindsey Graham's enthusiastic support for the War in Iraq, for the invasion. Or his insistance that the U.S. keep at least 10,000 troops there for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, he did not get his way on that request.

As everyone now knows, the reasons for going to war with Iraq were inventions, were untrue, inaccurate, intentionally made up. Thousands died as the result of these lies, and to this day, Graham, the cheerleader for Iraq and the fibs that led to the invasion, has not called for one investigation into the Iraq war. He even served as a reserve officer - a lawyer - for a month or two in Iraq. Did the same in Afghanistan. He claimed on his website that he had served during "Operation - Desert Storm." But that was a lie. He had not left the States.

So now we have McCain with his sidekick Graham calling for Congressional Hearings. They want to know if the President lied or misled the American public about this tragedy that occured in Benghazi. "Four Americans lost their lives," Graham said the other day, adding, "and it could have been prevented."

Thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians lost their lives in a war promoted by these same men. A war based entirely on lies by their friends in the Bush II Administration.

And they wonder why today no one can take them seriously.