"Our Nation's President Deserves to be Treated with Respect"

The headline is not my quote, that's Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a fellow partisan of Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), the man who heckled President Barack Obama during his health care speech to Congress and the nation. It was a deplorable act.

No American president should be subject to that kind of disrespect. For a sitting member of the House of Representatives to shout "You lie!" in the middle of a presidential address is beyond disrespectful. It further poisons the toxic atmosphere surrounding the nation's politics.

But perhaps it won't. Perhaps fellow Republicans will be so embarrassed by this breach of protocol and civility that they will reign in the most radical elements of their party. Thankfully, many Republicans lawmakers denounced Wilson's outburst.

Wilson, himself, in immediate damage-control mode, issued the following statement:

"This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."

Oh, and by the way, Wilson was the liar, or at least wildly incorrect. The President's bill would not extend benefits to illegal aliens.

Glenn Beck's Deep-Seated Hatred for America

It is no surprise that the Right wing in this country has a problem with President Barack Obama just as it was no surprise that the Left wing was passionately against President George W. Bush. That is as it should be. However, crazy wing nut talk show host Glenn Beck's comments on the FOX and Friends morning show go beyond any kind of reasonable commentary or dissent. He said: "This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture....I'm not saying that he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist.'' (Of course, not to be outdone, right wing nut job Michelle Malkin then called the President a racial opportunist on the Today show).

I am a big supporter of free speech and defend Beck's right to say what he wishes; however, I also would lose no sleep if people boycotted FOX, advertisers pulled their spots, and Beck lost his job. It's 2009, not 1959. America, for the most part, is way past this kind of mentality. Disagree with the president's policies, fine. Play to the fringe racists and White separatists in the country, not fine. Unfortunately, it looks like nut jobs like Beck, Malkin, Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity etc., are going to try and take down this presidency by playing the race card. These fanatics are what's wrong with our political system--they (as well as those on the extreme Left) make it very difficult for the two parties to have a reasonable dialogue through which policy is made and our country is made stronger (just witness the treatment of South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from the Right because he dared support President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court).

I recommend Ron Reagan's response to Beck's comments. It is dead solid perfect.

Lindsey Graham and the Blind Ideologues

Politico has a great interview with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who, after getting scorched on the Right for his support of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, hits back at the ideological purists of his party:

Says Graham: “If we chase this attitude … that you have to say ‘no’ to every Democratic proposal, you can’t help the president ever, you can’t ever reach across the aisle, then I don’t want to be part of the movement because it’s a dead-end movement. I have no desire to be up here in an irrelevant status. I’m smart enough to know that this country doesn’t have a problem with conservatives. It has a problem with blind ideology. And those who are ideological-driven to a fault are never going to be able to take this party back into relevancy.”

If only more members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, would take the same attitude, much more could be accomplished to actually address the serious problems of the country. As the article points out, Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsberg were overwhelmingly approved by the Senate: 98-0 and 96-3 respectively. At that time, Senators who opposed these nominees on the basis of ideology nevertheless realized that they were highly qualified for the bench and that it was the president's prerogative to nominate qualified people to the highest court in the land.

Many groups and commentators do not share this viewpoint, however: "When Sen. Lindsey Graham announced his support for Sonia Sotomayor this week, right-wing radio talk show host Mark Levin said it was a sign that Graham is 'unreliable ... as a thinker and a leader.' Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, called it proof that Graham 'still lacks courage, statesmanship and an understanding of the Constitution and rule of law. May his antics get the attention they richly deserve.'" Other hard right commentators were even less generous. Glenn Beck ridiculed Graham for his telling Sotomayor during the hearings that she is likely to get confirmed: "Does anybody remember when Lindsey Graham wasn't a worm?"

Graham, however, defended his decision in the Senate: "Mr. Graham said from the floor that 'elections matter' and that he wanted to give President Obama leeway on his nominees. While acknowledging that a Republican president wouldn’t have chosen someone like the New York judge, Senator Graham said that Judge Sotomayor’s exceptional qualifications as a judge for 17 years and her performance during the hearings assured him that she would not be an 'activist judge' in the way that that term has become perjorative."

Does the fact that Graham is looking beyond politics and ideology a worm? Hardly. I'd call him a statesman.