TNR HAS INTERESTING INSIGHT INTO MCCAIN, GRAHAM FRIENDSHIP

A story to be published in next week’s The National Review offers an insight into the close friendship between Republican presidential nominee and Sen. Lindsey Graham. For instance, this story about a pig:

“John is so excited about the big pig,” Graham explains, slumping in his airport chair and rolling his eyes. “He wanted me to see the pig.” The pig in question is Freight Train, the Iowa State Fair’s 1,259-pound prize-winning hog, whose immense hillocks of back fat constitute a boyish fixation for the Republican nominee. Graham couldn’t make it to Iowa this year, but McCain was loath to stop playing with him: “‘Just come out!’” Graham croaks, squaring his shoulders and turning his voice into a rasp to imitate McCain’s. “He is mesmerized by that pig.”

Before Freight Train captured McCain’s enthusiasm, it was bird-watching. “They ought to take all the detainees at Gitmo, round them up, and make them listen to John talk about birds for a week,” Graham complains of their epic sessions with bird guidebooks at McCain’s ranch in Sedona, Arizona. “John gets so obsessed with things, and if you’re his buddy, you pay.”

Not every U.S. senator who advises the GOP’s presidential nominee on Iraq policy gets to see the side of McCain that likes to run after animals. But the 53-year-old Graham has a special place in McCain’s campaign: top surrogate, but also inseparable foil. Graham has not only gone on–in the past month alone–CNN, “Face the Nation,” “Hannity & Colmes,” “Today,” and “Fox News Sunday” to press the McCain campaign’s tactical interests, but he also talks with McCain on the phone about three times a day, oftentimes just to say hi. En route to Savannah (a rare trip away from McCain’s side), Graham managed to squeeze in a short call between wheels-down and deplaning. Walking down the jetway after the flight, he waved to me, smiled, and held up his cell phone: “That was John, right there!”

It’s unusual for a presidential candidate to have an honest-to-goodness sidekick, but then again, McCain is sort of a Pied Piper for protégés. While most politicians collect allies, McCain collects followers: There’s ex-aide John Weaver, who still helps McCain long after being officially dumped; speechwriter Mark Salter, who reveres McCain as a father figure; and fellow POW Orson Swindle, who adoringly follows McCain around on the campaign trail. These intensely devoted mentees seem to look to McCain less to bring momentum to their careers than to bring meaning to their lives. But Graham is different from all the other worshippers–and more important.

The piece goes on to list numerous other tidbits and commentaries and is certainly worth a read.

As I’ve said before, Graham’s close friendship with the man who may be the next President of the United States could reap great dividends for South Carolina. It’s rumored that he could be slated for a cabinet-level post, but either way, he’ll certainly be one of the McCain Administration’s top advisors.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pm and is filed under National news, Republicans, U.S. Congress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.