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SENATOR GETS IN HEATED EXCHANGE WITH BOXER OVER DEMOCRAT SPENDING PLAN
The emotional debate over President Barack Obama’s proposed $1 trillion economic “stimulus” package came to a head on the Senate floor today in the form of a very heated exchange between Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democrat Barbara Boxer.
The California senator accused Graham and fellow Republicans opposed to the bill of being “theatrical,” which she claimed wasn’t the case when former President George W. Bush “sent down a bill twice as big as that.” But Graham quickly fired back.
“I will put my ability to speak my mind to party up against anybody including you, senator,” Graham said. “I have been on this floor many times arguing with the past administration about policies I disagreed with.”
When Boxer tried to interrupt Graham, he stopped her and reminded her that “this is my time.”
Graham then continued, “This process that we’re engaging in is not smart, we’re not working together, we’re about to spend $800 or $900 billion and nobody’s got a clue where we’re gonna land and we’ve got to do it by tonight. If this is the solution to George Bush’s problems, the country is going to get worse. If this is the new way of doing business — if this is the change we all can believe in — America’s best days are behind her.”
(h/t Bridgett Wagner)
Preach it Brother Graham! Senator Boxer just got her hat handed to her.
Graham is back…
So after 8 years of systematically creating trillion dollar deficits in order to subsidize a wasteful and unjustifiable (on defense grounds) overseas military action in Iraq, the Republicans have finally discovered pork. What a crock. Preach is the wrong word for it.
Lindsey Where have you been?
I’m so glad she’s my Senator–way to call Graham out on his bullshit. This is a guy that has let his party amass a far larger deficit than the bill currently before him–than the bill that we need. I mean, but heck, it’s a great time for Graham to suddenly be concerned with bipartisanship.
Chuck – Still suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome I see.
YOU MARK MY WORDS…
Graham will give his great speech. He will run his poll numbers up…but in the end he will lead the compromise that spends OVER 700 billion of our tax dollars. Mr. Compromise will settle for too much waste and pork.
Had it been left to Demint and Company, the magic number would be in the 4oo billion range.
Graham will screw us…just you wait and see
The Senate Republicans would be better off without Graham’s outspokeness. I would rather he keep his mouth shut and leave this up to DeMint. What Graham could have done was oppose the tax-evading new IRS head and the absolutely disqualified new Attorney General. Nope, instead he supported their confirmation. What a pantywaist.
I am so embarrassed that I have, the dumb as a brick, Boxer as my Senator. Can’t imagine how she impressed the “Stanford Student”. Graham is right though, this version of the HR1 Mother of all Pork Bills STINKS to high heaven in special interest payoffs. GOP needs to dig in, no koolaid, no White house sports parties, no glad-hand photo ops. Just the same bipartisanship that “the one” demonstrated in the Senate.
Demint is a moron. Got no personality. No original thoughts. Boring as one can be. Terrible constituent service. And insulting to people who make the trek to his office to see them. There is no excuse for being rude. He couldn’t solve a problem if he tried. People ho are useless like that need to at least be entertaining, and he is not. And most of all a terrible staff surrounding him in SC and DC, which goes along with his dufus campaighn jerks.
When was the last time a good piece of legislation came out of the senate?
Seriously?
At least the house voted against the first bailout.
RE: rick not quinn
Rick, just because you didn’t get a staff job you shouldn’t mouth off like you really know how it’s done
Ole Lindsey is finally coming back around and acting like a REPUBLICAN again….
News flash: The Republicans lost. You, Senator Graham — you lost. You, your president, and your fellow Republicans had your turn driving the bus and you all drove us all off a cliff. You and your ilk are now rightfully a distinct political minority. Do you get that, Senator Graham? Elections have consequences, and there are many more Democrats than there are Republicans. Maybe that’s not true down south in ol’ Dixie, where GOPers still roam the earth like lost dinosaurs from a long, lost era. But in the entire U.S. of A., Democrats now greatly outnumber Republicans. Let me say it again just in case you’re a little slow on the uptake: Y-O-U L-O-S-T.
You see Senator Graham, you are not representative of where mainstream U.S. opinion is today. Your party’s leaders are a laughingstock, your party organization is in shambles, and your party’s tired and stale ideas have been rejected in wholesale fashion by the American people. You lost.
Your objection to the bill has been duly noted, Senator Graham. I thank the gentleman for making his views known. Now do the nation a favor: sit down, be quiet, and let the folks running the country — the people who won the election — do the people’s business. You and your party are now no more than a pothole on the road of progress. Get out of the way.
I am beyond being ashamed that Ms. Boxer is one of my senators — she is indicative of the cancer that is in the process of killing my beloved golden state. Both Boxer and Pelosi are born and bred northeast old school liberals who claim to represent CA — in actuality all they respresent are those of their own ilk who have invaded this great state and are eating it alive — I’ll take a dozen hard working, family oriented, god fearing (legal) Mexican immigrants over a morally corrupt east coast holier than thou liberal any day!
I woke up this morning to hear Lindsay and Company are headed to a compromise…to take out 100 billion…
OUT OF 500 BILLION OF EXTRA PORK, OUR ASS KISSING GRAHAM screwed us again. Before he got involved, we were looking at the possibilities of cutting the bill in half.
Thanks Nancy Graham…you serve your masters well!
PS.. and don’t forget. The bill was LESS when it came to the Senate from the house. Nancy Graham and Company loaded it up, then gave it a slight haircut…and people think he is “going right”!
And notice this…Graham only got “pissed” when the lady attacked him personally. Until then, he was fine.
When will we learn that Graham could care less about us?
Senator Graham’s proposal to meet in the middle takes the Senate bill back about 100 billion dollars…to the exact House bill that every House Republican voted against.
Meeting in the middle is not the way to go through life, unless you are dealing with other people’s money. Then it is just dandy.
Meeting in the middle is the end of the conservative movement.
Hmm? Act Like a Republican? Just wanted to list a few options for him to consider.
1. Duke Cunningham
2. Larry Craig
3. Mark Foley
4. Jack Abramoff
5. Ted Stevens
6. Deficits as far as the eye can see.
7. Half of the TARP Money spent and nothing to show for it but Wall Street bonuses
8. Entering into a war we can’t afford and mismanaging it.
9. Repealing Glass Steagall resulting in the collapse of the US Economy
10. The K Street Project
11. Massive Corruption all the way into the White House
12. Turning the Justice Department into the Department of Political Persecution
13. Learn from Nixon, burn the tapes (or emails)
14. Bridge to no where
15. No bid contracts for Haliburton to run the war (or is that part of 11)
16. When in doubt, lie.
17. Ted Haggard
18. Fact finding Missions to St. Andrews (but don’t worry lobbyists are paying, not the Taxpayer.)
“You see Senator Graham, you are not representative of where mainstream U.S. opinion is today. ”
Then you aren’t too informed there, “Informed Voter,” if you think the mainstream of U.S. opinion is behind this absurd monstrosity called a “porkulus bill.” You might want to check the latest opinion numbers on that one and maybe attempt to become better “informed” because the more people look into this ridiculousness they see it for the sham it is. And that is clearly being reflected in national polling.
Lindsey has let us down time and time again, but it was nice to see him – just once – finally getting out of the murky middle and standing up the crazy-ass Barbara Boxer’s of the world. She’s such an idiot. I don’t expect him to keep it up but for once, it was heartwarming to see.
Informed Voter- Its called the political process. If the party you speak of, the party that “won” the election, was so powerful, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Unfortunately, as you probably know, they need, oh, three or four votes to get their stimulus passed. Not gonna happen. Yes, a different version of it may pass, with a lot of the same stuff involved. THIS is why Graham doesn’t need to sit down and shut up. And in case you haven’t noticed over the past few years, Senator Graham is probably more likely to vote on the D side than the majority of Republicans. So, you see, you NEED the support of a certain Senator Graham. How pissed were you when the impotent Democrats rolled over and played dead early on in the Bush administration? Probably not very pissed, because no one was really paying attention.
Chris- God forbid the man gets “pissed” when personally attacked. Professionals, when acting professionally, do not resort to getting “pissed” during the normal course of business. I forgive the man for not getting “pissed” just because he doesn’t feel the same way as your buddy Demint.
Charles- LOL, good post. Though I take issue #14, bridge to nowhere, as it was never built. Alaska did get the money though, god only knows what they did with it!
The Rethuglicans are HYPOCRITES! All I will advise them to do is keep it up, they will see their numbers lessen further 2010.
Just like I said. Graham got involved, and they split the difference between the house and Senate bill…so we get the bill for 8oo billion, and Sen Nancy Graham gets his conservative cred back.
This is why we, the republican party, deserved to lose the election. We are fools.
Did you expect it to go “your way,” Chris-tine? If you did, once again, you are crazy. A compromise is a pretty good deal right now. After all, it is the basis of our government. Didn’t hear much from Demint, did we? I do remember earlier in the week when he mentioned being ok with a number quite close to where it ended up. You can’t see clearly through the haze of hatred you have for Graham, can you?
Scott…I don’t hate Graham. I just know what he is/.
But if i had wanted a democrat in DC, I would have voted for one. Most of this bill is pork, and by voting for it, the GOP showed their critics that their rants against the GOP are true…we stand for nothing.
We stand for nothing…but the pursuit of personal power, glory and money for an elite few.
I am done with the GOP. Just simply done.
I’m not sure about your last sentence, but I could not have said the sentence before that better. However I’ve felt that way since 2000.
Chris wrote: “If i had wanted a democrat in DC, I would have voted for one….I am done with the GOP.”
You didn’t want a Democrat in Washington, but most voters did. And they voted accordingly. The Democrats won and the Republicans lost. Quiet handily, I would add.
You claim that you are “done” with the GOP. So are lots and lots of other people. Republicans had their moment in the sun, but your time is past. Bush left a massive train wreck in his despised wake.
But, hey, you got something for your time in office. You got Roberts and Alito on the Supreme Court. You got a temporary tax cut that is soon to expire, and you got No Child Left Behind and a Medicare drug benefit, too. So it wasn’t a total loss, eh? Bwahahaha!!!
Informed voter, if you think that 53% is a supermajority, you are functionally retarded.
Oh, and also, Graham did not lead this compromise, Specter, Collins, and Snowe did.
And DeMint is the best Senator currently serving
Reason the Repubs are mad: The Stimulus bill is actually Obama’s plan to impose a permanent Democratic patronage system, nationwide, coast-2-coast. The stimulus spending in 2011 and 2012 is for government funded jobs, Chicago style, and the employees will be expected to get-out-the-vote for the Demos. It’s not stimulus and not pork. It’s a nationwide Chicago-style machine. The goal is to prevent Repubs from ever winning again. See http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/02/smoking-gun-caller-explains-stimulus-as.html. See also, “German economist who predicted ‘87 crash says Obama plan doomed” at http://www.evilconservativeonline.com/2009/02/even-euros-see-it-german-economist-who.html. FUrther, NRO The Corner has a breakdown list of the millions/billions to be spent in the “Stimulus”. Actually, it’s all for PATRONAGE JOBS, CHICAGO MACHINE STYLE.
Response to “Charles”, Feb 6, 2009, 11:30 a.m.
Charles listed things he didn’t like about “W”, including Ted Haggard????
Here’s a PRO BUSH list:
1. a corruption free, honest Bush governance (cf. the Blago/Obama nominees pre-office problems),
2. lack of another 9/11 at home,
3. constitutional governments in place of the Taliban and Saddam,
4. a decimation of Al Qaeda, with negative polls in the Middle East for bin Laden and suicide bombing,
5. no more nuclear processing in Libya,
6. Dr. Khan shut down,
7. Syrians out of Lebanon,
8. pro-US governments in Europe,
9. good relations with China and India,
10. the Obama acceptance of the Bush anti-terror framework,
11. crashing oil prices,
12. an isolated Ahmadinejad and Chavez,
13. two good Supreme Court Justices, etc.
Source: Victor Davis Hanson, http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/novus-ordo-seclorum/