Charleston GOP censures Graham for Bipartisanship

[Modbert]

Charleston GOP censures Graham - S.C. Politics - TheState.com

CHARLESTON - The Charleston County Republican Party's executive committee took the unusual step Monday night of censuring U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for stepping across the GOP party line.

County chairwoman Lin Bennett said the unanimous voice vote of 50 of 104 executive members "is an effort to get his attention. They (party leaders) are just fed up, and they want him to know they're fed up."

The resolution mentions Graham's cooperation with U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on a bipartisan energy bill and his support for the $700 billion Troubled Assett Relief Program

Damn that moderate Graham, he must have like a 25% Conservative voting record!

Graham's spokesman Kevin Bishop said Graham has a lifetime conservative voting record of 90 percent.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA1kMOnU56E&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Tea Baggers "Hunt" Sen. Lindsey Graham "the RINO," mock him at town hall[/ame]

If a RINO is considered someone with a 90% Conservative lifetime record, then I would hate to see what they consider a Republican.

But hey, who's really behind the attacks on Graham? Obviously someone must be motivating the GOP in Charleston to do this:

Who’s behind attacks on Lindsey Graham?

A shadowy, mysterious group called “American Energy Alliance (AEA)” has bought nearly $300,000 worth of ads in South Carolina attacking Graham. We will reveal who’s really behind the ads in a moment. But first, let’s deal with the content.

Well, that might have something to do with who is actually funding the ads.

Almost nothing is known about the American Energy Alliance itself other than that it was established as a 501(c)4 in 1993 to fight energy initiatives created by the Clinton Administration.

The group lists none of its donors, has filings with neither the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nor the Internal Revenue Service, and has no way to be contacted.

The AEA is described by the Center for Media and Democracy as a “front group” for the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and openly calls itself the group’s “grassroots arm.”

The IER is a Houston, Texas-based “think tank” funded by, wait for it… the big oil companies. And IER has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from ExxonMobil over the last 10 years.

But it gets better.

The group’s founder and president is a man named Robert L. Bradley, Jr. Bradley’s previous position was Director of Public Policy Analysis at a little company called Enron.

At Enron, Bradley wrote speeches for Kenneth Lay, the company’s chairman who was found guilty on 10 federal charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false and misleading statements. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

With those facts in hand, it’s not too difficult to see why this secretive special interest group would attack Graham.

It all comes down to profits.

Graham is working to end the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. In the process, he has stepped on some big oily toes.

 

[Oddball]

I've found that it's not always the percentage of times they vote "conservative" (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean anymore), but when they cave on the high profile and expensive issues, like cap-n-gouge, the bailouts and immigration amnesty that drive a lot of people nuts.

A good example is Tim Pawlenty. Even though he did a 180° on his no new taxes pledge and threw in with stadium welfare for the Pohlads, he's still considered one of those "strong conservatives" mentioned for the 2012 GOP nomination.

 

[Ravi]

Wow. That is funny. The GOP is looking loonier by the day.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Maybe if he actually supported limited government this wouldn't have happened. It's hard for me to feel any sympathy since he himself has engaged in a crusade to purge the GOP of true supporters of limited government.