Originally published at: The Unofficial List of Republicans Who May Throw Their Hat in the Ring to Replace Lindsey Graham - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died Saturday evening from a “brief and sudden illness” at the age of 71. The longtime senator’s unexpected death triggered a massive scramble for his now-open seat among various Republican characters in the South Carolina political scene. Here is how it will go: South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) will soon…
I’m certain South Carolina will pick a winner.
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Lindsey Graham died Saturday. And within hours…hours…the biggest names in the Democratic Party lined up to tell us what a delight the man was.
Adam Schiff will remember his sense of humor. Said he was “never disagreeable.” Elizabeth Warren remembered his wit, his willingness to negotiate, and sent her heart out to his loved ones. Mark Warner never doubted his patriotism. Warm. Gracious. Bipartisan. Tasteful.
Here’s the part the eulogies skipped:
Graham chaired the Senate Budget Committee. He ran the reconciliation (budget) machine that shoveled billions into the immigration crackdown… the very crackdown whose agents have killed people in Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and elsewhere.
I’ve got one question: where’s the post for the loved ones of the people his budget helped bury with its funding of ICE. Where’s that eulogy?
Politicians’ own voters are watching masked agents kill citizens in the street…and the party’s response is to reminisce about golf-buddy collegiality with the man who financed it.
Elected Democrat US representatives and senators think we want them gracious. We don’t. We want them ANGRY. We want them to fight like it’s the emergency it actually is.
You want to know why the Democratic brand is in the gutter? This bullshit…this is why. Graham played the game to the end. His eulogists are still playing it.
Sweet words about a politician who assisted in such atrocities against our neighbors (just because he’s dead) is not class. That’s surrender…with good manners.
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“An inexhaustive list of the kooks, the state politicians and the Trump golf partners who may be in the running to replace Graham.”
To be fair, Nancy Mace alone constitutes 78% of South Carolina’s kookery.
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Ah, what stellar choices are arrayed before the South Carolina voters!
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Leaving aside for a moment the immense harms caused by Graham and MAGA, I would say that it’s not uncommon for these kinds of vacancies to be filled by spouses of the deceased (see e.g., Doris Matsui and Robert Matsui). Since Graham’s closest relative seems to have been a sibling rather than a spouse, I can imagine the train of thought that led to her name being floated. (“Too bad Lindsey wasn’t married, we could just stick his wife on the ballot.” “Well, wait…”) I’ll log off before I learn how awful her politics are and/or how unqualified she is (comapred to, again, Doris Matsui). But there is a tradition here (one that I know the GOP would not honor if Graham’s spouse had been a man).
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Shouldn’t that recognize 78% of South Carolina is kookrey?
“Too small to be a country. Too big to be an insane asylum.”
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As they say, Nancy Mace is “Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!” Calling her a lunatic just doesn’t go far enough.
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The governor, and then the voters, of the Palmetto Bug state will certainly pick the most Trumpy and Trump-approved cockroach to represent them. They’ve got a bunch of appropriate candidates: the ignorant (Norman), the crazy (Mace), the utterly unknown and unqualified (Nordone), the loser (Evette), and the Fox News guy (Gowdy) among them.
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It truly is a shame that we are going to miss out on Senator RentBoy and instead get Senator Sister. One of those would honor Lady G much more than the other.
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I dunno. Norman and some of the others are right up there. Plenty of kookery to go around.
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Crookery …
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Bless their hearts.
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Nancy Mace would be a GREAT choice. She has already failed humiliatingly at one run at state-wide office - let’s go for two.
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A real basket of deplorables all right.
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Graham’s beard sister, Darline (originally Darlene*), being selected to serve out his current term makes sense. Political dynasties have a long history in America, and wives have often been “tapped” to replace deceased members umpteen times. Being that Darline, who Lindsay had adopted in order to make her eligible for his military pension and benefits, is the only woman he ever “tapped” (he age 20; her 11) she was a pseudo wife in the Palmetto state sense when they were young.
Moreover, being “close” to her brother made her privy to many of his secrets. No doubt during latter-day heart-to-hearts he mentioned that, if he didn’t carry out Hair Fuhrer’s wishes, the Mad Mayor of Mal-de-Lardo would release the reams of Putin-supplied kompromat he had on him, thereby tarnishing the family name.
As such, she will make for a reliable vote in the Senate.
*The spelling of her name changed because Lindsay taught her to spell it incorrectly.
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Hopkins should now do the Republicans also.
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Narrator: Believe us, Ms. Mace, NO ONE is “pulling you back in.”
Although TFG is acting as if he came up with the idea, I’ve seen the wording in a couple of articles that seemed to say “Governor came up with the idea, TFG liked it, now it’s “his” idea.” Stealing credit where credit is due, as usual.
It’s worse than you think. Nancy Mace came in FIFTH in the gubernatorial primary. That means that as patently awful as Mace is, South Carolina Republicans have already found FOUR people who are even WORSE. And THREE of them are unemployed for the same reason she is.
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