Lindsey Graham, Clueless Politician

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is a case study in what it means to be a clueless politician who does not understand that the world he once thought he knew has irrevocably changed.

Graham, interviewed by CBS News, denigrates Glenn Beck and other conservative talk show hosts, as well as most of those he would need to merit re-election next time around. He says that Beck is "aligned with cynicism" and that "cynicism sells." He paints with a single brush all those who attended town hall events as "crazies" because a handful are pushing for President Obama to reveal his actual Hawaiian birth certificate. Obama has fought in court to avoid doing so.

I leave it up to you to decide what is crazy about this issue. If there is nothing to hide, why fight? And the U.S. Constitution does require a president to be born on U.S. soil. My personal stance is that this horse is long out of the barn, and even if Obama has no birth certificate, are you ready to face the upheaval of a constitutional crisis as the Supreme Court orders him out of the Oval Office? Perhaps worse, are you ready for a President Joe Biden?

But I digress. Graham is lauding Obama for his achievements, declaring that The One had passed the "ready to be commander in chief test" during the presidential debates. For a guy who supposedly backed John McCain, that's a big "Say what?" admission -- and inexplicably weird. Graham goes on to defend his own radical views on allowing unrestricted immigration.

Worse, however, is that Graham licks his chops at the thought of what disgruntled voters will do to Democrats in 2010 without displaying any contrition or humility for the fact that Republican progressivism set the stage for the nonsense we are going through. He has learned nothing. You can tell when he says this:

"... we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers."

So what do you believe in, Sen. Grahamnesty?

Winning political elections. Adopting policies that will guarantee the allegiance of voting groups. This is the old "party first" formula that has led America to the thresh hold of disaster, a sellout on both sides of Constitutional principles for the expediencies of the moment. The short game, not the long game.

Glenn Beck is popular because he, and others, are voices that reflect a growing sentiment among Americans that both parties, in different ways, have ignored the Constitution and are selling our individual liberties down a progressive, socialist river. Beck believes in the Constitution, in freedom and liberty, in limited government, in an educated and informed electorate.

Lindsey Graham believes in playing the political game in Washington, where you compromise principle to achieve consensus and then wait for a policy to fail so that you can bash the other party.

That's cynical.

That he would invoke Benjamin Franklin to attack Glenn Beck is damn near blasphemy. Franklin may have been a master of political compromise, but it was never at the expense of the principles of liberty.

Americans are waking up to the political opportunists in both main parties and are realizing that just because you have a D or an R after your name doesn't necessarily mean anything good. We are entering a new era where politicians are going to be judged on their actions, not just on their rhetoric at election time.

And no one gets a pass.