Dear Lindsey,
I never thought I'd say this, but I feel kind of bad for you. However, you did bring this upon yourself:
Now, after voting to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and expressing a willingness to build a compromise approach to clean energy legislation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appears to be the new target of tea party activists. At a Graham town hall in Greenville yesterday, activist Harry Kimball of "RINO HUNT" protested by constructing a display that depicted Graham, as well as moderates like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), being flushed down a toilet
KIMBALL: This is for every RINO who has failed to represent us. [...] [the toilet represents] flushing them, flushing them.
One attendee of the event asked the senator, "when are you going to announce that you are switching parties?" The question drew loud applause from the crowd. Graham defended himself, and denounced the influence of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on the Republican party:
GRAHAM: I’m going to grow this party, I’m not going to let it get [inaudible], I’m not going to let it be hijacked by Ron Paul. [...] I’m going to find people in Maine, Delaware, Illinois, other places–
AUDIENCE: Move there!
GRAHAM: That can win as Republicans, and I’m going to go up, and we’re going to move this party, and this country forward, and if you don’t like it, you can leave.
Lindsey, you're wrong. Your party isn't being hijacked by Ron Paul, it's being hijacked by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and the Teabaggers. YOU waited too long to say anything, instead you chose to toe the party line and stuck with the Party of No, being so afraid of being outcast, that you had to stop yourself from clapping for healthcare reform.
Sure, lately you've been making some attempts to reel in Glenn Beck and the "birthers" (or at least acknowledge that they are batshit crazy) while trying to toe a very thin line, and so far you've been unsuccessful. You claim your party wants moderates, yet the Republicans may be denying Senator Olympia Snowe a position for voting FOR health care reform and "only" voting with her party about 59% of the time.
You see, one doesn't HAVE to like or even accept moderates to be in the Republican Party these days, moderates are better off leaving the party and becoming "Independent" (I would say a "Democrat" but we have enough Blue Dogs).
You see Lindsey, you let it get out of control. You can't control it. When shit like THIS:
is just put out there in the open, you can't control it. When people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh can continue to pull your party further and further into the abyss that is the far right wing because you all are afraid to lose the rapidly deteriorating base you still have, it's too late. The sad part is, there are some more conservative positions that even some of us here on Daily Kos could agree with, but instead of having reasoned debates, we're stuck debunking dumb shit like death panels.
So while I commend your small effort to bring some sanity to your party, it's simply too little, too late.
Sincerely,
Muzikal203
P.S. In the interest of fair use, I didn't post everything that ThinkProgress had, but it's worth a gander. The video is also at the link.
P.P.S. I knew this was gonna happen in August