Huckleberry's panic disorder
by digby
Poor Huckleberry Graham. He's been in such a frothing panic for so long now that I'm afraid he's going to have a heart attack. The other day he came out of a briefing on Iraq practically rending his garments and screeching,
We’ve got another Benghazi in the making here! What I heard in there scared the hell out of me!
Here he was just 9 months ago
The trifecta from hell is unfolding in front of us,” Graham said. “Iran is about to get a nuclear weapon. Syria is about to infect the entire region, taking Jordan down, and Egypt could become a failed state.”
And later, as if trying to bolster his feverish portrayal of current events, Graham laid down the bottom line. “I’m just telling you,” he told Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, “we live in the most dangerous times imaginable.”
He added:
Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Saturday that he was going to get Congress to authorize President Barack Obama to use military force to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program "to make sure they get a clear signal that this debacle called Syria doesn't mean we're confused about Iran."
Here he was a month later wringing his hands about Russia:
"I want a world that's not about to blow up! I want Russia to change and if you've got a better idea how to deal with Putin, let me know. He's running all over us, running all over the world," said Graham, pointing back to the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany and arguing that the host country uses the event to "sell itself."
A couple of months after that:
Graham told reporters in Goose Creek on Tuesday that taking action against Syria in response to the situation is not a question of yes or no, but rather a question of bad or worse choices.
He says if there is no U.S. response, Iran will not believe America’s resolve to block Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Graham also says those nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists could result in a bomb coming to Charleston Harbor.
Here he was after Obama's State of the Union address this year:
“The world is literally about to blow up!” Graham said, saying he completely disagrees with Obama on Iran policy.
“The world as I know was not remotely described by the president. Syria is a contagion,” Graham said.
“Explain to me what happens if the Syrian conflict goes on another year and Assad continues to win,” Graham said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Iraq is disintegrating. The whole region is moving toward chaos, and we’re doing nothing. We’re talking about limiting drones?” said Graham, who brought “Duck Dynasty” co-star Korie Robertson to the speech as his guest.
And now today he's babbling about Stalin and Hitler again and talking about an alliance with the great Satan:
A Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki cannot keep his country together, and a U.S. alliance with Iran might be needed to do so.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday a U.S. partnership with longtime foe Iran makes him uncomfortable but likened it to the United States working with Josef Stalin in World War II against Adolf Hitler. He says the United States has to do what it can to keep Baghdad from falling to insurgents.
Well at least he's not confused.
One silver lining in this whole thing: if the idiotic Bush Doctrine ("yer either with us or yer with thuh terrists!") wasn't dead before it's definitely a goner now. The complex alliances in this latest conflagration are sufficiently complicated that all of the simplistic bombast about "Good 'n Evil" is finally seen for the puerile drivel it always was.
I think the Obama administration should send Graham and McCain to Israel to explain our new working relationship with Iran. Should be a fun trip. Just don't tell Michael Ledeen.
Oh, in case you were thinking that Graham has any credibility, think again. This was his statement March 20, 2003:
"I fully understand why President Bush had to resort to the use of force to disarm Saddam Hussein. It has been readily apparent for many months that Saddam would not voluntarily part with his weapons of mass destruction.
"It's long past time for Saddam Hussein to be replaced. President Bush used the only reasonable option available to him and our nation."
Oh, and this too, from 2005:
We cannot win this war on terror if people are undercutting us. And one way to undercut us is to empower Iran.
Graham has been saying the world is blowing up for well over a decade. And it probably will actually blow up some day. But that won't mean that Lindsay Graham's endless shrieking about it, no matter what the circumstances, will have been right. In fact, we should change the old saw "crying wolf" to "crying Huckleberry."
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