Sen. Lindsey Graham took a lot of heat from the Tea Party movement so he's been trying to curry their favor ever since. He used to be considered part of John McCain's "Maverick posse", but since McCain denied that he ever was a maverick so he could bow down to the crazed right, it makes him look ridiculous. On the debt ceiling debate, Graham had an interesting conversation with Candy Crowley, who clearly is in a Grand Bargain kinda mood. Goober Graham is parroting the new Republican talking point of "Cut, Cap and Balance" (also known as the Ryan Plan 2.0) and had the audacity to compare us to Greece. Wow, is there any fear-mongering in those words?
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union" Sunday, Graham said that Republicans would raise the debt ceiling only in exchange for the requirements in the “Cut, Cap and Balance” legislation the House is expected to vote this week. That bill would cut government spending to 2008 levels, cap sending for the next decade and require the passage of a balanced budget constitutional amendment.
“For those three things, we’ll raise the debt limit,” Graham said. “That will be the Republican position in the House almost unanimously; I think it will be the Republican position in the Senate.” [..]
"What is calamitous is the path we’re on as a nation,” he said. “We’re becoming Greece.”
"Greece" is the new fear-mongering catch phrase much like 'Saddam Hussein" was in 2002/3. The same scare tactics that lied to Americans and brought us into an unjust war with Iraq that Graham had no problems with paying for.
The Balanced Budget Amendment is a joke, as every one knows. Graham lied to Crowley when he said that since he's been in DC since 1995, it's obvious to him that both parties are incapable of balancing the budget so we need a constitutional amendment. Crowley should have then reminded the big Goober that in 2000, when he was in Congress under Bill Clinton, the US had a surplus in our federal budget and that George Bush took the cash, gave it to his pals and led us into massive debt soon afterwards. But getting back to his Greece reference, here's the Political Animal:
New rule: every time a confused Republican lawmakers compare the United States’ fiscal conditions to that of Greece, an angel loses its wings.
Look, the very idea is just crazy. The U.S. has extremely low interest rates and foreign investors are happy to loan us money; Greece has extremely high interest rates and no one is eager to loan the country money. The U.S. has our own currency; Greece has the Euro. We have a great credit rating (for now); Greece as an awful credit rating. We have a manageable debt; Greece has a debt crisis. We’re a large country with an enormous economy; Greece is a small country with a small economy. We have one of the world’s most stable systems of government (at least until six months ago); Greece’s government structure is a little shaky.
For an elected American senator — and media darling — to tell a national television audience that the United States is “becoming Greece” is a clear signal: Lindsey Graham is not to be taken seriously on these issues.
If Graham sincerely believes his own rhetoric, he has no idea what he’s talking about. If Graham is just playing some kind of cynical game, he’s a hack.