Sen. Graham Wouldn't Know Bipartisanship If It Was Staring At Him In The Face

With two days to go until President Barack Obama goes to Denver to sign the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, we have one last Sunday talk cycle to get the frustrations of Republicans out so that we can all hear it for the umpteenth time. Democrats have already described McCain as an angry, old defeated candidate, but we need to add Senator Lindsay Graham in there too.

From RawStory:

At this point, Graham chimed in to say, "If this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed. ... I know bipartisanship when I see it. ... There's nothing about this process that's been bipartisan. This is not change we can believe in."

"You rammed it through the House," Graham told the Democrats on the panel. "The markup, Chuck, in the Senate took an hour and forty minutes."

"We had every Republican vote for a $440 billion stimulus package," Graham continued, "that cut taxes, had infrastructure spending, and helped people who were out of work

Graham was apparently referring to Sen. John Thune's proposal, which was voted down 37-60. That proposal would have cut tax rates in a way that gave the most relief to affluent Americans and none to the working poor, made unemployment benefits tax-free, used tax credits to encourage renewed home-buying, and forbidden future tax increases to pay for current deficit spending. It would also have included a mere $65 billion in state grants to build and repair bridges and roads.

See, Senator Graham has it all wrong. The bipartisanship shown during Republican rule was where some Democrats would complain that the GOP gave everything to the rich and stole from the poor, then the GOP would ignore said Democrats and pass whatever the hell they wanted. Now that the Republicans have been beaten into a small regional party with limited influence, they're complaining about not getting things the way that they're used to. Proposing a counter-bill that had half the money and nearly all of that going to the very rich was laughable to say the least.

The American people demanded change this past November. Until Republicans like Graham actually want to sit down and come up with ideas other than their failed tax cuts, they have no claim to use the word "bipartisanship." At the very least, Senator Graham should consult a dictionary (and his constituents who are flailing in this wretched economy) before going on his next Sunday talk show.