The guy who rode shotgun on the Straight Talk Express isn't safe. Because Lindsay Graham has the temerity to work with
Democrats on a climate change bill, South Carolina Republicans decided
to censure him and stated bipartisanship is little more than a
subversive plot to "weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals
of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism." That's right, GOP
branding comes before freedom:
South Carolina Republicans are sui generis: Whether it's Sen. Jim "healthcare will be Obama's Waterloo" DeMint or Rep. Joe "You Lie!" Wilson or Gov. Mark "no stimulus for me" Sanford, they rarely disappoint. One would expect no less from the first state to secede from the United States after Lincoln's election and the first state where shots were fired in the Civil War. Racist tweets and jokes about Michelle Obama and escaped gorillas? Also easily explainable: In 1860, there were three slaves for every free person in South Carolina -- only Mississippi could compare. It's a legacy that's apparently pretty hard to shake.
