The "GOP Can't All Be Crazy" List

I am not a fan of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), but as of today, I may be warming to the idea of admiring him. His rationale for voting in favor of Elena Kagan added another check mark in my mental checklist of reasons why the GOP Can't All Be Crazy.

Other people are on the same list--former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is still on the list. Scott Brown (R-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are still on the list for the obvious reasons. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) comes and goes depending on my mood, and of course Colin Powell's place is permanent. Condoleezza Rice's position is pretty solid as well, as are the Bush women and the McCain women (yes, there are some women in the GOP that I respect--even if they don't always appear to think for themselves).

But in recent years, some folks are being dropped like bad habits. John McCain's stock plummeted in 2008--not for being Barack Obama's opponent--but for being so transparent and gutless about his positions. After the election, I expected to secretly reinstall him somewhere near the bottom, but then he got back into campaign mode and has proved that he will say almost anything to stay in office. He is now permanently banned. Joe Scarborough used to be on the list, but he had to come off as his show began to harp on the permanent Obama-is-an-abject-failure narrative. I can accept criticism of the President, and I get that Scarborough is the only Republican with a talk show on MSNBC, but he has become essentially a broken record.

Pat Buchanan comes and goes on the list because while he tends to parrot the Obama-should-fail mantra too, he has moments of lucidity that suggest he knows this is all just political theatre. The same is true for Ben Stein and Michael Steele...I know that Mike is a tricky one to justify, but I honestly think Steele knows what he is doing when he dances with the devil in the pale moonlight and spouts off nonsense about Obama. That is his job.

Of course, there are a lot of folks whose names take up permanent residence on my other more populous the GOP Is Totally Ridiculous list:

Dick, Lynn and Liz Cheney
Karl "MC" Rove, Andrew Breitbart and others of their ilk

Rush Limbaugh-Sean Hannity-Glenn Beck and the rest of the Faux Noise echo chamber
Bobby Jindal-Tim Pawlenty (and other governors with ambitions that shape-shift like John McCain)
Mitch McConnell-John Cornyn-Tom Coburn et. al
John Boehner-Eric Cantor-Mike Pence et al. in the GOP House leadership
Tom Tancredo, the one-note blunder
Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, ΣΣΣ (the sorority sisters of stupidity)
Ann Coulter-Michelle Malkin-Laura Ingraham, the BOOBs (bloggers of obnoxious bunk)
and others too numerous to name

But back to Sen. Graham. His vote in favor of Elena Kagan reminds us that while there are differing points of view in American politics, the fundamental principles of what we are supposed to espouse as a nation of, by and for the People need to reflect those differences. Liberals are not pacifist flag-burners who hate the Constitution--they just regard this country as ever evolving and its founding document as an open-ended contract. Conservatives are not all gun-toting Bible freaks who whistle Dixie--they are just very proud of this country the way it is, warts and all.

Lindsey Graham knows that he might disagree with every constitutional position soon-to-be Justice Kagan will take, but our country is stronger than the opinion of any one justice or even four with a left-leaning judicial philosophy. Our institutions were built to withstand the winds of change--even if it isn't the change that half of us believe in. If only there were more members of his party who had more faith...