In news that should be
reassuring to sane Americans everywhere, Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) has poured cold water on
reports of a potential run for president. Speaking on CNN’s
State of the Union, Graham stated that he was not
prepared—at least right now—for the demands of a presidential
campaign.
From Politico:
“I know what it’s like to run for president. I’m running for the
Senate,” Graham said. “I know what it takes to put an organization
together, put the money together. I was with [Sen. John] McCain
twice in this endeavor. I am nowhere near there. I
am all-in running for the Senate.” [emphasis added]
If true, this development should be celebrated by anyone who
opposes perpetual war and respects the Bill of Rights.
As one of the proudest advocates of American interventionism,
Graham’s decade-long tenure in the Senate has included regular and
repeated calls for U.S. involvement in conflicts abroad. He has
claimed that
ISIS is coming to kill all Americans and equated
the 2003 invasion of Iraq with World War II.
But the civil liberties front is where Graham has shown his true
hostility to the Constitution. Speaking in support of the National
Defense Authorization Act in 2011, Graham gleefully
came out in favor of allowing the indefinite detention of U.S.
citizens without trial. As Reason reported at the time, his exact
words were, “When they say, ‘I want my laywer,’ you tell them,
‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer.'” (Video below.)
That’s a view that doesn’t just conflict with the
Fifth Amendment—it contradicts the basic protections of
habeas corpus that have been an important part of the the
Anglo-American legal tradition for centuries.
Of course, political theater has long required presidential
hopefuls to deny their lofty ambitions until right before the
formal launch of a campaign. Without access to his private
communications, it’s impossible to be sure Graham isn’t secretly
entertaining the possibility of a run. If only he thought
Americans’ communications deserved the same level of respect.
Sadly, with Graham, that would be
too much to hope for.
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