Graham Crackers
There was a story last week that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is preparing again to introduce his proposal for a national abortion ban. Two things must be noted upfront:
The first is that if you check your calendar, no, it is not April 1.
And the second is that, yes, he said this after last Tuesday’s election, when voters in Red state Ohio past an abortion law by 59-41%, and when Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s presidential dreams crashed against the rocks even with his supposedly “reasonable” 15-week limit and voters flipped the state legislature.
Not long ago, reading something like what Lindsey Graham said would have struck galling horror in the hearts of many. Today, the reaction is very different.
O please, Lindsey, please!!
A national abortion ban will never be signed into law by President Biden. Never. As in ever. Moreover, it will never even pass the Democratic-led Senate. Never ever never. But what Lindsey Graham’s inexplicable consideration would do is show the public what the Republican Party wants to do if elected to power, regardless of what they say about, “Oh, no, really, we only wanting to ‘limit’ abortions. Honest.”
Show the public is the polite way of saying that this would be like announcing a major Hollywood movie premiere with spot lights shining down on the Republican Party, klieg lights shining up into the sky so intensely they brighten the night, banners, marching bands, cheerleaders, TV coverage, and a red carpet leading every Republican down the path to oblivion.
Keep in mind, again – because it can’t be repeated enough -- that the public crushed Gov. Youngkin’s political dreams based on even just a “limited” abortion ban in just one state. And Lindsey Graham wants all his party members in Congress to vote for a national abortion ban. No limits. Everywhere.
O please. Go for it, Sen. Graham.
It’s hard to imagine that he will. But then it’s hard to imagine he even made the suggestion. I have absolutely no idea what he is thinking.
Every special election on abortion has overwhelmingly supported it, even in Red states like Kansas and Ohio. In elections where abortion wasn’t on the ballot, but candidates positions were, anti-abortion candidates have been knocked down like bowling pins in a perfect 300 game. Glenn Youngkin’s presidential dreams were…oh, you know, smashed to smithereens. Polls show the public wildly supporting abortion in massive numbers.
And Lindsey Graham wants every Republican to tell the public, “Put us in power, and you know -- because we’re on record voting for it -- we will pass a national abortion ban.”
In fact, this is such a horrific idea for Republicans that even if any of them actually dared vote against such a bill, they would infuriate their extreme-right base and risk getting a primary challenge at best or, at worst, lose their votes entirely.
Here’s the thing about how truly terrible his lamebrain idea is –
Even if it never even becomes an official bill and never gets voted on in the U.S. Senate, the mere fact that Lindsey Graham – one of the closest allies of Trump and Ranking Republican Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- made the suggestion that he was even just thinking of proposing a national abortion ban is damning and damaging enough. Because it lends credibility to abortion advocates’ worst suspicions of the Republican Party. Especially now that the GOP unanimously voted to elect Christo-fascist Mike Johnson its House Speaker, a man who said if you want to know his worldview, just open the Bible.
And in the midst of that, after last Tuesday’s devastating election for Republican and anti-abortionists, Lindsey Graham is pondering the introduction of a bill to have a national abortion ban.
O please, Lindsey, go for it! You the man! Don’t let any of your fellow-Republican senators talk you out of his. Even ace strategist Tommy Tuberville. Stand tall. Stand up for what you believe in – even that hasn’t been clear ever since you became a Trump sycophant. This is your hour to shine! This is Lindsey Time.
Please.
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