CHARLESTON, S.C.—Talk about Southern hospitality.
Famed Democratic strategist Pat Caddell swept into South Carolina on Monday night, blistered Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, and then insulted the people who put him in office.
And he was rewarded for his bravado with a round of hearty applause and laughter.
“Lindsey Graham is the effective leader of the surrender caucus of the Republican Party,” Cadell proclaimed during a fiery speech before the Charleston Meeting, a monthly gathering of conservative activists hosted at the swanky Harbour Club in downtown Charleston.
“And I don’t know how he works with the public in South Carolina, but I saw all of the people who’ve endorsed him for reelection. Frankly, he’s as close to a Democrat as you can get in South Carolina,” he said, evoking a smattering of chuckles from the audience.
But Caddell wasn’t chuckling—or even smiling, for that matter. The former adviser to President Jimmy Carter, now a Fox News analyst, seemed determined to go further than just lob barbs at another “feckless” politician; his tirade was aimed at the voters complicit in his reelection.
“You’re not going to like it, but you people are responsible for it, and you get the country you deserve because you allow these people to take you for a ride,” Caddell blasted.
More applause.
Dubbing Graham—who faces reelection for a third term next year—a wimp may seem ironic at a time he’s leading the charge for military intervention in Syria. But Cadell’s “surrender” remark referred to the senator’s unwillingness to challenge President Obama on his appointments.
Why didn’t Graham put the brakes on a “corrupt and radical” nominee for Labor secretary or protest liberal National Labor Relations Board picks? How did Susan Rice and Samantha Power get a pass after their culpability in Benghazi, an obsession of Graham’s?
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
