Graham jokingly compares McCain’s bird watching talks to interrogations at Gitmo.
Graham jokingly compares McCain’s bird watching talks to interrogations at Gitmo.
Quoted in a New York Times article today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) compares Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) discussions of bird watching while entertaining his fellow senators “at his property in Sedona, Ariz.” to interrogations at Guantanamo Bay:
Entertaining guests at his property in Sedona, Ariz., he invariably drags them for long walks to indulge his passion for bird watching. “If you took all the people at Gitmo, put them in the cabin for a weekend and made them listen to John talk about the birds, they would all spill their guts,” Mr. Graham said.
Graham’s light-hearted reference to interrogation at Guantanamo Bay, which has utilized techniques that have long been described as torture by the U.S., reflects McCain’s own sense of humor when it comes to torture. In February, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza reported that McCain jokes about waterboarding his staff. Around the same time, McCain voted against barring the CIA from using waterboarding.
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Lindsey Graham-cracker is the undisputed Gomer Pyle of the republican’t party. He is such a constant source of entertainment.
I kind of hope that he and Joe Leiberman appear together at the convention podium. They make a great comedy duo . . . without even trying.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:49 amLa Cage aux Folles, eh Lindsey?
July 21st, 2008 at 10:50 amAs a life-long if somewhat irregular bird-watcher, I find this right-wing assertion and comparison by Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of Bush gangster regime torture of captured prisoners held at the US base in eastern Cuba to be offensive and wrong on several levels.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:51 amLindsay want a cracker? Good birdie, good birdie.
Graham, an Air Force JAG, should not be joking about torture.
But then, McCain’s whole campaign has been a joke, & it’s definitely ‘for the birds’…
July 21st, 2008 at 10:53 amI think it’s more like tagging along with Cheney’s “quail watching”. One never knows when they’ll get a hard smack in the face.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:55 amThis pair, along with Chuch Hagel and John Warner, once held the standard against America torturing people in its captivity. Can you say capitulation?
Warner had the good sense to retire, while Hagel continues to watch his turncoat peers.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:57 amLindsay Graham’s probably sucked off every eligible male in the GOP…
July 21st, 2008 at 10:56 am
he explained that he needed the protein…
July 21st, 2008 at 10:57 amActually, I’m going to have to agree with Graham on this one.
Talking to terrorism suspects about something benign like birdwatching is much more likely to extract good information than any kind of torture, since it throws them off their guard and makes them more likely to slip up and admit something critical. Torture just causes subjects to say what they think you want to hear.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:58 amIsn’t it charming how Republicans can take abject human misery and injustice, and turn it into a delightful witticism?
They’re so “glass-half-full” that way.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:58 amSen. Lindsey Graham (R-AZ)
- - Yes, it’s an understandable Freudian gaffe.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:59 amThat’s how ‘Chickenhawks’ like L.Gramm see bird talking…
July 21st, 2008 at 10:59 amOh, and troller21 — the thread is about Lindsay Graham’s hilarious joke making light of torture.
It didn’t require your apologia for McCain’s support of same.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:00 amIs that true, troller21?
July 21st, 2008 at 11:01 amDefinitely a pattern of joking, minimizing, trivialing torture.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:01 amIf enough pundits, Repuglycans and other ‘influential’ jackasses say it, they hope it will become true.
….and made them listen to John talk about the birds, they would all spill their guts,” Mr. Graham said.
I think Miss Graham was misquoted and actually said puke their guts.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:05 amStupid Republican Tactic # 52: Take something that the opposition has traction on and minimize it.
Was Graham under arrest at the cabin so that he could not leave ?
Can we waterboard Graham so that he has a valid comparison ?
July 21st, 2008 at 11:06 amEntertaining guests at his property in Sedona, Ariz., he invariably drags them for long walks to indulge his passion for bird watching. “If you took all the people at Gitmo, put them in the cabin for a weekend and made them listen to John talk about the birds, they would all spill their guts,” Mr. Graham said.
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I have always claimed that waterboarding jokes tend to mitigate the seriousness of this procedure and they treat it as trivial and funny. Sort of like rape jokes.
However, Graham didn’t mention waterboarding or any other specific procedure — he was merely making a point about how agonizing it is to listen to McCain rhapsodize about birds. While I probably wouldn’t make joke fodder out of the Gitmo detainees myself, I don’t see this as extreme on the offensiveness scale.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:11 amtruther21…
It’s true most bills contain one or more items that individual politicians object-to and thus have to weight overall pros and cons to determine their vote, but then they can always amend or or ‘hold’ first before voting.
So what parts of the bill did McCain vote FOR that he deemed so important that he’d just have accept the inclusion of something he was supposedly AGAINST?
The balls are in you court.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:12 amGotta wonder if some of that bbq he serves up might be crow?
July 21st, 2008 at 11:16 amThe photo shows these two guys having good time…the sad part about it is taxpayers money paying for their joy for doing little if nothing for taxpayer in return.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:18 amGraham is a jerk, but we already knew that.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:19 amBilbo made a valid point on an earlier thread concerning interrogations.
The bushies want us to make the connection between torture and waterboarding as it is easier for them to make it seem “not so bad”.
Truth is that they have done much worse things. so bad that people have died…..
One died of suffocation in a bag. Pretty hard to confess (if confessions or information are your motive) if you can’t breath or are dead.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:24 amIf that’s Graham’s perspective on torture then McCain must not be a hero and he should give his all his medals back (except the Purple Heart), right?
July 21st, 2008 at 11:30 amAmerica’s moral compass is pointing to the toilet and these jokers think it’s funny. Adding insult to injury it’s the same people who would lecture the rest of us on patriotism.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
July 21st, 2008 at 11:32 amwatching his extra-special limited edition presidential-approved torture dvds is the only sexual gratification that senator huckleberry gets…
July 21st, 2008 at 11:40 amNothing would give me more joy than watching a McCain/Graham ticket campaign into November. I love the circus…
July 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm.
Sissy Graham IS a joke!
.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:37 pmI still think I’d rather go birding with Benny Hill, James Bond, or Queen Noir
July 21st, 2008 at 1:06 pmOooooh yeah, torture! That’s funny!!!
July 21st, 2008 at 1:35 pm.
.
.
.
Hey, Liberace - how about we practice a little of that on YOU?
Then John told another rape joke.
July 21st, 2008 at 2:25 pmCal Malenky Says:
“Then John told another rape joke.”
…and Boehner had a good cry. Lieberman was too busy washing the dishes to hear McCan’ts jokes.
July 21st, 2008 at 3:18 pmGraham is the a$$hole who went to Baghdad, did some shopping, and boasted about five rugs for $5, while wearing vests, protected by armed guards, fighter planes and generally as secure as could be arranged. (The following week, that bazaar was blown up.)
July 21st, 2008 at 6:03 pmGraham is a brown-nosed fool, a hanger-on, a “roadie” who likes to hang out with the big guys, hoping to gain some self-importance — and his asinine comment comparing birdwatching to Gitmo interrogations proves his arrogant stupidity. It’s hard to believe this guy is a JAG lawyer. I thought they had to have a certain level of intelligence.
¶ AIO
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 amBush probably has proof that Graham is gay. That is why he is such the Bush ass-licking sycophant.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 am