Is Lindsey Graham Off His Rocker About ISIS? Jon Stewart Thinks So
You can’t accuse Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina of being passive. After a long career of spirited reactions to the threat of domestic terrorism, Graham has developed something of a reputation of being overly hawkish in the press. Lindsey’s newest speeches about the threat of ISIS are no exception.
This Sunday, Graham appeared on Fox News to discuss the possible threat of ISIS in the United States. Lindsey argued that U.S. action in the region needs to happen “because it is not just their fight, it is our fight.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAkfd7StBY4
In the interview, Graham continued to underline the necessity for action in conflicts spreading across the Middle East that involve ISIS — saying that if the army is left to build, the threat will become imminent for the United States.
“This is a war we’re fighting! It is not a counterterrorism operation. This is not Somalia. This is not Yemen. This is a turning point in the war on terror. Our strategy will fail yet again. This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home.”
One point of the speech particularly scrutinized in Simon Maloy’s Salon editorial is Lindsey’s statement that ISIS will “kill all of us” if we don’t confront the threat right now.
“Does he actually believe that? Almost certainly not. It’s likely that his passions just got the better of him. The problem there is that Lindsey Graham’s passion is for starting wars in the Middle East. And he knows that you can’t just send troops to fight in Iraq (again) for no reason; you have to sell it. If he can convince enough people that the Islamic State represents an imminent danger to the country, then his job becomes easier.”
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, also shut down Graham’s argument, pointing out that ISIS does not yet so much as have an air force, and that the threat of widespread domestic warfare was extremely low. Of course, it is not the first time Stewart has mocked Lindsey on his show; last year, he even pulled out an much-shared impression of the South Carolina senator.
Of course, Lindsey is not without his own support system for these claims in the Senate. John McCain would probably agree with much of what he saying, for one. However, as Maloy notes, he doesn’t exactly have a great track record for these predictions coming to pass.
“Here we are once again, with another existential threat to the United States looming in Lindsey Graham’s mind. And he’s once again helping to nurture an atmosphere of fear and panic in order to deepen the U.S. military commitment to the region.”
Do you agree with Sen. Lindsey Graham?
[Image via The Daily Show]
