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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) really stepped in the doo-doo when he publicly suggested that someone in Moscow should assassinate Vladimir Putin.
First, Graham took to Twitter:
To further make his plea, Graham appeared on Fox News’s “Hannity,” and then posted it to his Twitter feed in case anyone missed his Great Idea.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 4, 2022
Lindsey Graham may think it’s cool to channel Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, but does he remember what happened to von Stauffenberg? He was a courageous man, to be sure, and a patriot. He was also the inspiration for a decent Tom Cruise movie, too. However, he died in a hastily assembled firing squad without a trial. Von Stauffenberg got off easy, though — many of his co-conspirators were hanged with piano wire.
Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. Credit: Rupert Colley/flickr/CC BY 2.0.
Add to that the fact that the July, 1944, assassination attempt at the Wolf’s Lair was just the last of a long list of attempts on Hitler’s life. Does Lindsey Graham really think that a one-and-done attempt on Putin’s life would be easy to pull off?
The outcry from conservative voices was instantaneous and harsh. What’s more, all sorts of conservatives lined up to give Graham a well-deserved kick in the pants.
On her own Fox News show, Laura Ingraham called his comments “dangerous and stupid.”
“I know Lindsey Graham earlier tonight tweeted that basically someone needs to quote, “take him out,” or maybe I’m paraphrasing. But he’s basically saying someone should assassinate Putin. I don’t know why a sitting U.S. Senator would be tweeting that out. It seems dangerous and stupid to say that. And we like Lindsey Graham, but that’s just a stupid comment.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called out Lindsey Graham in his own tweet:
“This is an exceptionally bad idea. Use massive economic sanctions; BOYCOTT Russian oil & gas; and provide military aid so the Ukrainians can defend themselves. But we should not be calling for the assassination of heads of state.”
And conservative activist Jack Posobiec asked Graham to think what might happen should his assassination dream come to fruition:
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1499618952955236352?s=20&t=vZy9CWRDtwMtDEBRgA40bQ
Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who often relishes her role as being a turd in the congressional punchbowl, saw this idea as a bridge too far:
While we are all praying for peace & for the people of Ukraine, this is irresponsible, dangerous & unhinged.
We need leaders with calm minds & steady wisdom.
Not blood thirsty warmongering politicians trying to tweet tough by demanding assassinations.
Americans don’t want war. https://t.co/l2hqiUbZGv
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) March 4, 2022
You’re right, Marjorie. Americans don’t want war. And Graham’s comment is not representative of someone with a calm mind and steady wisdom, either.
We all want this to end. And secretly, I’m sure lots of us have fantasized someone taking out Vladimir Putin with a double-tap to the noggin, like in those great cloak-and-dagger movies. Or via a Navy SEAL or something. But that’s in our heads, not stuff to be expressed publicly by a sitting US senator.
Besides, there may already be machinations among powerful Russians to execute plans to (ahem) remove Putin. And if someone in Moscow manages to pull this off, most of the world will do a Happy Dance.
But that’s up the Russians, not us. And certainly not to be inspired by a senator who seems to have uncontrollable twitter fingers and diarrhea of the mouth
When you have this many people from your side of the political spectrum tell you that your idea is bullshit, maybe you should get a clue and shut up for a while. We’re all looking at you, Lindsey Graham.
Featured image: DonkeyHotey/flickr/cropped/CC BY 2.0.
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American Human says: He’s only saying what his mentor would have said.
Kate says: I disagree. Completely.
Kim Hirsch says: Still love you. . . 😉
So – we object to telling the Russians, “if you want the pain to stop, maybe you should kill the guy who is encouraging us to hurt you,” and – what?
What are sanctions supposed to actually do? Why are we engaged with this conflict at all, if it’s not to encourage the people of Russia to solve the problem themselves? Does anyone really think that Vladimir Putin and his circle of oligarchs really care about anything that is being done to Russia outside of the direct military confrontation occurring on the front lines with the Ukraine? Not only do they not care, they don’t have to care.
Which is why all of the sanctions, federal and private, apply painful pressure to the populace.
Let’s not kid ourselves and not lie to each other.
We want someone to step up and execute Putin. If it’s one of the oligarchs and he takes out half of the other oligarchs in the process, everybody everywhere rejoices, including the average Russian on the street who is suffering the slings and arrows of sanctions.
Three quarters of the planet, including half of our allies, call for the assassination of our political leaders on a regular basis. In the last but one election cycle, celebrities with plenty of airtime effectively called for the assassination of first the political front runner and then the actual president of the United States.
It would be beyond disingenuous to lie about our preferred outcomes. I am uncomfortable being that disingenuous. It’s not surprising that the majority of political animals on both sides of the aisle in the Big Swamp are less than comfortable being that disingenuous.
Of all the people who reside with Shrek, I wasn’t expecting Lindsay Graham to be the one to step up to the table and be honest. He gets points for that. The rest of them get points taken off for being cowards.
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Glory be to God! A U.S. Senator is advocating the assassination of foreign tyrants? Where are his priorities? Can’t he find someone to take out our crop FIRST??
[…] I was concerned about folks such as Lindsey Graham calling for Russians to oust Putin, one reason being Putin would turn it into major propaganda, […]
John in Indy says: Why would Putin want to take out our tyrants? Our tyrants are more interested in fully subjugating American patriots than in putting any restrictions on foreign tyrants or other of our declared enemies.
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