NOTE: I am having technical dificulty uploading a picture of Lindsey Graham to this page. Fot the moment, please feel free to click the link below to view an image of him. Sorry for any inconvience! :) http://newwars.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/senatorgrahamstanding.jpg Megan Tatum Ms. Melton Government CC: Block 6 22 September 2010 Lindsey Graham Lindsey O. Graham has been the South Carolina Republican representative for the United States Senate since November 5, 2002. After almost eight years he still holds that position at fifty-five years of age. Graham uses the extensive skills he learned while being in the Air Force for multiple years to get his goals accomplished. He has greatly impacted the senate and is unafraid to voice his opinion concerning what he believes. The values that Lindsey Graham has today were instilled in him as a child by conservative parents. On his official website, Graham’s biography says that he grew up in Central, South Carolina and graduated from D. W. Daniel High School. After high school, he went to the University of South Carolina in Columbia and earned undergraduate degrees in law. Following college, Graham spent close to seven years on active duty as an Air Force lawyer. Then, from 1984 through 1988 Lindsey Graham was sent to Germany where he served at the Rhein Mein Air Force base. At the end of his tour in Germany, in 1988, he went into private law practice and then officially left active duty in 1989. Almost immediately after leaving the air force, Lindsey Graham joined the South Carolina Air National Guard and continued to serve there even after being elected into the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1992. When 1994 rolled around, Graham was elected into the United States House of Representatives as the first Republican to represent South Carolina’s third Congressional District in Washington D.C. since 1877. At this time, Graham did have to resign from the Air National Guard, but while he was still with them Mr. Graham received a commendation medal for his service at McEntire during the Gulf War (Graham). With having done so much outside the political arena before becoming elected into the U. S. House of Representatives and then the Senate, Graham is most definitely a force to be reckoned with. Even after receiving the commendation medal and being elected in 1994, Lindsey Graham was still very much involved with serving his country in the Air Force. His official website states that he is one of only two United States Senators who are currently serving in the Guard or Reserves. Presently, Graham is a colonel and is assigned as a Senior Instructor at the Air Force JAG School (Graham). With these strong military minded ideals and principals, Graham has formed a solid platform. He is declared as a “leader who never abandons his independence or strays from the conservative reform agenda.” His platform goes on to state, “he has fought to balance the federal budget, provide tax relief to all taxpayers, keep our military adequately funded and prepared, return control of education back to parents and teachers, and ensure the government keeps its promises to America’s greatest generation (Graham).” With these philosophies he has, and continues to, change South Carolina and the United States for the better. Lindsey Graham also discusses how his platform and philosophies helped him decide which committees to be a part of. The six committees in the United States Senate that he participates in include Aging, Armed Services, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Judiciary, Budget, and Veteran Affairs (Graham). With these committees being so diverse, it has definitely drawn a lot of public attention, some good and some bad. In a 2007 article by Greg Hambrick entitled “Is Lindsey Graham gay?” Graham’s sexuality is seriously questioned. Lindsey Graham was quoted saying he is not gay, just a loner, and even has voted antigay for the federal marriage amendment. Comments such as these have been shot around since his 2002 election into the U. S. Senate solely because he is, and has always been, a bachelor. But, by no means is Graham alone defending his sexuality and disagreeing with gay rights as he is close friends with former presidential candidate John McCain who is in opposition to homosexual marriages (Hambrick). Although, democratic adversity concerning homosexuality is not the only type of major challenge that Lindsey Graham has had to face. In 2002, one of the foremost reasons that Graham was elected was because Republican voters saw the need for change and trusted Graham to bring them that. Jeffery Lord’s article “The Consequences of Lindsey Graham” in The American Spectator discuses that voters may have not exactly seen the change they asked for. Graham himself was quoted saying, "elections have consequences," and then declared that he would vote to put liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court. Prior to this statement, voters continued to advocate for Lindsey Graham because they believed that they would help put more conservative minded representatives in government to embody their ideals, but Kagan is not exactly a conservative minded person (Lord). So, although many people have supported Graham since his election into the Senate, like anyone, he too has people that aren’t necessarily fond of his decisions and possibly regret who they voted for all to begin with. Lindsey Graham is definitely liked by some and disliked by others, but no matter what this Republican always tries to support the view of his fellow South Carolinians the best way he knows how. He has proved to have lived a lot of life in his fifty-five years on this earth. Graham has served his country in foreign lands and then returned home to serve its government. He has been liked for his platform and the committees he has decided to be a part of and then disliked for the same decisions. But no matter what, it cannot be denied that Lindsey Graham has worked for justice and the good of the people his entire life and it does not like he is planning on stopping any time soon.
NOTE: I am having technical dificulty uploading a picture of Lindsey Graham to this page. Fot the moment, please feel free to click the link below to view an image of him. Sorry for any inconvience! :)
http://newwars.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/senatorgrahamstanding.jpg
Megan Tatum
Ms. Melton
Government CC: Block 6
22 September 2010
Lindsey Graham
Lindsey O. Graham has been the South Carolina Republican representative for the United States Senate since November 5, 2002. After almost eight years he still holds that position at fifty-five years of age. Graham uses the extensive skills he learned while being in the Air Force for multiple years to get his goals accomplished. He has greatly impacted the senate and is unafraid to voice his opinion concerning what he believes.
The values that Lindsey Graham has today were instilled in him as a child by conservative parents. On his official website, Graham’s biography says that he grew up in Central, South Carolina and graduated from D. W. Daniel High School. After high school, he went to the University of South Carolina in Columbia and earned undergraduate degrees in law. Following college, Graham spent close to seven years on active duty as an Air Force lawyer. Then, from 1984 through 1988 Lindsey Graham was sent to Germany where he served at the Rhein Mein Air Force base. At the end of his tour in Germany, in 1988, he went into private law practice and then officially left active duty in 1989. Almost immediately after leaving the air force, Lindsey Graham joined the South Carolina Air National Guard and continued to serve there even after being elected into the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1992. When 1994 rolled around, Graham was elected into the United States House of Representatives as the first Republican to represent South Carolina’s third Congressional District in Washington D.C. since 1877. At this time, Graham did have to resign from the Air National Guard, but while he was still with them Mr. Graham received a commendation medal for his service at McEntire during the Gulf War (Graham). With having done so much outside the political arena before becoming elected into the U. S. House of Representatives and then the Senate, Graham is most definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Even after receiving the commendation medal and being elected in 1994, Lindsey Graham was still very much involved with serving his country in the Air Force. His official website states that he is one of only two United States Senators who are currently serving in the Guard or Reserves. Presently, Graham is a colonel and is assigned as a Senior Instructor at the Air Force JAG School (Graham). With these strong military minded ideals and principals, Graham has formed a solid platform. He is declared as a “leader who never abandons his independence or strays from the conservative reform agenda.” His platform goes on to state, “he has fought to balance the federal budget, provide tax relief to all taxpayers, keep our military adequately funded and prepared, return control of education back to parents and teachers, and ensure the government keeps its promises to America’s greatest generation (Graham).” With these philosophies he has, and continues to, change South Carolina and the United States for the better.
Lindsey Graham also discusses how his platform and philosophies helped him decide which committees to be a part of. The six committees in the United States Senate that he participates in include Aging, Armed Services, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Judiciary, Budget, and Veteran Affairs (Graham). With these committees being so diverse, it has definitely drawn a lot of public attention, some good and some bad. In a 2007 article by Greg Hambrick entitled “Is Lindsey Graham gay?” Graham’s sexuality is seriously questioned. Lindsey Graham was quoted saying he is not gay, just a loner, and even has voted antigay for the federal marriage amendment. Comments such as these have been shot around since his 2002 election into the U. S. Senate solely because he is, and has always been, a bachelor. But, by no means is Graham alone defending his sexuality and disagreeing with gay rights as he is close friends with former presidential candidate John McCain who is in opposition to homosexual marriages (Hambrick). Although, democratic adversity concerning homosexuality is not the only type of major challenge that Lindsey Graham has had to face.
In 2002, one of the foremost reasons that Graham was elected was because Republican voters saw the need for change and trusted Graham to bring them that. Jeffery Lord’s article “The Consequences of Lindsey Graham” in The American Spectator discuses that voters may have not exactly seen the change they asked for. Graham himself was quoted saying, "elections have consequences," and then declared that he would vote to put liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court. Prior to this statement, voters continued to advocate for Lindsey Graham because they believed that they would help put more conservative minded representatives in government to embody their ideals, but Kagan is not exactly a conservative minded person (Lord). So, although many people have supported Graham since his election into the Senate, like anyone, he too has people that aren’t necessarily fond of his decisions and possibly regret who they voted for all to begin with.
Lindsey Graham is definitely liked by some and disliked by others, but no matter what this Republican always tries to support the view of his fellow South Carolinians the best way he knows how. He has proved to have lived a lot of life in his fifty-five years on this earth. Graham has served his country in foreign lands and then returned home to serve its government. He has been liked for his platform and the committees he has decided to be a part of and then disliked for the same decisions. But no matter what, it cannot be denied that Lindsey Graham has worked for justice and the good of the people his entire life and it does not like he is planning on stopping any time soon.
Works Cited
Graham, Lindsey. “About Senator Graham.” Lindsey Graham: United States Senator, South Carolina. (2010): 20 Sep 2010. http://lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Home
Hambrick, Greg. “Is Lindsey Graham gay?” Cahrlestoon City Paper. Charleston City Paper, (12 Sep 2007): 20 Sep 2010. http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/is-lindsey-graham-gay-who-knows-but-lets-ask-it-again/Content?oid=1927570
Lord, Jeffrey. “The Consequences of Lindsey Graham,” The American Spectator. The American Spectator, (20 Jul 2010): 20 Sep 2010. http://spectator.org/blog/2010/07/20/the-consequences-of-lindsey-gr.