Lindsey Graham's Middle Piece

By J. Robert Smith

Here's some common sense advice for Republicans from more-than-occasional apostates John McCain and Lindsey Graham: Don't assume the Republican Party can coast to the November elections. Get a plan and present it to voters.

But note to Senators McCain and Graham: a GOP plan isn't going to be the basis for deal cutting with statist Democrats in January, should the Republicans enjoy at least a House majority. If McCain and Graham have intentions of doing so, the GOP can kiss conservatives good-bye -- perhaps forever.

McCain's and Graham's remarks were reported in the Monday edition of The Washington Times.

Senator Graham, who inexplicably cast his vote for the wholly unqualified leftist (and now Supreme Court Justice) Elena Kagan, hinted at his approach come January. This from the Times' article:

"They've [the Democrats] rejected this [bipartisan] approach," he said. "They've gone hard to the left, and now they have nothing to show for their efforts but bigger government and more debt."

But Mr. Graham added that "at the end of the day, the public is not in the left ditch; they're not in the right ditch. They're in the right center of the road."

"The only way the president can possibly survive is, come back to the middle piece," he said.[Italics added]

And what might the "middle piece" mean to Senator Graham? Taxes going up only half as high? A little less funding for government-run health care? Legislation permitting lower, rather than higher, carbon taxes?

Come January -- God willing and the Creek don't rise -- Republicans in charge of Congress need to keenly appreciate that voters don't want Graham's "Middle Piece" approach to what ails the nation. Voters want less government, lower taxes, and a stake driven through the heart of Mr. Obama's statist experiment.

The days of trying to make the GOP the rightwing of the leftwing Democratic Party need to end. Senator Graham may not get that point, but GOP leaders better.