With an Eye on South Carolina, Lindsey Graham Takes Aim at Chuck Hagel

by Patricia Murphy Feb 11, 2013 4:45 AM EST

The South Carolina senator's crusade against fellow Republican Chuck Hagel may seem inexplicable, but it's about defending himself from a 2014 primary challenge, reports Patricia Murphy.

Sen. Lindsey Graham put the White House on notice Sunday that he will block confirmation votes for Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary and John Brennan to be the Director of the CIA until he gets a tick-tock of President Obama's activities on the night of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. His pronouncement of "no confirmation without information" Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation marks the third different filibuster threat Graham has issued tied to Hagel's nomination

Not coincidentally, the string of scorching statements aimed at the administration has come as Graham prepares for a possible 2014 primary challenge for his Senate seat in South Carolina, a challenge that has yet to materialize.

Graham—who’d previously threatened to filibuster Hagel's nomination unless he received details about his former Republican Senate colleagues paid speeches, and testimony from Sec. Leon Panetta about the Benghazi attacks (which Panetta delivered last week)—has also declared Hagel "clueless" about Iran policy, asserted that Hillary Clinton "got away with murder" related to her handling of the attacks, and denounced Hagel's own performance at his confirmation hearing as "disturbing."

That tough talk has coincided with an almost deafening silence from Tea Party Republicans in the Palmetto state, who once censured Graham for “bipartisanship that continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom” and in 2010 constructed a wing tip-wearing effigy of the senator that they flushed down a fake toilet.

-snip-

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/11/with-an-eye-on-south-carolina-lindsey-graham-takes-aim-at-chuck-hagel.html