Republican Senator Lindsey Graham took time away from licking the floor underneath the licked-clean boots of the Trump administration to pretend he maybe does not have COVID-19 and debate Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison. Graham spent his time breathlessly blowing into his dog whistle that racism is over as long as Black people just shut up and do what he says.
Sen. Graham’s scare tactic was that the modern Democratic Party is “not your grandparents’ Democratic Party”—in fact, its leadership is “nuts.” They want to stock the Supreme Court with liberal judges and they want to get rid of the Electoral College. Harrison and the audience listened to all of Graham’s breathless hand-wringing before striking the kind of tone that a senator who wants to do his job and legislate should take.
Go and help Harrison and other Democratic candidates take back the Senate.
JAMIE HARRISON: So, the first step in terms of working with the other side is not to call the other side “nuts.” This is the thing, Senator Graham. I have a 6-year-old who I often teach in terms of how to conduct himself. I say, “Son, sometimes people come from different backgrounds and they see the world differently. But that does not make them bad because of it.” Even though Democrats and Republicans may take different paths, hopefully our destination is the same.
How can we make South Carolina a better place for all of us? Not just Democrats or Republicans or progressives or conservatives or liberals or whatever other term you want to come up with. We are South Carolinians first. We are Americans first. How are we going to work together?
Harrison went on to mention his close relationship with Republican Matt Moore and how that mutual respect allowed them to compromise and make things happen. Harrison then gave a big 25-year example of things not happening, saying directly to Graham, “You have been in Washington for 25 years. Yes you listed climate change and immigration; those are issues that have still not been addressed.”
Let’s be clear: The modern Democratic Party is not your South Carolina grandparents’ Democratic Party anymore. For all of the modern Democratic party flaws, one of those flaws isn’t being as abhorrently racist as that Dixiecrat-powered group of bigots and hypocrites.