Graham: Terror Suspects Deserve 2nd Amendment Rights, But Not 5th

Lindsey Graham’s predictable argument post-Marathon bombing that the suspects should be treated as enemy combatants and tried in military commissions was the sort of role we have come to expect him to play. He is perhaps the foremost jingo in the US Senate and is radically disinclined to even acknowledge constitutional restraints on government.

But Alex Seitz-wald at Salon.com caught something that is even more revealing of Graham’s impenetrable psychosis: suspected terrorists should be deprived of due process, but their Second Amendment rights should not be infringed.

At a press conference he set up this afternoon to slam the White House on the enemy combatant decision, he was asked about legislation that would stop people on the Terrorist Watch List from buying guns. Here’s his response:

GRAHAM: “I think, anyone who’s on the Terrorist Watch List should not lose their Second Amendment right without the ability to challenge that determination. I think, Senator Kennedy was on the Terrorist Watch List. There’ve been people come up on the watch list. I did not want to make that a — the basis to take someone’s Second Amendment rights away. What I would suggest, is that if you come up on the Terrorist Watch List, you have the ability to say, “No, I’m not a terrorist.” And that would be the proper way to do that.

…Contrast his opposition to closing the “terror gap” with this, from a 2011 New York Times article:

Citizens who are suspected of joining Al Qaeda are opening themselves up “to imprisonment and death,” Mr. Graham said, adding, “And when they say, ‘I want my lawyer,’ you tell them: ‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer. You are an enemy combatant, and we are going to talk to you about why you joined Al Qaeda.’ ”

There you have it. Senator Graham has become the full picture of a self-parody. I cannot tell difference between the Senator’s actual words, and those that might be written for his imitators on Saturday Night Live.

125 thoughts on “Graham: Terror Suspects Deserve 2nd Amendment Rights, But Not 5th”

  1. Pingback: Graham: Terror Suspects Deserve 2nd Amendment Rights, But Not 5th - Antiwar.com (blog) » MEATBALLZOO
  2. Pingback: YORKTOWN TRADING POST » Graham: Terror Suspects Deserve 2nd Amendment Rights, But Not 5th – Antiwar.com (blog)

  3. Excellent points, Alex and John. The guy is frightening….just look at him…. another shrieking proto-fascist….. let’s hope we can wake up Americans before we have to drop the “proto” prefix and give it a capital “F”

  4. Again, what does it say about the inmates of South Carolina that this violent buffoon still warms a chair in the Senate?

  5. There's a consistent way to view his position – right wingnuts consider the 2nd amendment the only one that should exist, and all other amendments should be tossed out. He wants terrorists stripped of the 5th amendment because they're a convenient target for that. If possible, he'd strip everyone of the 5th amendment.

    1. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, sent these two fascinating tweets:

      "If captured, I hope Administration will at least consider holding the Boston suspect as enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes."

      "The last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights telling him to "remain silent."

  7. A good point Ralph, but I believe people are going to have a hard time defending prejudice when the possibility of answering certain kinds of questions with much greater precision increases.

    1. What I would suggest, is that if you come up on the Terrorist Watch List, you have the ability to say, “No, I’m not a terrorist.” And that would be the proper way to do that.Gregory Goodwin

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    2. There you have it. Senator Graham has become the full picture of a self-parody. I cannot tell difference between the Senator’s actual words, and those that might be written for his imitators on Saturday Night Live.another helpful story

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  27. What I might propose, is that in the event that you come up on the Terrorist Watch List, you can say, "No, I'm not a terrorist." And that might be the best possible approach to do that. Peoria Carpet please feel free to visit our site.

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