The Senate's three most predictable and least credible warmongering "moderates" frequently join forces to publish joint Op-Eds or hold press conferences and the one thing they always, invariably want is for the United States to have just a little bit more war than it currently has, somewhere far away. Sure, we could draw down in Iraq ... or we could listen to McCain, Lieberman and Graham and draw back up. We could draw down in Afghanistan ... or we could stay the course and keep sending troops there until we win! Americans may be tired of endless war with no coherent goal, but on the other hand, "only decisive force can prevail in [whatever country John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman are talking about now]."

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned on Tuesday that Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is "serious" about attacking European cities in order to pressure European officials to cease their airstrikes against Libya.

"He actually means it," Graham said of Gadhafi. "Hitler meant it. He means it."

And then that what happens in Libya will not only determine America's economic future, but that there will never be prosperity here if there are "evil people" in power in the world:

"There will never will be economic prosperity in America if the world is in the hands of evil people who will make it very difficult for us to travel and trade and do business," he said.

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John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham said they are heartened by the progress of Afghan security forces, but worry that Obama's withdrawal plan could deplete American military strength before dealing a decisive blow to the Taliban, especially in eastern Afghanistan. That part of the country is a haven for the Afghan and Pakistani wings of the Taliban, and al-Qaida affiliates.

"I believe that the planned drawdown is an unnecessary risk," McCain, a Republican from Arizona, who claimed that no military leader has spoken in favor of the timetable.

Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, a Marine general expected to carry out the president's drawdown order, has said the schedule is a bit more aggressive than the military had anticipated. Allen has cautioned that successfully winding down the war will require new progress on a wide front, including more help from allies and less Afghan corruption.

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Graham and his colleagues in Senate moderation do not care, at all, about policy outcomes. Or at least they care much more about "decorum" and "comity" than they do about whatever problems they have crafted bills to address. And Lindsey Graham and his friend Joe Lieberman add a pathological element to it: They get thrills when they annoy the "true believers" in their parties.

So when Graham lets it be known that he is working on immigration reform again (with Senator Chuck Schumer), it is not really about passing immigration reform (which is impossible anyway, because members of Graham's political party now control the House of Representatives, and Graham did not bother to help get reform passed back when he had the chance because he got cranky about the fact that Harry Reid wanted to actually try to do it instead of delaying the process forever). It is about signaling that Graham is a powerful bipartisan deal-maker, and that all legislative compromises must go through him.

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His call for permanent U.S. bases in Afghanistan is not particularly novel -- his close Senate buddy John McCain has been saying the same thing since at least 2005. But Graham's formulation, that an American military presence is something to be "earned" by a foreign population, is a striking reflection of his neo-imperialist worldview. As he said on Meet the Press Sunday:

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The South Carolina senator fancies himself the authority on when bills should be considered, how long the amendment process should last, how many days of debate they should receive, and when it is politically "safe" to finally vote on the damn things. (Usually later. No matter the bill, it will usually be safe to actually hold a vote later.)

His tantalizing promise: If you listen to him, your bill will magically become bipartisan! What always happens, though, is that someone screws up -- says the wrong thing to Roll Call, schedules a procedural vote on the wrong day, decides to actually hold a vote instead of waiting forever -- and then Lindsey Graham gets mad and promises that nothing will ever be accomplished in the Senate again.

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He's been forced to ignore START -- a treaty that was negotiated like, eight months ago? -- because of this voting, this week, on other things: "And I’ve had some time to think about START but not a lot and it's really wearing on the body." Poor Lindsey Graham!

He was so tired that he could barely make it to a television studio the following Sunday to complain, some more, about how much voting he's had to do lately.

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The Pentagon plans to release a survey on Tuesday that's expected to show that a majority of troops don't care if gays are allowed to serve openly in the armed services.

The study is expected to set the stage for a Senate showdown between advocates of repealing the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law and a small but powerful group of foes. The House has passed repeal legislation.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina doesn't see the votes to do the same in the Senate.

He tells "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't think the repeal "is going anywhere" in the postelection Congress.

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Bachmann, as proto-Tea Partier, has been against a vocal opponent of earmarks since that became a popular thing for Republicans to be against -- but get real, but St. Cloud's small buses aren't going to replace themselves!

The hypocrisy has been noted before, but the Minneapolis Star Tribune finally called on Bachmann to explain it. She helpfully fuzzied up our basic grasp of the terms in question, because like most contemporary elected Republicans, she is a post-structuralist.

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But there is one character in this whole schematic who is consistently, unerringly correct. That is the median voter, who stands between the parties and arbitrates their disputes. (And make no mistake, it is a he; probably a white, protestant middle-class dude from the Midwest with a pickup truck and an adoring family.) This man, representing most of the United States, occupies the magical center. His word is gospel.

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The comment came as the press focus turned away from the revelations in the leaked documents and to a British report that WikiLeaks exposed the identities of Afghans who helped the U.S. military.

Graham said on Fox that he applauds Attorney General Eric Holder for launching an investigation into the leak and added that "I am willing to prosecute anybody that led to undermining the war effort."

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Neither GOP lawmaker, however, was outraged enough to demand Steele's resignation, as some other Republican have done. Both said from Kabul it was up to Steele to decide whether he could continue to lead the party.

Steele's remarks, a political gift to Democrats in a congressional election year, were captured Thursday on camera, during a Connecticut fundraiser that was closed to the news media, and posted online. The comments would make it difficult for Republican candidates to have Steele campaign for them.

"I think those statements are wildly inaccurate and there's no excuse for them," McCain said, adding that Steele sent the Arizona senator an e-mail saying the remarks "were misconstrued."

"I believe we have to win here. I believe in freedom. But the fact is that I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican National Committee and make an appropriate decision," McCain told ABC's "This Week."

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During a South Carolina Tea Party rally this spring, one speaker created an uproar by postulating that Graham supported a guest-worker program out of fear that the Democrats might otherwise expose his homosexuality. (Graham smirked when I brought this up. “Like maybe I’m having a clandestine affair with Ricky Martin,” he said. “I know it’s really gonna upset a lot of gay men — I’m sure hundreds of ’em are gonna be jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge — but I ain’t available. I ain’t gay. Sorry.”)

So that's that! Stop insinuating that the never-married 54-year-old senator is having an affair with the recording artist who pretended to be straight for years, for the sake of his career.

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Everley led off with his thoughts this morning, and a response from Roberts followed a few hours later (it appears below Everley's post).

Steve Everley: With the unemployment rate near 10 percent, creating jobs should be the first consideration of our elected leaders, but instead President Obama and his liberal allies in Congress are insisting on enacting a national energy tax that will kill jobs and drive American businesses overseas.

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Graham, who helped draft the climate legislation, pulled out of its official unveiling because of personal pique (Harry Reid wanted to move first on immigration reform -- a cause Graham also supports). Now he says he won't vote for it at all, because, in light of the unstoppable 50-day-long endless oil spill poisoning the Gulf of Mexico, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman decided to give states the ability to decide whether they want their shores to become dead zones in the event that a leak springs in a neighboring state's rig.

That's too much! We must not let proof of the dangerousness of entirely unnecessary offshore drilling stop us from drilling everywhere, forever. And so, Lindsey Graham will not vote for this bill.

Nor will Graham vote for Jeff Bingaman's even weaker, sadder energy bill. He has some bullshit reasons for that, too.

Assuming that Graham supported climate legislation in the first place because he believes climate change is real and man-made, there are really no excuses for deciding not to do anything about it.

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According to his (current) official bio, "Graham logged six-and-a-half years of service on active duty as an Air Force lawyer." After he left the active duty force, he joined the South Carolina Air National Guard. During the first Gulf War, Graham was called up to act as staff judge advocate at McEntire Air National Guard Base in South Carolina. As staff judge advocate, Graham's duties "included briefing pilots on the law of armed conflict, preparing legal documents for deploying troops, and providing legal services for family members of the South Carolina Air National Guard. " His service never took him out of South Carolina.

And so, naturally, for years afterward, Lindsey Graham referred to himself in his official biography and elsewhere as "an Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran."

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In an effort to break through the mass of coverage, I did want to highlight three points that have gotten some attention, but less than they deserve, because they have the chance to shift the dynamic of the nomination. None will determine whether Kagan will be confirmed, but each is likely to take on more prominence in the coming weeks and could shift some Republican votes.

First, as Nina Totenberg reported, Kagan signed this letter in 2005 strongly protesting Sen. Lindsey Graham's amendment to limit the Guantánamo Bay detainees' access to federal courts. This is far more direct evidence of Kagan's views on executive powers in foreign affairs than the isolated statement in her confirmation hearings that has been invoked as supposedly showing her support for Bush-era policies. The letter should assuage liberal opponents, but raises the question whether Graham and other moderate Republicans may vote against her.

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And it probably won't go anywhere. Because Graham threw a tantrum about immigration reform (a cause he also supports!) and backed out of the traditional Masonic bill-unveiling ceremony. Then he told everyone that the bill couldn't pass anyway. So now John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, America's original odd couple, are traveling the media circuit, trying to sell a climate bill without ever using the phrase "cap-and-trade."

(Oil executives couldn't make it to the unveiling either, because they're embarrassed about the millions of gallons of oil they spilled.)

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