On Syria:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on CBS' Face The Nation that without some international involvement in Syria, "the whole region's gonna fall into chaos."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., argued that the solution is not sending American troops to Syria, because that would be the “worst thing America could do right now."

“I think that the American people are weary," McCain said on NBC's Meet The Press. "They don’t want boots on the ground. I don’t want boots on the ground."

But Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said we can't rule anything out. "I don't think you want to ever rule it out," she said on Face the Nation. "Obviously, we don't want to do that unless it's absolutely necessary." Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who appeared with McCaskill, disagreed: "I would go even beyond that, I would say no" boots on the ground. "We don't need to put boots on the ground but we need to enable their neighbors, the neighbors of Syria, to bring some sort of peaceful resolution to this."

On the Boston bombings:

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The National Journal reports:

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told reporters they believe the presence of the chemical weapons signals that the Assad regime has crossed the so-called ‘red line’ the administration laid out previously that should dictate increased action by the U.S.

“It is clear that the Syrians have crossed the red line that the president said was a game changer, so it should change the game,” McCain said.

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The senator, a lawyer and reserve Air Force JAG officer himself, called for stripping Tsarnaev of his constitutional rights to due process even before the 19-year-old was captured Friday evening. "The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise," Graham said on Twitter on Friday. "Under the Law of War we can hold #Boston suspect as a potential enemy combatant not entitled to Miranda warnings or appointment of counsel."

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From the Wall Street Journal:

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham wants more visas for the meat industry, a major employer in his state. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) pushed for special treatment for Irish workers; his state is home to a large population with Irish ancestry.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio sought help for the cruise-ship industry, a big business in his home state of Florida. And Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado wove in a boost for ski areas.

UPDATE: This post has been updated to clarify that the provisions included in the bill are meant to benefit foreign workers in each state.

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“It is clear the events we have seen over the past few days in Boston were an attempt to kill American citizens and terrorize a major American city," the four Republicans wrote in a joint statement. "The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise, but terrorists trying to injure, maim, and kill innocent Americans.

"The suspect, based upon his actions, clearly is a good candidate for enemy combatant status. We do not want this suspect to remain silent," they wrote.

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Graham wasn't done, telling the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin (sigh): "This is Exhibit A of why the homeland is the battlefield.”

That is just the worst, dumbest, least helpful, wonderful (and totally predictable) response to a terror attack, Senator Graham. Making America "the battlefield" is sort of the point of terrorism (well, the point is also "killing Americans" and often "somehow causing America's foreign policy to change in a way that is actually the opposite of the way that terrorism always makes America's foreign policy change" but most terrorists aren't great strategic thinkers, that is why they fucking bomb civilians).

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“In the wake of this week’s terrorist attack in Boston, some have already suggested that the circumstances of this terrible tragedy are justification for delaying or stopping entirely the effort for comprehensive immigration reform," the two senators wrote in a statement. "In fact the opposite is true: Immigration reform will strengthen our nation’s security by helping us identify exactly who has entered our country and who has left – a basic function of government that our broken immigration system is incapable of accomplishing today."

Sen. Chuck Grassley was the first to link immigration reform to the Boston bombings, saying earlier today during a Senate hearing on the legislation: “We also appreciate the opportunity to talk about immigration. Particularly in light of all that’s happening in Massachusetts right now and over the last week.”

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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also weighed in, as Salon's Alex Seitz-Wald reported, saying that  “These guys kind of look like Israelis. I’m not saying Israel is involved in it, we don’t have any evidence of that. It’s just that they kind of look Israeli."

And then of course there was the misidentification made by Reddit and other "Internet detectives," as Salon's Alex Pareene put it, who "made one last totally shameful false accusation that also in this case involved the harassment of a family currently desperately searching for their lost son and brother."

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John McCain and Lindsey Graham actually had planned on holding up the Brennan nomination the usual way, with aggravating delay tactics based on the abuse of Senate rules, a once-rare tactic that is now standard minority practice for just about everything the Senate debates, but Paul's talky filibuster seems to have offended McCain personally (which, I know, not hard to do), because he brought up Jane Fonda and because it is much more gentlemanly to just block all Senate business and explain your reasons on the Sunday shows than it is to hold stuff up for a while with a really long floor speech. McCain even said that Paul's filibuster is going to "give ammunition to those who say the rules of the Senate are being abused,” which is just amazingly wrong. People (and the press) love talky filibusters, because of Jimmy Stewart. Lots of Americans who don't follow news and debates about the Senate closely -- which is to say probably most Americans -- think filibusters are great, because they think that is how they still work! Only senators like the kind of "filibuster" where you just tell Harry Reid you're filibustering and then you go get a drink or go home for the night. The thing where every bill and nomination now requires 60 votes -- which was not how the Senate was designed to function -- is why people think the rules are being "abused." Because John McCain and his friends are abusing them, routinely.

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McCain said Thursday that Paul's claims about drone use were “totally unfounded," and, quoting from a Wall Street Journal op-ed from earlier, added that “The country needs more senators who care about liberty, but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about." He added: “To somehow say that someone who disagrees with American policy and even may demonstrate against it, is somehow a member of an organization which makes that individual an enemy combatant is simply false."

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With prominent liberal Democrats already signing on, AIPAC's lobbying heft will likely propel a bill that, in Congressional sentiment at least, commits the U.S. to active support of a potential Israeli attack that experts think could have consequences as grave as further destabilization in the region, adverse global economic consequences, and even a hardening of Iranian resolve to get a weapon.

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"It would be unprecedented for a Secretary of Defense to take office without the broad base of bipartisan support and confidence needed to serve effectively in this critical position," the senators wrote. "Over the last half-century, no Secretary of Defense has been confirmed and taken office with more than three Senators voting against him. Further, in the history of this position, none has ever been confirmed with more than 11 opposing votes."

John McCain, R-Ariz., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who have both been outspoken against Hagel's nomination, were not among the senators to sign the letter.

And Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told the Decatur Daily that he'll vote to confirm Hagel: “He’s probably as good as we’re going to get." Shelby is the third Republican to say he'll back Hagel, joining Sens. Thad Cochran, Miss., and Mike Johanns, Neb.

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"We've killed 4,700," Graham said during a speech at a South Carolina rotary club, reported on by the local Easley Patch and flagged by Al Jazeera.

"This is the first time a US official has put a total number on it," said Micah Zenko, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations told Al Jazeera, but Graham's office stated that the senator was only repeating "the figure that has been publicly reported and disseminated on cable news." Graham's figure aligns with estimates from groups included the U.K.-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), which has calculate that between 3,072 and 4,756 people have been killed by U.S. drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Graham's figure did not distinguish between "combatant" and "civilian" casualties -- a distinction which has, in the War on Terror, prompted debate. But the senator did reportedly say, "Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of al-Qaida."

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Here's Politico with the shocking details:

Behind closed doors, some Republican senators report that Cruz, in his stone-cold serious prosecutorial style, speaks at length when it’s far more common for freshmen to wait before asserting themselves — particularly ones who were just sworn in.

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Sen. Graham and his best friend John McCain have been blocking the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as Defense secretary, because they want to know whether President Obama called the president of Libya the night of the Benghazi attack. While that's not a very good reason to filibuster a Cabinet nominee, it is at least "a reason." The White House has complied, giving Graham and McCain what they want. Graham's response: Now he is just going to pointlessly delay the Hagel vote, because it will make him feel good. As always, with Lindsey Graham, being a senator is all about feelings.

While Lindsey Graham says he will have changed his mind on Hagel's suitability in 10 days' time, lots of other Hagel opponents are definitely not going to "feel better," because they have all convinced themselves that Hagel is basically America's Worst Anti-Semite. Here is some "proof," from a guy who writes for the depressing website named after Andrew Breitbart:

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"This is a controversial nominee. I think they are jamming the vote,” Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, the National Journal reports. “Our caucus believes that having cloture on Hagel this soon with this many unanswered questions and the administration stonewalling is inappropriate by Harry Reid.”

Graham had attempted to block the vote on Hagel until more questions could be answered, but Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., said he wouldn't honor the hold. So Republicans are considering a filibuster to force the nomination to get a cloture vote, meaning Hagel would have to clear 60 votes before he can get an up-or-down vote in the Senate. It would only take one senator to make this happen.

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"Would you do that for Israel?" McCain asks. Watch:

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will offer a resolution next week commending President Barack Obama’s use of drones and the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.

“Every member of Congress needs to get on board,” Graham said. “It’s not fair to the president to let him, leave him out there alone quite frankly. He’s getting hit from libertarians and the left.

And now you know, officially, that it's awful, because Lindsey Graham is for it. If attention-craving jackasses Lindsey Graham and TV's Touré agree on something, it's probably the worst thing.

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The most recent skepticism comes from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who said at a BuzzFeed Brews panel: "I think if that issue becomes a central issue in the debate it's going to become harder to get it done because there will be strong feelings on both sides."

He added that the lawmakers "haven't really discussed the pros and the cons of it" yet, but "I imagine that issue will eventually be confronted."

President Obama, who made his own immigration reform roll-out last week, said that he supports extending the same right to legally married binational same-sex couples, currently prevented by DOMA, for spouses to file for a green card for their partner.

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On one side, Vice President Joe Biden, who favors reinstating the ban on assault weapons, said last week in a Google hangout that after a big earthquake or natural disaster, you wouldn't want an assault weapon anyway. “A shotgun will keep you a lot safer -- a double-barreled shotgun -- than the assault weapons in somebody’s hands that doesn’t know how to use it, even one that does know how to use it,” Biden replied.

But this week, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who opposes reinstating the assault weapons ban, said Biden is wrong. Invoking the 1992 Los Angeles riots during a Senate hearing on gun legislation Wednesday, Graham said that while he respects Biden's opinion, “I think I would be better off protecting my business or my family if there was law and order breakdown in my community, people roaming around my neighborhood, to have the AR-15.”

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