There are many politicians who are awful because they espouse terrible policies. But there are others who are truly odious because they coat their evil actions with a veneer of smarmy smugness. I cannot bear to hear or see those people when they appear in the media which they often do because they love to be before the microphones and TV cameras and have a talent for harnessing attention. Their very appearance, voicing whatever view happens to serve their own interests of that moment, is enough for me to switch off.
Former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman was one such person and I will never forgive Al Gore for picking him to be his running mate in the 2000 presidential election, so elevating his profile so that we could not avoid constantly seeing him uttering his unctuous moralizing.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham was another such person. He was a total warmonger and one of those Republicans who was a harsh critic of Trump when he first ran for the presidency but when Trump won and he saw the size of the Trump cult, he became one of his biggest ass-kissers, supporting Trump in everything, even when he reversed himself as he often did. Graham was also mean and would impugn the basest motives to his critics.
Today came news that Graham had died suddenly. We will now see the usual dreary ritual of other political leaders paying tributes to him as some kind of statesman because of the longevity of his career in the US senate and trying to find some nice things to say about one of the most unprincipled people in Congress.
I will not be one of them. When I heard this morning that he had died, my first feeling was one of relief that I would no longer have to read or hear or see him in the news as he promotes the latest views required by his sycophancy to Trump.
His passing, like that of Lieberman or Henry Kissinger, seems to suddenly make the air feel cleaner and fresher and the sun shine more brightly.
When I saw the news, I mistook this for Mitch McConnell and thought the mystery of his location and health resolved. But no, it was a different horrific Republican.
…Maybe Mitch can drop off and make this a weekend double deal? There’s still time (in US time zones)!
I ALWAYS hit mute whenever The Orange Turd is speaking in a news clip or whatever. His voice and delivery are so annoying to me that I will be glad when he joins Graham in hell.
Amen to all of the above!
i found out about this via tumblr memes at 3 am. the timing comedy gold. heard a rumor russia might’ve had motive to whack him?
Maybe this winter we can celebrate ‘Kissmas’ with a virtual ceremony, as the date for Henry Kissinger’s death comes up?
And at the event, we could have photos of truly awful politicians and influencers that have passed during the year. I would nominate people from Sweden as well, but it was a mercifully long time since we had kaiju- grade assholes.
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The Brits can probably find one or two that has died in 2026. Not at the level of Jimmy Saville, but maybe a dead Boris minion?
Bébé Mélange @ # 4: heard a rumor russia might’ve had motive to whack him?
Possibly the only redeeming feature of Graham’s Senate career was his support for Ukraine.
What nice news to wake up to! What’s that Rule of Three? Almost two down…
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I can’t say I actively hated him like I do so many in this clown show. He was just such a toad he never felt worth the energy to feel more than disgust and revulsion. Kinda like hating Renfield — compared to his master, he didn’t matter enough to bother. He eagerly greased the wheels of evil, but he wasn’t the source, nor the only abettor. Out of self-preservation my reservoir of seething hatred is limited, so I’m afraid I can’t spare him a sip.
@5 your wish is karma’s demand. Ann Widdecombe is dead. Murdered, it seems, rather than a backup of bile, but at least we can now refer to her in the past tense.
I won’t miss him but it would have been amusing to see Vance and Graham both try to run for president in 2028 while each attempting to find something they can pretend to believe in convincingly. After publicly believing in nothing for years just for the privilege of kissing Trump’s ass that would’ve been quite a tall order for both of them.
Graham was one of the people who pushed for bombing Iran for many years. It might have been the only thing he actually believed in. So at least the shameless little fraud got to see his dream fall apart into a shambles before he died. Still not fair that he avoided most of the fallout from it but we’ll have to say that about a lot of the old frauds involved with it.
Thanks to our prayers and well-wishes, Mitch McConnell is recovering in a rehabilitation center:
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/12/politics/mitch-mcconnell-hospital-announcement
Can he be rehabilitated? What does his parole officer have to say?
/s
Too early to celebrate the death of “Moscow Mitch”.
But his time will come…
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“Mitch McConnell reveals fall led to hospitalization after weeks of silence” | Mitch McConnell | The Guardian .https://share.google/zxf1ERhsVVjHgwPiM
My interpretation, the devil wants to postpone having him as neighbor for as long as possible.
Third and final comment:
If cryopreservation is going to work, we need a few test cases with people who will not be missed to work out the problems of how to freeze people without ice chrystals ruining the tissue. People like Graham and McConnell comes to mind.
I happened to be meeting some friends for lunch and did not know he had died. I was wearing my “Is he dead yet?” Tshirt, and it was an unintentionally lucky shot. I may wear it tomorrow, too. Hell, I may make several more and wear nothing but…
I prefer the English ‘arse’ here, it feels a better description of the loathsome toad.