In defense of Lindsey Graham

A second county Republican organization has censured Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) for allegedly not being conservative enough.

I don't really buy it. Last year Graham was John McCain's most vocal surrogate on the campaign trail. While I've never really liked the guy, he's been willing to work on bipartisan efforts in the Senate. If memory serves, he was one of the earliest Republicans to announce support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

I think what we're seeing here, together with the growing influence of the "tea party" faction in the GOP, is that, more and more, the country's political divide isn't so much Democrat vs. Republican, but moderate vs. extremist (on both ends of the spectrum).

Extreme liberals and conservatives have their place in shaping policy; when the poles move, the center moves with them. But it's the moderates that ultimately make the decisions in our system, whether by getting elected to the presidency or by being the "swing votes" in Congress and on the Supreme Court. Seriously, who has more influence in Congress right now - moderate Olympia Snowe of Maine, or Russ Feingold? No offense to Russ, but the Senate leadership generally knows how he's going to vote. Snowe, on the other hand, can get her way more often than not by dangling the possibility of her support.

That's why it's short-sighted for Republicans in South Carolina to trash Graham. He's a conservative, no doubt about it. But he's a conservative who's shown a willingness to work with others. (He also serves on some pretty high-powered committees.) All that adds up to a fair amount of clout, and if the S.C. GOP runs him off, they'll regret it.