In Response to Paris Terrorist Attack, Lindsey Graham Does a Patrick Lynch

     After the awful targeted shooting of two NY City police, Patrick Lynch and some of the police unions used the terrible tragedy to further their own political agenda-which seems to be that they want a Republican Mayor. They want Bloomberg or Guiliani back and they are going to hold their breath and till they get it!

     http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-nypds-patrick-lynch-problem-and-why.html

     All too predictably, national GOPers are doing the same thing. Lindsey Graham is attacking the President for not calling the attacks a shot in a 'religous war.' So for him it's not just a war on terror but a religious war against Islam apparently. 

     "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday blasted President Obama and his response to the terrorist attack in Paris last week."

     "I have no idea why the president of the United States won't call this a religious war when the president of Egypt does. Our strategy to combat radical Islam is failing," Graham said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

     http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/graham-obama-paris-attack

     Yes, let's go back to the Bush years, those were successful years. What exactly Graham thinks calling this a religious ware will do other than incite 10 times more violence is not clear. Is this a war of Islam against Christianity? This is something that even the Bush Administration sensibly avoided. To reframe this as the crusades of the Middle Ages is hardly a solution. 

     This is not a fight against Islam. True there are some people who have manipulated it egregiously for their terrorist aims. We've also seen Christianity used in the same way throughout the centuries. Apparently this is something the Senator would like to return to. 

     While the President gets it right that this is not about Islam, Graham doesn't see this: it's a war against 'radical Islam' and that nothing but destroying this religion will keep us safe. 

     "Graham exhorted President Barack Obama to "take sides" and "admit" that the attack, like the conflict with the Islamic State, was motivated by religion. Since the rise of the militant group also known as ISIS, Obama has maintained that the Islamic State's actions violate the tenets of Islam and emphasized U.S. collaboration with Arab allies in military strikes."

     "We’re in a religious war. These are not terrorists. They’re radical Islamists who are trying to replace our way of life with their way of life. Their way of life is motivated by religious teachings that require me and you to be killed, or enslaved, or converted," Graham said.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/lindsey-graham-france-attack_n_6432226.html

       So it is that there is no tragedy so terrible that some Right winger won't manipulate it for vile ends. If the President won't call this a 'religious war' I think I might have the reason why: he's not a religious bigot like Graham.