Rebel for a day
REES, MATTHEW
Rebel for a Day by Matthew Rees When House Republicans gathered on the evening of July 23, everyone wondered what Lindsey Graham would say. Lindsey Graham? Hardly a household name, the second-term...
...When House Democrats introduced a mischievous measure making term limits retroactive—and so ending the career of any member who had already served 12 years—Graham voted for it...
...Graham's recent frustrations with the speaker sprang from many sources...
...That will be his legacy . . . and he deserves that...
...Gingrich retaliated by making each of the 11 stand before a meeting of the entire House Republican conference and explain his position...
...Ideologically, he felt Gingrich wasn't pushing an aggressive agenda...
...Hardly a household name, the second-term representative from South Carolina had emerged as a ringleader in the effort to remove House speaker Newt Gingrich...
...He believes if the qualities Gingrich employed to propel Republicans into the congressional majority are not "modified," more trouble is looming...
...It's easy to see why...
...While acknowledging Gingrich's problems, he urged the speaker to develop an agenda around which the GOP can unite...
...Graham's retreat was unforeseen, but the real surprise was that this folksy former country lawyer had become a key actor in the Gingrich drama...
...Graham didn't run for office until 1992, when he was elected a state representative...
...The speech brought tears to the eyes of many in the room, and Sonny Bono, who followed Graham, had to lighten things up by talking about Cher and his appearance on Fantasy Island...
...I'm basically tired of saying something on Monday and by Wednesday having to retract it," he told me...
...In this case, the spotlight found him...
...When the group decided to approach House GOP leaders Tom DeLay and John Boehner with their concerns about Gingrich's performance, they chose the no-nonsense Graham as their messenger...
...By the same token, Graham hasn't forgotten why Gingrich has been such a controversial and unpopular figure...
...He says he was transformed by the celebrated July 23 meeting of House Republicans: "It was the best political event I have ever been associated with," he says...
...This was vintage Graham...
...That's good news for Gingrich, as is Graham's praise for the speaker...
...And when DeLay sought out a rebel on the evening of July 10 to say he and other members of the leadership were ready to move against Gingrich, he went to Graham...
...But because the bill included a funding increase, Graham opposed it, and the bill was narrowly defeated...
...Shortly after being elected, he said he supported imposing term limits on the next speaker...
...If it means sacrificing the leadership of both parties, so be it...
...Steve Largent spoke before Graham and delivered an impassioned statement about how he hadn't been intimidated when playing professional football and he surely wouldn't be intimidated by Newt Gingrich...
...Graham made term limits a centerpiece of his 1994 campaign for Congress and pledged to serve no more than 12 years in the House...
...His call for cutting Gingrich some slack signaled to many that a period of detente was in order...
...He explained why to Linda Killian, the author of The Freshmen, a forthcoming book about House Republicans first elected in 1994: "The country could withstand anybody in this body leaving, but I'm not sure it could withstand the effects of career politics much longer...
...Graham, who's 5'7", treated the episode with characteristic aplomb...
...I'm one less vote for an agenda that makes you want to throw up," he said during the campaign...
...That's because Graham is viewed not only as one of the most conservative members of Congress, but also as one of the most straightforward and genuine...
...After graduating from the University of South Carolina law school in 1981, he joined the Air Force as a lawyer and spent four years prosecuting court-martial cases in Europe...
...Though just 42, he had a wide range of life experiences before arriving in Washington...
...And as a procedural matter, Graham believed Gingrich was failing to keep the focus on specific agenda items, causing public confusion about the GOP's message...
...Although he has kept a low profile since coming to Congress, Graham signaled early on that he wouldn't follow Gingrich blindly...
...I can be intimidated...
...Now more than ever...
...The speaker is less popular in Graham's district than even Bill Clinton...
...He'd previously generated little buzz, and he isn't the type to spend time schmoozing with reporters...
...Says Graham, "He's gonna have to do some self-evaluation...
...That frustration led Graham to cast a vote in March that certified him as a rebel...
...I thought I might give you all a present tonight and not say anything at all," he began...
...He had caused a ruckus a week earlier when majority leader Dick Armey denied involvement in the attempted coup, and some members thought Graham might use the new meeting to foment more trouble...
...Let's make no mistake about this," he said...
...Graham's speech may have had more impact than any other at the three-hour meeting...
...These conservative Gingrich critics began started to hold meetings to vent their frustration and discuss internal reforms...
...He ran for Congress two years later, emphasizing term limits and opposition to abortion, and exploiting disenchantment with the Clinton administration...
...His parents died when he was 20, and he was left to raise his teenage sister...
...He snagged 60 percent of the vote and became the first Republican to represent the Baptist-heavy district since 1877...
...Matthew Rees is a staff writer for The Weekly Standard...
...He returned to South Carolina in 1988, where he worked as an attorney...
...Reelection should be simple, though it's not guaranteed after the reconciliation with Gingrich...
...I went from no hope to hope...
...He and 10 other Republicans voted against what was supposed to be a noncontroversial appropriations bill funding House committees...
...Earlier this year, as House Republicans were marching in place, with their speaker as erratic as ever, some members began looking to Graham for guidance...
...But that doesn't concern Graham at the moment...
...House Republicans note that, unlike some of his conservative colleagues, Graham doesn't take himself too seriously...
...He took a party that was very used to losing...and never let it settle in and changed it...
...Thus he was angered in March 1995 when he felt the GOP leadership was insufficiently supportive of the Contract With America's term-limits bill then being debated in the House...
...But he went on to deliver a stirring call for reconciliation...
Vol. 2 • August 1997 • No. 46
