Lindsey Graham

Okay, everyone.  I guess I should have more compassion for Lindsay, but right now he's using taxpayer money to try to destroy Barack Obama, sending out subpoenas and spending our money left and right.  This is Benghazi all over again which was 9 or 10 investigations costing more than 10 million dollars of taxpayer money and repeatedly finding that Hillary had done nothing wrong. Why?  Because they believe that if they can tear down President Obama, they can also tear down Biden in order to keep the Orange One in office.  It terrifies me because they have no sewer polluted enough or deep enough that they will not go into.  It's all phony, but it doesn't matter because it will bring down Biden's polls, and it will make Fox Fiction go nuts, and it will smear Obama's legacy.  So, right now: No sympathy for Graham at all--at least not right now.  Maybe if he gets in a wheel chair with a blanket around him, I'll find some compassion.  

An "Army of gay escorts" with NDAs.  Wow, so Lindsey spends his days fighting against marriage equality, and betraying Democracy, and his nights as a Pass-around Party Bottom. No wonder he looks so tired.

What really irks is that this was the worst kept secret in DC. Literally EVERYONE knows that he is closeted. So I don't feel so bad for him - rather than step up and join a community that would support him, he chose to suppress them and everyone else.

There is a saying in the south: "All families have skeletons, we just put ours on the front porch."

While I understand that people are angry with Graham about his perceived hypocrisy, can we please make doubly sure that our posts don't descend into covert or overt homophobia.

I will never get our society's preoccupation w sex and judging sex. I could care less if someone is gay...or bi...or straight. It is the least interesting detail to me about people. 

I just want him to have some empathy. 

@ghandigirl

Agreed, though the empathy part is difficult for most. I must say that I have about zero and below for evil-doers like Der Whacko Fuhrer and his ilk....

I have to ask myself "What would HH Dalai Lama do?" Still a dilemma though in that we are underlings....

I have said that it is best to give our unconditional love to those who deserve it.... and as for compassion? Just listening to the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" ...

Hmm.

@stargazer

I have found that the empathy comes more easily when I look at these dark individuals as parts of our collective cultural shadow. They didn't sprout out of the ground fully formed, bigotry and homophobia included. Those traits developed by growing up in our culture and living wetiko. When I remember this and think of all of the ways wetiko has manifested in my own private thoughts (who hasn't entertained racist, homophobic, or anti-ecological sentiments in the shadows of their mind?) I can feel empathy for the child soul-selves of Lindsey Graham and the president; the parts of their souls that were betrayed by the Age of Separation.

This sort of compassion can only proceed if we show unconditional love to ourselves. When you recognize that you have suffered under the grips of wetiko and separation from community, you can begin to see that everyone is hurt and suffering on the soul level, from the underpaid wage worker or refugee to the cop or Fortune 500 CEO.   

@frank  i truly hope that no one took my comments about Lindsey as a homophobic slur.  I was really just trying to comment on him reportedly having an "army" of "escorts".  I feel bad for the sex-workers, tho, because, eeew, all those republicans and creepy church officials that keep them in business.   But i am not mad at Lindsey for being gay.  I'm mad at him for not being gay enough!  Gay enough to help LGBTQ+ community, instead of oppressing them for political gain.

  I really don't care what people do with their own sex lives.  I mean (and i know it's cheesy to say it), some of my best friends are str8t.

Hey @unk-p. I didn't mean to call out any specific person here.  I've just noticed that in previous discussions about Lindsey Graham people have said some things out of anger without realizing how their words might be perceived.

@coyote

Beautiful! 

With much gratitude for the pure love that you poured into this Coyote.... ?

My soul sees yours...

Namaste'

@frank  Absolutely agree.  I've seen some postings in the past that made me a little uncomfortable, although I never attributed bad motives to anyone. I think our thoughts, beliefs, and speech are constantly evolving and sometimes things that might have been acceptable to say even just a few years ago become unacceptable. We are all from different regions in the country and the world, and different generations, and changes in acceptable language don't always permeate our little corner's of the world at the same time. So thanks for making a good point.

In terms of having compassions for Lindsey Graham, what caught my attentions about the escort story, IF it's true, is the sadness surrounding needing so many escorts. Lots of of people are still closeted, yet manage to have relationships. He seems not to have any. That is sad. It doesn't excuse his appalling behavior but it explains so much about why he subjugates himself to domineering personalities, and how  those personalities (looking at you, trump!) maybe also be blackmailing him.

Life is hard enough. Living it without love is awful, and I think it's made him the person he is today.  Still, he's got free will and should knock it off. 

@stargazer,

Funny you brought up Sympathy for the Devil.  It is one of my favorite Stones’ tunes.  About a year ago I posted the following about that song and why I love it so much:

To me, that song speaks to our duality, e.g.  "Just as every cop is a criminal; And all the sinners saints"...   Keith Richards once commented on the lyrics, saying  "It's just a matter of looking the Devil in the face. He's there all the time.  Evil - people tend to bury it and hope it sorts itself out and doesn't rear its ugly head.  When that song was written, it was a time of turmoil. It was the first sort of international chaos since World War II. And confusion is not the ally of peace and love. You want to think the world is perfect. Everybody gets sucked into that. And as America has found out to its dismay, you can't hide. You might as well accept the fact that evil is there and deal with it any way you can. Sympathy for the Devil is a song that says, Don't forget him. If you confront him, then he's out of a job."   

It's time for all of us to confront that darkness -- not just externally, but internally. I believe that true compassion comes, both to ourselves and others, when we confront the duality of our natures, both individually and collectively.   In my view, the darkness is the separation that Coyote so beautifully addressed.  Until I began to confront and accept that darkness and separation within myself, I was living an inauthentic life – projecting an image that I wanted the world to see.  I’m still working on it and have a long way to go. 

In the wise words of @coyote:

This sort of compassion can only proceed if we show unconditional love to ourselves. When you recognize that you have suffered under the grips of wetiko and separation from community, you can begin to see that everyone is hurt and suffering on the soul level, from the underpaid wage worker or refugee to the cop or Fortune 500 CEO.   

@dhyanaji  I wasn't referring to anything you have said.  Months ago, before a thread was even started about LG, there were some words used to describe him that made me a little uncomfortable. That is what I was referring to.

If you are an LGBT person who spends his/her/their lives making miserable the lives of others, then I do believe your personal life is fair game, because it makes you a holier-than-thou hypocrite. We can do that and be respectful at the same time, which I believe you have been. That was all I meant.

@deetoo

Thank you for bringing on Keith Richards' uptake on 'Sympathy...'

I had to smile at : "Don't forget him. If you confront him, then he's out of a job." (Pure Keith and his unique discernment.) How can we forget?

Speaking of Lindsey Graham again, and probably for me the last time as the subject is getting a little tiresome, I do understand his appeal over some of the other Senators.

His transgressions are so prominent, and yet his Cancerian  persona as the 'wounded child' comes through so strongly, with that cuddly 'Truman Capote-esque' fragility that people find so charismatic, and yet so treacherous. He aspires to be the "Southern gentleman in the Senate" with the traditional rages of passionate loyalty to ...?? His peace may find him before his toxicity inundates him thoroughly.

Yes, he does deserve some sympathy.

BTW deetoo, can you post a pic of the Dalai Lama with your excellent technique here? There is one of him holding his cat that is really sweet ... easily found on Google images. As you know, I can't seem to do this from my phone, and he (ironically another Moon Child) is so much cuter than Lindsey.. ?

I haven't caught up with all the posts in this thread yet, but for me, I don't care that he's gay, if he is. I do care that he is a liar and a traitor and a hypocrite.

How dare he try to instigate investigations into members of the Obama administration when he is guilty of all those things. And try to pull a 2016 on Biden now with phony Ukraine bs.

You reap what you sow. I can't muster any sympathy for anyone who betrays their country.

@stargazer, I agree with your perceptions of LG.  Re the pic of the Dalai Lama:  I'm not sure what you mean by my "excellent technique" since I'm actually a bit technologically challenged (translation:  lazy), but I appreciate the vote of confidence.  LOL!  I did find one good picture of the DL with his cat, but I was unsure whether I could use that one because of copyright infringement. (I know that sounds a bit anal, but it comes from years working in a legal environment.)  

I didn't know that Lindsey and the Dalai Lama are Moon children.  So am I. 

 ?

@deetooI didn't know that Lindsey and the Dalai Lama are Moon children. So am I.

I should have known that you are a Moon child, Deetoo- All the cool kids are doing that this incarnation!

But as far as Lindsey goes, i will have to see some proof before i can believe that he is in the Cancerian Club- he might be jiving about that too.

@unk-p

Thank you for the big smile I am wearing ...

You did it! But where's that kitty cat?  (So psychedelic too, man!)

You have my eternal admiration ... you a Moon Child too? 

?? ???????

@stargazer  loved the pic with his kitten, but it was too large to post. I don't know how to resize an image.  Deetoo was concerned about copyright infringement, but i thought that would only apply to things like printing the image on t-shirts or knickknacks, and then selling them.  So no "Hello Dalai" doilies!  but i could be wrong.             peace&love

oh, and yes i am a moon kid

unk-p,

I believe copyright infringement can apply to using other's photographs, but I don't know how that works.  I was just being overly-cautious.  Perhaps one of our resident attorneys could advise us.  ? 

unk-p, I'm not surprised you're a moon kid.  When is your b-day?