Just when you think you’ve heard it all from Senator Lindsey Graham (Authoritarian-SC), he comes up with a new doozy: He wants the US to BOYCOTT, that’s right BOYCOTT the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi Russia. That’s right – here’s two places where he is reported to have said it:
NBC sports:
“I love the Olympics, but I hate what the Russian government is doing throughout the world,” Graham, R-S.C., told NBC News on Tuesday. “If they give asylum to a person who I believe has committed treason against the United States, that’s taking it to a new level.”
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“If you could go back in time, would you have allowed Adolf Hitler to host the Olympics in Germany?” Graham said. “To have the propaganda coup of inviting the world into Nazi Germany and putting on a false front?“I’m not saying that Russia is Nazi Germany, but I am saying that the Russian government is empowering some of the most evil, hateful people in the world.”
And Politico, too:
Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday that the United States should weigh boycotting the 2014 Winter Olympics over Russia’s conduct around the world, including the country’s handling of NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
“Yes, I would consider it. I know athletes would be heartbroken,” the South Carolina Republican told NBC News’s Kelly O’Donnell in an interview broadcast on “Today.” “I don’t know if putting the Olympics on the table is the right answer, but I do know this: What we’re doing is not working.”
Graham said the move would put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to change his ways.
This is so terrible that it is a test of my attempt to respect those God placed in authority over us. Senator Graham is an embarrassment to his state and the nation. Senator Graham says we need to persuade the president of Russia to “…change his ways…” How did that work for us when Graham and Congress decided to try to make Russia change their ways with the Magnitsky Act? Hundreds if not thousands of adoptive parents in the United States got their hearts broken beyond repair. I’d blame BOTH Russia and US meddling. Senator Graham co-sponsored the Magnitsky Act. He also said this about Russia:
“Bush got it wrong with Putin, Obama’s got it wrong with Putin, Congress is doing virtually nothing,” Graham said. “And if in a year from now there are 200,000 dead in Syria and weapons begin to proliferate that Russia has sold Syria throughout the Mid-East, Iraq goes up in flames, I guess we should go to Russia and have a party and celebrate the Olympics. That just seems disconnected to me.”
“If there are any lessons to be learned from the American boycott of 1980, it is that Olympic boycotts do not work. Our boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games did not contribute to a successful resolution of the underlying conflict. It did, however, deprive hundreds of American athletes, all whom had completely dedicated themselves to representing our nation at the Olympic Games, of the opportunity of a lifetime. It also deprived millions of Americans of the opportunity to take pride in the achievements of our athletes, and in their dedication and commitment, at a time when we needed it most. While we acknowledge the seriousness of the issues at hand, we strongly oppose the notion that a boycott of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is in our country’s best interests.”
Article written by: Elwood "Sandy" Sanders
