The GOP purification police, on the hunt in South Carolina

By Michael J.W. Stickings

How hilarious is it that Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has been censured by his own party?

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham -- in the name of bipartisanship -- continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism,

stated the resolution passed unanimously by the Charleston County Republican Party's executive committee.

Oh, I know, that's not exactly the Republican National Committee or anything, but it gives you some idea of just how intense, and how bolshevik, the purification drive is in the GOP. Any Republican who sides with the Democrats on anything, it seems, is at risk of being targeted.

The resolution focuses on "Graham's cooperation with U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on a bipartisan energy bill, and his support for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program and the time he called some opponents of immigration reform 'bigots.'" To be sure, Graham is a bit of a maverick lite, a junior McCain, independent on a few select issues but rigidly partisan and uncompromisingly conservative most of the time, but, from what the purification police are saying, he might as well be an Obama-infatuated socialist.

The committee claims that the resolution is "an effort to get [Graham's] attention." I'm sure Republicans across the country are getting the message.