Should Senator Bob Graham go into dairy farming? He’s good at milking things.
A recent story about what Bob Graham is going to do now is udderly revealing. He’s dropping out of the race for president. But will he drop out of the Senate too? Unthinkable, say some. Including long-time supporter Steve Uhlfelder, a Tallahassee lawyer. “What’s he going to do, become a dairy farmer?” asked Uhlfelder “I can’t imagine the man walking away from public life in his mid 60s.” Such cynicism is lamentable. But par for the course in today’s political environment.
Meanwhile, potential candidates for Graham’s seat are waiting in the wings in a “holding pattern,” as one report puts it awaiting Graham’s next move. None of them are sitting senatorial incumbents with all the advantages of incumbency to draw upon. Graham laments those advantages furiously. He once said, “It offends me when taxpayer money is spent on things that are designed to re-elect politicians rather than a serious need of the country.”
Yet he doesn’t mind pork when it’s for Florida. And his anti-pork stand certainly didn’t stop him from proposing a lot more porcine spending and taxing as he ran for president. Including billions to fund technology and broadband research as if private industry has no interest in funding these on its own. He also pushed a 40 percent tax bracket for the most productive Americans. (You know. The ones who fund broadband development.) Senator Graham, please choose cows to milk for a living. Fast. While we still have some money left in our wallets.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.