You know a politician was something special when Al Franken and Ted Cruz are both genuinely sad at the same time about the same guy. That is not a combination that occurs in nature. Yet as USA Journal noted, the tributes pouring in for Senator Lindsey Graham over the weekend painted a picture of a man who somehow managed to be personally beloved across every conceivable political divide. A man who could make a professional comedian admit he was funnier.
Al Franken, the actual Saturday Night Live alumnus, said explicitly that Graham was the funniest senator. Let that sink in. A guy from South Carolina who grew up in the back of a pool hall and bar was out-comedying the guy who literally wrote comedy for a living. That is either deeply impressive or deeply concerning about the state of Senate humor. Probably both.
The stories people shared are the kind you simply cannot manufacture. Cory Gardner remembered Graham delivering a joke about Colorado's marijuana situation and his Baptist voters back home with the sort of deadpan timing that takes decades to perfect. Kyrsten Sinema wrote that Graham would "hug and fight you, all within ten minutes on the floor." She also noted the Three Amigos are back together now, referring to Graham reuniting with John McCain and Joe Lieberman, which is honestly the most Lindsey Graham tribute anyone could have written.
Speaking of Lieberman, Graham's farewell tribute to his late friend was reportedly something close to a comedic masterpiece built on top of genuine heartbreak. Laughter as a defense mechanism for grief. Washington usually handles grief with press releases and flags at half staff. Graham handled it by making everyone laugh until they cried.
The bipartisan nature of the tributes was striking. John Fetterman called him a foreign policy giant and said he had always been kind, gracious, and thoughtful. Cory Booker shared a video about their criminal justice reform work that was described as genuinely moving. Mark Warner acknowledged their many disagreements but said he never once doubted Graham's love of country. These are not people who agree on much of anything, and yet every single one of them came away from knowing Graham thinking he was a good man.
Naturally, the internet's finest citizens spent Sunday celebrating his death from the comfort of their couches, having never met the man, never worked with him, and never experienced the apparently disarming combination of sharp wit and genuine warmth that everyone who actually knew him keeps describing. They knew a Twitter caricature. The people writing tributes knew a person.
Graham's famous quote from 2018 about working with President Trump remains peak Graham energy: "If you don't like me working with President Trump to make the world a better place, I don't give a sh*t." Not exactly what you expect from a senior senator from a deeply religious state, but that was the whole point of the guy. He surprised you.
The last known words he said in public were a joke. His last phone call was about protecting American elections. Funny and relentless right up to the very end. That is a pretty solid way to be remembered.
Rest in peace, Senator.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
