Senator Lindsey Graham had a bit of a meltdown at the prospect of an American citizen getting access to a lawyer.

This week, the Senate has debated a provision in the 2012 Defense Authorization bill that would allow the President of the United States to declare a United States citizen an “enemy combatant” which would then let the military lock that citizen up, without a trial, indefinitely. The biggest supporters of the provision have been thank-God-he’s-not-President John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

Senator Graham was especially passionate. Here’s the clip:

I have no doubt that Al-Qaeda scares the pants off of Senator Graham. This is not the reaction of a man who is faking it. However, we should be concerned that the Al-Qaeda boogeymen and the “War on Terror” (which Graham admitted is a war without end) are being used by United States Senators to throw our Constitutional rights to due process and trial by jury out the window.

Removing all the Al-Qaeda paranoia, here is what Senator Graham said,

“Is the homeland the battlefield? You better believe it’s the battlefield!… Why would we say that if you’re in Afghanistan, we can blow you up and put you in jail forever, [snip] but if you can make it to America, you’re home free? You can’t be interrogated by our military, or CIA; you get a lawyer and that’s the end of discussion? That’s what you would be doing! That’s crazy! …

It is not unfair to… hold American citizens as long as it takes to find intelligence [snip]. When they say, “I want my lawyer”, you tell them, “Shut up! You don’t get a lawyer. You’re an enemy combatant.”

What’s next? Domestic predator drones?

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