Something Good Out of SC

I love my home state.

I think the beaches are awesome...Folly is my favorite place on the planet. The rivers there sing to me, especially the Pee Dee and the Catawba.

I love our history, warts and all. I love knowing where every little tiny place is. I love the two dailies there that I have worked for there, The State in Columbia and the Charleston Post-Courier.

I love the Gamecocks, especially Gamecock football. I love SC Archaeology and the SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. I love USC's beautiful campus.

Still, I am often embarrassed by the news coming out of my state. The Governor on the Appalacian Trail...or make that Argentinian tale. The guy who ran against DeMint who may or may not have been paid by the Republicans to do it. Miss SC and "The Iraq." Confederate Balls.

I could go on, but I'd rather not.

But today, something good came out of SC.

Senator Lindsey Graham.

According to the Foreign Policy Cable, Graham, who is expected to be named the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations' State and Foreign Operations subcommittee, sees the State Department and diplomacy as a vital tool national security.

He said:
"If you don't want to use military force any more than you have to, count me in," Graham said in an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Cable. "State Department, USAID, all of these programs, in their own way, help win this struggle against radical Islam. The unsung heroes of this war are the State Department officials, the [Department of Justice] officials, and the agricultural people who are going out there."

"To those members who do not see the value of the civilian partnership in the war on terror, I think they are making a very dangerous decision," Graham said.

I couldn't agree more.