"Bob the Prophet"...a tribute to Bob Graham from Ybor City Stogie.

[madfloridian]

This is one of my favorite Florida blogs.

Ybor City Stogie

Today there is a tribute up to Bob Graham and his prescience about Iraq.

Bob the Prophet

"In 2003, Graham's war opposition hurt his popularity even in Florida, where he had served two terms as governor and three as senator. Republicans lambasted him for statements accusing the Bush administration of misleading the public on Iraq and for suggesting there was as much ground to impeach Bush as there had been for President Clinton....here


Picture courtesy of Stogie...Daniel Robert Graham

And more from the linked article to the Tampa Tribune.

"Nobody can feel anything other than sadness at this tragedy that our country has fallen into in the last five years. I'm disappointed that there wasn't greater caution and candor on behalf of people making the decisions, and our nation has suffered enormous losses as a result of it."....Bob Graham

And a few more comments:

He said he hopes the candidates learn from this experience "that their statements as president are not just campaign slogans - the American people and Congress are going to give them the presumption of being truth."

Graham said he hasn't taken sides in the Democratic primary and isn't certain he will.

The overall lesson he takes from the events, he said: "We need to be more humble in our judgments, and we need to try to learn from our mistakes."

Thanks Stogie for the tribute to Bob.

And my own post about Graham's warning of blood on the hands of those who voted for this war.

In October 2002 Bob Graham begged fellow senators to read the "entire" NIE on WMDs.

Bob Graham was governor or senator or something in Florida for a lot of my adult life. He was never exciting and attention seeking, but he surely got this right.

[wakeme2008]

1. For the thousand time, this Florida boy will say, Had Gore picked

Graham for VP in 2000 he would have landslide Florida.

[madfloridian]

5. Many of us felt that way.

But he had to have Lieberman. Never did understand that then, but now I can see more about reasons for that pick.

[Colobo]

2. Ybor City, Cuba, Spain and Italy in one place.

[NCarolinawoman]

3. Wonderful man.

Almost makes me want to cry. He was not part of the American Idol mentality. Underrated by the rest of the country, much to our detriment.

:(

[Adelante]

7. Oh, I know

I love that good man.

[saracat]

4. I have always loved Bob Graham. It is really too bad that "power" politics

and the media united against him in 2004.He is a great man and one of the nicest. Unfortunately most of America is too stupid to appreciate him. Odd isn't it that while they crucified Gore and Kerry for not having "enough" folsy personality, they crucified this brilliant man for having too much.

[madfloridian]

6. I wish he were still in his senate seat that he left to run for president.

We could sure use him now. Yes, he's a good man.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

8. His last day in office, he came to the Keys and helped to wrap and deliver

Christmas presents to the disadvantaged kids in the area. After the reporters left, we broke for lunch. Stale sandwiches and kool-aid in the backroom of local community center. The senator grabbed a sandwich and sat down with the rest of us volunteers and we all just chit chatted and laughed. The next day I opened up the Miami Herald and there I was on the front page standing next to Graham. I figured they got me in the picture because I was wearing a Santa hat, in the spirit of the holiday gift wrapping.

He is such a warm genuine person. Not one bit full of himself like so many of the other politicians that I have met at conventions, etc.

[madfloridian]

9. That sounds like one of his "work days".

Remember he would teach, be a waiter, do many varied jobs.

[madfloridian]

10. Bob Graham we hardly knew ye

http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/126320.html

The article quotes Graham: ``I was able to apply caveat emptor. Most of my colleagues could not.''

With 3,475 American lives lost and counting, Graham has the grace not to gloat.

''There's no happiness in this tragic situation,'' Graham said.

Back in 2003, he was ridiculed as a conspiracy theorist. Most Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. Graham -- a three-term senator and two-term governor who had never lost an election -- came in last in virtually every poll.

''It was immensely frustrating for us on the campaign trail that America was not ready to listen to him,'' Toothaker said. ``Some time in the last year, I started to see a shift. Some of my Republican friends even bought his book.''

Graham stays busy these days running two policy centers on public service, serving on four corporate boards and doting on 11 grandchildren. He is called for advice by Gov. Charlie Crist and for commentary by national media. A Washington Post blogger listed him as Florida's prize endorsement for a Democratic presidential candidate.
Asked about the field, Graham joked that he had an '' Al Gore answer,'' referring to the ex-vice president's response to questions about running again for president. ''I have not endorsed anyone, and I don't see the likelihood of endorsing anyone, but I reserve the right to do so in the future,'' he said.

Glad to see Bob getting credit due now. Maybe someday others who were speaking out then will get credit as well.

[Divine Discontent]

11. wow... yes

to think Gore could've picked FL senator Bob Graham instead of Lieberman... wow... good point, FL would've been so far in Gore's camp 55-45 that they couldn't have got away with this

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- top '08 items!

[Divine Discontent]

12. nice button

and for the thousandth time - The SCOTUS politically put Dubya in against a majority of Americans (1/3 million) who saw how bad Bush might be if elected, of course, I admit I had no idea it'd be THIS bad.

Obviously, someone had the right idea in 2000, too bad Al didn't.
http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/democrats2004/graham.html