Senator Mark Kirk: Lindsey Graham Is A ‘Bro With No Ho’

Immigration Reform

Illinois Senator Mark Kirk had a colorful way to describe his fellow Senator:

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a “bro with no ho,” according to his colleague, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)

The assessment of Graham’s love life was made during a Senate Appropriations Committee markup on Thursday and caught on a live microphone.

“I’ve been joking with Lindsey,” Kirk can be heard saying. “Did you see that? He’s going to have a rotating first lady. He’s a bro with no ho.”

Graham’s bachelorhood has been much-discussed since the launch of his presidential campaign. The senator is single with no children, which has raised questions about whether voters might find him unrelatable. Graham has laughed it off and even joked recently that he’ll have more than one first lady once he gets to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I feel real comfortable with who I am and the life I’ve lived,” Graham recently told The Huffington Post. “The last time I checked, I didn’t see a sign on the White House that said ‘single people need not apply.'”

But while he may lack a “ho,” it’s unclear whether Graham would describe himself as a “bro.”

Moreover, Kirk’s comment raises a number of questions: Are congressional bros different from everyday bros? Do they pop the collar on their pinstripe suits as they stroll through Dirksen in boat shoes? Do they hit the Senate gym each morning and play beer pong at Chuck Schumer’s apartment at night? Do they bring red plastic cups onto the Senate floor to sip on vodka-Red Bulls while they wait on roll call votes?

No word on whether Senator Kirk believes Senator Graham has hos in every area code.

FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, Humor, US Politics, , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. michael reynolds says:

    he’ll have more than one first lady once he gets to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

    Right. Sure you will, Lindsay. Sure you will.

    For God’s sake, you’re a hundred years old, Senator, come out of the closet already.

  2. Gromitt Gunn says:

    He’s got 99 problems…

  3. michael reynolds says:

    Yikes, I just checked and Graham is not 100 years old, he’s just 59. He’s a year younger than me. Wow. And I thought I looked old.

  4. stonetools says:

    Where is the consideration for the heterosexual male who chooses to live as a bachelor?

    Bachelor rights, y’all! It’s quite possible that the good Senator is simply a man who likes his own company best of all-or maybe he is just very, very, very choosy about women.

    He shouldn’t be penalized for this. The Presidency is for bachelors too, like the great James Buchanan who-oh, never mind!

  5. Pete S says:

    Maybe he is still single because he cannot find a partner who is okay with him hiding under the bed all the time because he seems to be afraid of his own shadow?

    And Mark Kirk’s joke is just stupid locker room nonsense. But making it on a live microphone? Do Republicans genuinely understand that slightly more than half of the voting age population is female?

  6. Scott says:

    just stupid locker room nonsense

    On some level, I think we need space for stupid locker room nonsense. I just get tired of these kind of articles.

    As for Graham, I think a zone of privacy is warranted for our politicians as long as they respect other people’s zones.

  7. Kylopod says:

    @stonetools: Maybe he can take comfort in Grover Cleveland. He entered office as a bachelor, but that was after he was found to have fathered a child out of wedlock and before he went on to marry a 21-year-old woman.

  8. Gromitt Gunn says:

    @Kylopod: Which, it should be noted in fairness, made her practically a spinster at the time.

  9. Pinky says:

    James Buchanan – maybe, maybe not. He was engaged to a woman; it ended tragically. He was very close to a male friend. He was said to be effeminate. Who knows?

  10. Gromitt Gunn says:

    @Gromitt Gunn: As a random aside, it really bothers me that the default Wikipedia search for 99 Problems leads to Jay Z’s borrowing, and not to Ice-T’s original from “Home Invasion.”

  11. Facebones says:

    @Pete S: I really don’t think they do. Either that, or he assumes that because his wife humors him with good-natured chuckles, then he must be hilarious.

  12. gVOR08 says:

    @Pete S:

    Do Republicans genuinely understand that slightly more than half of the voting age population is female?

    best I can tell, no.

    I live in an old money neighborhood (on the edge, by the railroad tracks). If I talk to guys around the neighborhood about how elections will turn out and compare it to reported vote tallies for my precinct, I’m forced to conclude a lot of wives are lying to their husbands about how they vote.

  13. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    Vodka and Red Bull? Meh…. What they need to be drinking is Jaegerbombs!

  14. CSK says:

    The far right thinks he’s a Communist homosexual. And probably a secret Muslim.

    I have no idea if he’s gay or straight, but I’m deeply appreciative of the fact that I haven’t yet had to pick up the newspaper and read about him starring in some sordid scandal involving a supporting cast of underaged pages or interns.

    As the lady said, I don’t care what people do as long as they don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses.

  15. Pinky says:

    @CSK: I’ve never heard anyone on the right question his sexuality. I’ve read a lot of criticism from the right against him, and up until a couple of days ago, I didn’t know he was a bachelor.

  16. M. Bouffant says:

    Interesting:

    This isn’t the first awkward thing Kirk has said recently:

    It’s one of several hot-button comments that Kirk has made this year, including suggesting that the GOP should put coffins outside Democratic offices if there was a terrorist attack during a Homeland Security shutdown and saying people “drive faster” through black neighborhoods.

    Is it fair to point out that Mark Kirk had a stroke in 2012?
    […]
    Nevertheless, the American Stroke Association Lists “the inability to inhibit inappropriate behavior” as a possible consequence of stroke. I don’t imagine Kirk is unable to inhibit inappropriate behavior, but is his ability to refrain from inappropriate comments somewhat impaired?

  17. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Something tells me the Senator from Illinois slept on the couch last night.

  18. Pinky says:

    @M. Bouffant:

    Q: How do we encourage more of that in Illinois, whether it’s home-grown industry or bringing new industry here?
    A: We make them heroes, publicly. … There’s one thing I would say, I’m very focused on fostering an African-American entrepreneurial class using my position as senator. The most valuable thing I own is probably my electronic Rolodex where I can open doors for people. I’ve held an “Entrepreneurial Idol” competition at Chicago State University, and the guy who won it runs a company that’s very innovative. The fact that he’s a Motorola engineer tells us he’s probably on the cutting edge. The essence of this company is to offer Medicaid (patients) — which is typically going to be African-American patients — a series of pieces of equipment that wirelessly talk to their doctor and provide clean, clear data on weight, blood pressure. We know this kind of managed care really lowers health care costs.
    I want to make sure we have elected people constantly looking at helping the African-American community. With this state and all of its resources, we could sponsor a whole new class of potential innovators like George Washington Carver and eventually have a class of African-American billionaires. That would really adjust income differentials and make the diversity and outcome of the state much better so that the black community is not the one we drive faster through.

    http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150410/NEWS/150419901/1994/NEWS/?Start=4

  19. CSK says:

    @Pinky:

    Take a visit to one of the sites where the fringe gathers. They refer to him as “Miss,” amongst other things.

  20. Pinky says:

    @CSK: So, you’re telling me that, somewhere on the internet, a group of people is getting out of hand? Noted.