Lindsey Graham goes for the black gold

I remember when the very serious people mocked the hippies for saying American imperalism in the Middle East was about the oil. But the Republicans aren't even pretending it's about something more noble anymore. Take for instance, Lindsey Graham's reaction to the killing of Gadhafi today. He criticizes Obama for not having a stronger US troop presence in the action.

Let’s get in on the ground. There is a lot of money to be made in the future in Libya. Lot of oil to be produced. Let’s get on the ground and help the Libyan people establish a democracy and a functioning economy based on free market principles.

Graham is concerned we haven't built an infrastructure in Libya to "help" the Libyans. When asked why he wants to spend money building in Libya when he votes against spending a cent on rebuilding our own nation's fraying infrastructure, he justifies it thusly:

"I would say this is a loan, not a gift," Graham said. "It is in our interest to get their oil back online, so we can have more supply, which will help our consumers, it is in our interest to get their economy moving forward, so a vacuum won't be filled by extremists, and we will get the money we invest back. We have $34 billion in frozen assets we can draw from, it is in America's interests for Libya to turn out well. It is in America's interest for Libya to get back to producing oil to help the world's oil supply. we'll be now getting oil from a friend rather than a foe."

Is it me, or is this pretty much exactly what these guys told us about Iraq? Except they pretended their main goal was birthing democracy. How did that work out for us? I'm hearing the Beverly Hillbillies theme song in my head. Black gold. Texas tea...