Sen. Lindsey Graham On Trump: 'Nobody Knows Where The Bottom Is At'

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo

By LAUREN FOX Published AUGUST 19, 2016, 9:54 AM EDT

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is increasingly concerned that Donald Trump will cost his party the majority in the U.S. Senate.

In a New York Times article Friday, Graham told the paper that “people are getting pretty nervous about our candidates because he’s in a death spiral here and nobody knows where the bottom is at."

In races across the country, Hillary Clinton's double digit leads are making it almost impossible for Republican candidates to stay afloat. Yet, many in the party worry that completely disavowing Trump at this point could make matters worse as Republican voters may not even show up at the polls.

"It’s going to be like ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ — you got to make him look alive, even if he’s not,” Graham told the Times.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/graham-on-trump-nobody-knows-where-the-bottom-is-at

[mothra1orbit]

1. My grandmother would tell Lindsay Graham

that the bottom is behind the At on Preposition Street.

[DURHAM D]

4. lol That at was the first thing I noticed.

[Paper Roses]

13. My thought too! n/t

Last edited Fri Aug 19, 2016, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

[Hortensis]

18. No one in the GOP knows whereat the bottom is.

Way past time for them to start wondering.

[Cracklin Charlie]

10. My mom would tell him...

That the bottom was between the A and the T.

[LakeArenal]

16. Wow.. thanks

At home I am always called the grammar police. Where you at? drives me crazy..

Also, the "amount of people".... and pundits, please learn the difference between less and fewer..

Thanks for letting me rant.

[wordpix]

35. how about "him" lying at the bottom? ("Him" should be "his")

[Bucky]

20. Yeah, that's not actually a rule

There's not a reason on earth to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. Some 19th Century grammarian pulled this random "rule" out of his ass two centuries ago and unquestioning followers have been parroting it, against all sense, ever since.

As Winston Churchill once said "This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put."

[PatSeg]

21. I remember being taught

not to end a sentence with a preposition, but trying to stick to that rule makes for some very awkward sentences. It is definitely archaic, though in Graham's case "Nobody knows where the bottom is" would have been sufficient.

Good example - "This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put."

[Motley13]

30. he, he

[whatthehey]

31. Except the problem here is not position but redundancy

"Where" already includes the concept of a location in space. The "at" is wrong because it is superfluous. Consider the response pairs below with similar grammar and syntax:


"Where is the bottom at?" "It's at over there."

"Where is the bottom?" "It's over there."

The declarative makes the incorrect nature of the interrogative more prominent, but the "at" is equally incorrect in both.

[PatSeg]

33. Yes

It isn't so much the preposition at the end of the sentence, it is because it has no place in that sentence. It would be equally incorrect to say "Where at is the bottom?"

[Bucky]

37. You were taught wrong.

This "rule" drove all my English prof's batty in college. If you ever wanna see an editor's head explode, try correcting them with this rule. It's the syntactic equivalent of saying "irregardless".

[PatSeg]

39. Then for what is the rule?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

While working on my family tree, I've encountered a lot of old documents and I realized that so many of those "written in stone" rules were very recent and arbitrary. Variations in spelling alone were surprising. It seems that even well educated people frequently spelled phonetically over the past 3 or 4 centuries. I suppose that could vary according to how a particular person pronounced a word.

I believe that the use of grammar and punctuation should be to make something more intelligible, not to adhere to an outdated rule.

[Bucky]

41. Yes, there's spelling and even grammatical errors in the US Constitution.

including an argument over whether one mark is a meaning-altering comma, or just a smudge on the paper.

http://lexfridman.com/blogs/thoughts/2011/01/04/eminent-domain-comma-or-smudge/

In the 16th Century, Will Shakespeare didn't even spell his own name consistently.



As for your question, the rule is: you may end your sentence with a preposition. A preposition can go anywhere an adverb can go.

Obviously you should avoid redundancy. "Where is the bottom at?" is bad syntax, but not necessarily bad grammar. "When are you coming over?" is quite acceptable.

[PatSeg]

46. Some of my ancestors

spelled their names in more than one way. It didn't appear to be a big deal.

Some of my better English teachers stressed trimming sentences of unnecessary and/or redundant words. Those are the teachers who still lurk in the back of my mind.

[mothra1orbit]

40. Well, but

that wouldn't be the reason for my grandmother's objection. The problem with "where the bottom is at" is that the "at" is superfluous. Plus it makes the speaker sound trashy.

[Bucky]

42. Redundancies are acceptable for stylistic reasons.

A statement like "I didn't say you were not welcome here" is syntactically impure, but carries a subtler meaning than cleaning it up and just saying "You are welcome here."

I say to my friends "Where're yall at?" all the time. It conveys intimacy where the more direct "Where are you?" is only a simple inquiry. In it also implies a greater urgency.

Obviously "trashy" is a subjective standard. I don't think your grandmama would approve of me.

[niyad]

25. welcome to du. irritated me when I saw it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

52. But it's been used in song, so it must be OK.

Psychedelic shack,
that's where it's at

[mothra1orbit]

53. The Temptations transcend grammar, usage, and spelling

It's the law.

[Grassy Knoll]

2. Weekend At Donnies

[anamandujano]

3. Yup!

[liberal N proud]

5. But Lindsey, Trump is exactly what you all have asked for for decades

This is the fruit or your efforts of obstruction and hate.

Suck on it!

[trusty elf]

6. ..where the bottom is at?

[img][/img]

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Gee

he's still attracting crowds, the greatest crowds, most loving crowds,
eager to take pics

signs of a healthy dialogue

[radicalliberal]

50. His nekkid statue is more popular than he is.

[Grassy Knoll]

12. Damn, That's A Serious Case Of Hannity Rash...

[LakeArenal]

17. There's a bad moon on the rise.

[Chicago1980]

22. That saggy ass looks more like a vagina.

Hmmm.....

[Moonwalk]

27. Don't insult vaginas....

[OnDoutside]

34. My eyes, My eyes !!!

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Just keep pounding him online in comments sections, message boards

wherever you go

Demoralize these cretins, this reckoning has been 36 years in the making

and we're going to make the most of it, just like they would

[Hortensis]

19. "When they go low, we go high."

[closeupready]

8. Lindsey Graham pondering bottoms is like

Lynda Carter, doing that hand thing:

[Botany]

11. You helped to build that Trump monster Lindsey.

Do you remember your 7 year 77 million $ blow job hunt? That helped to build
the trashing of America by the right wing in order to gain or keep power and in that
climate a piece of shit like Trump could grow and fester.

[still_one]

14. Sounds like a stock market analysis

[whatthehey]

32. Not much, when we are hovering around record highs.

[still_one]

43. I was generalizing, not referring to the current stock market, but only the like kind verbiage that

comes out of a stock market analysts comments

[MynameisBlarney]

15. Must....refrain....from...attempting....humor....

Must....resist...

[closeupready]

38. I know, right? Dr. Freud to the white courtesy phone, please.

[MynameisBlarney]

45. It's just too easy

Too damn easy...

[Chicago1980]

23. Interesting comment Lindsey

[youtube]

[/youtube]

[Cryptoad]

24. Hey Lin,,,,,,

I don't know where bottom is either, but I know it can't be too low enough!

[jalan48]

26. Our country has moved so far to the right that even Graham is concerned.

Nixon and Reagan would be considered liberals by today's Republicans.

[niyad]

28. ah, dear, sweet, clueless lindsey-- there is no bottom-- you and your puke friends have

been digging this hole for nearly four decades, and you haven't stopped yet. der drumpfenfuhrer is every wish of the pukes, writ large.

choke on it.

[Moonwalk]

29. "Weekend at Bernie's"--funniest thing Graham's ever said. And I think it nails the situation....

...perfectly. The Republicans are trying to keep the dead corpse of their party looking alive.

[wordpix]

36. I agree. Does Graham have an election this year? Kick that bum OUT

Mr. "Let's Build More Nuclear Plants When We Still Have Nowhere to Put the Waste" should be toast.

[ABLEZEROSIX]

48. Do we have somewhere to put the coal and oil waste?

Oh, that's right .... the ATMOSPHERE!

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

44. Truly understandable, Grahams dilemma,

What Graham doesn't know about that ,that being what or where is the figurative bottom ,it is Donald Trump and Trump who is known for being completely over the top,also has his way about that so called bottom. It just must make perfect sense that Trump will or has put a hole in the bottom of the bottom and where it goes is who or hell knows. What that means is, at that so called bottom,Trump has himself a little slip shot, but, there is no escape. That might even be a permanent vacation and hell too.,

[ABLEZEROSIX]

47. Little Lindsey is a vile cretin himself,

but he's right about "no bottom" to Trump. But that's true for Trump, Graham and the tens of millions of hateful imbeciles who call themselves "republicans."

[Doc_Technical]

49. Dear Lindsey

What did you end your sentence with a preposition for?

[sarcasmo]

51. Dropping the Weekend @ Bernie's reference, LMFAO.

[0rganism]

54. i'd guess it's around 25%

and i hope he hits it in late October/early November