A Hoosier's Last Hurrah

An Obama link turns the Tea Party on Dick Lugar

Stephen Crowley / New York Times / Redux

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) en route from his office to the Capitol in Washington, April 7, 2011. Lugar has been in the Senate for 34 years, but he is scrambling to retain his seat.

When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he often told the story of his favorite bipartisan bromance. "Politics doesn't have to divide us," he said in his announcement speech. "I've worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar." Obama went on to affectionately name-check Indiana's longest-serving Senator in a debate, on the campaign stump and even in a television ad. Lugar, in turn, praised Obama, even though he'd endorsed John McCain. "I'm pleased we had the association Senator Obama describes," he told reporters then.

These days, however, Lugar has no nice words for the President. The mild-mannered Hoosier calls Obamacare unconstitutional, trashes...

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