IT WAS THE LATE, great journalist Norman Mailer who once observed, "The desire for success lubricates secret prostitutions in the soul."

Which brings us to South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Once the hero of the conservative movement for his courageous stand against the libidinal Bill Clinton in the House impeachment proceedings of 1998, Lindsey has since evanesced into a mere shadow of his once-stalwart self. Or, for that matter, of any other wannabe leader with scarcely a thimbleful of testosterone flowing through his anemic system.

Today, Graham is little more than the ever-eager turn-to guy whenever the hard left needs a squishy sycophant to carry its water through the corridors of Congress. As evidenced most recently by his teaming up with liberal totem John Kerry to co-author a New York Times op-ed endorsing the highly controversial, disastrously costly cap-and-trade legislation.

As the green web site Grist.com breathlessly enthused:

"It's hard to overstate the significance of this joint declaration. It ensures that the Senate bill will be bipartisan. It demonstrates that there is a pathway to 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. And it establishes comprehensive energy and climate legislation as the next item on the Senate agenda after health care reform, meaning there is a very real shot at Senate passage prior to Copenhagen."

In short, in one fell stroke, Graham betrayed scores of his Senate colleagues and tens of millions of Americans who know that the cap-and-trade bill will paralyze American industry and cost the average household as much as $3,000 a year.

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Having once again sold his soul, Graham then realized it might be necessary to mend some fences with the folks back home, who have grown more than a little weary of his weasiley sell-outs. So, he trotted out "Republican" State Senator John Courson to pose in front of flying flags hoisted high and cut a TV commercial urging Palmetto State residents to stand by Lindsey Graham (as he sells them down the river).

Now, John Courson, it should be noted, is about as much a diehard Republican as Graham is a macho male role model. In addition to casting a deciding vote in the State Senate against a budget that would have reduced waste and prioritized spending on government's core responsibilities, Courson also voted to override dozens of cost-saving vetoes. And, he voted to maintain a legislative slush fund for pet projects known as the "competitive grants" program.

So, Graham getting Courson to cut a message tugging at the heartstrings of the GOP faithful was as duplicitous as it was fatuous. But, that's just the tip of the iceberg that could, in the long run, end up sinking Graham's badly listing political career.

As top South Carolina blogger Will Folks reveals in his blockbuster commentary on the Graham-Courson commercial, besides confirming that both men are frauds, it also exposes Graham's ties to the very top of the leftwing hierarchy of political power brokers. Those paying for the Graham-Courson charade, it turns out, are an anathema to conservatives nationwide.

Here's how Folks describes the scenario that unfolded when he begin pulling back the layers of the Graham-Courson performance:

Reached for comment Wednesday night, Graham's top South Carolina strategist, Richard Quinn, told FITS that the ad was paid for by a group called the Truman National Security Project, which he described to us in an email as "a national security leadership institute, the nation's only organization that recruits, trains, and positions a new generation of professionals across America to lead on national security …

"Of course, we dug a little bit deeper into the background of this organization to see who was really providing Lindsey Graham with this desperately-needed political cover.

"Perhaps not surprisingly, it turns out that the Truman National Security Project – the organization that Quinn told us was going to fund Graham's television and radio ads – is a liberal front group aimed at training "progressives" (not "professionals," as Quinn emailed us) in their efforts to co-opt the debate over national security, which is typically one of the GOP's bread-and-butter issues ...

"Not only that, according to documents filed with the IRS, the organization's employees – including [organization president Rachel] Kleinfeld – receive part of their salaries from a group called Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs.

"According to that group's website, SaveOurPlanet.org, the mission of the Social and Environmental entrepreneurs is 'to empower, encourage and catalyze individuals to facilitate progressive change in areas of social justice and ecological restoration.'

"Of course, the board of directors and executive staff of the Truman National Security Project are littered with establishment liberals and Democratic consultants representing groups like the Progressive Policy Institute, the Open Society Institute and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign organization ...

"Needless to say, with the prospect of this cast of characters being exposed to South Carolina Republican voters, it didn't take long for Graham's advisors to change their tune – and likely their minds – on who should ultimately be called upon to fund these pro-Graham ads. And so hours after initially providing us with the name of the Truman group, Quinn emailed us saying that he had made a 'mistake' about who was paying for the TV ad and promised to get back to us with the 'correct' information.

"It was too late, however – the cat was already out of the bag. Pro-Graham radio spots had already begun airing on various radio stations throughout South Carolina – ads that specifically named the 'Truman National Security Project' as the entity responsible for their content.

"Those ads have since been pulled from the airwaves, although Quinn was forced to admit to FITS that 'the Truman group sponsored a small (dollar) radio buy with Courson that ran in a couple of markets for (two) days.'

"Additionally, sources at local news stations have confirmed to FITS that television time for the Courson ad was originally purchased under the Truman National Security Project name, but that it was later changed to the name of a different organization … a group called Republicans for Environmental Protection."

Now, some might wonder, why all the hullaballoo about the shady machinations of a single Senator way down in relatively small southern state? That's easy: it's because this single Senator has become the walking, talking, balking (at anything even remotely resembling conservative principles) symbol of the nefarious RINO (Republican in Name Only).

David Niven once wrote of his old pal Erol Flynn, "Erol was entirely reliable – you could always count on him to let you down." So, too with Lindsey Graham. Whether the fight is over immigration, the "wise Latino" Sotomayor, or, most recently environmental extremism, when it comes to standing up for what's Right, you can always find Lindsay sitting supinely on the other side of the aisle.

His desire for success has clearly lubricated the sordid regions of his inner being. And he, like his fellow RINOs, may soon learn that as the fight continues for the very heart of the Republican Party, his soiled soul may be abandoned to the graveyard of political prostitutes.