Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has the reputation of bucking the party line if necessary to do what’s right, not what’s politically safe or popular. And in most of those causes, we have the reputation of supporting his efforts. But we’re disappointed in recent comments he made in Charleston, as reported by The Associated Press, on both his hoped-for next Senate term and the outcome of the November presidential election.

If reelected, he told reporters, he will serve his full term, rather than follow John McCain to the White House if McCain is successful in his quest for the presidency. And that is as it should be. But his additional comment — that if Barack Obama is elected he will use his Senate post to “fight him tooth and nail” — is not typical of a man who is well-known for reaching across the aisle for solutions.

In 2000, Graham supported McCain in the presidential primary over George W. Bush. They are longtime friends and his work for the McCain campaign was not surprising, nor did we find fault with it. McCain was a good candidate who suffered mightily in South Carolina at the hands of the Bush campaign, and not just in the loss of the nomination. His character was attacked repeatedly in our state, and it worked.

It would be logical to suspect that Graham was scheduled for a high post in any McCain administration, so it is admirable that he wants to fulfill the trust voters might put in him if they should give him a second Senate term.

But that does not mean his reaching across the aisle days should be over if his candidate doesn’t emerge the victor. A senator works for the people, not the party.

If Obama wins the presidency and he pushes for legislation that would be detrimental to the people of South Carolina or elsewhere in the nation, we would expect Graham to fight him, tooth, nail and toenail, to expand on Graham’s homily. And we would support him in that fight.

Graham is scheduled to debate his opponent for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Bob Conley, on Oct. 11. We hope this comment is raised for a further explanation. (The SCETV/The (Columbia) State debate will also be a live broadcast at 8 p.m. on C-SPAN.)

For to issue such a blanket statement of party loyalty over the country’s wellbeing is out of character for the senator we have been proud to call our own — and his own — man.