Somewhere in the past couple years, South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham went from fat, chuggy, leaf-destructive RINO caterpillar to sleek, spectacular, color-infused, giant-winged Republican butterfly without anyone noticing.

And hey, we love ourselves some Lindsey.

This Lindsey revamp was back in sight yesterday in this exchange with a crazed, shouting leftist:

It follows his spectacular defense of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in one of the finest ever moments of statesmanship ever seen on the Senate floor:

"Boy, y'all want power, and I hope you never get it."

Graham was in fine form in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham yesterday, too (the Fox "share" function doesn't seem to be working, so just click):

"That's not advise and consent, it's despicable. It's gonna blow up in your face, hope it does, because it was wrong…"

"What y'all have done is b-------."

On Democrats: "It's not about what they like, it's who they hate."

Or this:

"Boo yourselves."

Up until his amazing transformation, Graham had been the most annoying man in the Senate, except for maybe his buddy Sen. John McCain.  For a while there, the two were inseparable.  This may be part and parcel of his home state's affection for McCain because of his military record.  Who knows?  In this piece I wrote in 2017, I cited a long litany of simply impossible things he was calling for, which were generally McCain agenda things – on obscure foreign policy topics, a subject he just doesn't seem to have been suited for.

Put him in front of the courts, and defending an innocent man, and he's a different person, the single most effective defender of Kavanaugh, a senator who probably literally turned the sentiment of the nation toward the nominee and, incredibly, united the Republican Party.  Cripes, even the New York Times' Master NeverTrump conservative, Bret Stephens, is onboard.  Stephens is, gulp, saying, "For once, I'm grateful for Trump."  Those other NeverTrumps I wrote about yesterday are on board, too.

And he's funny and folksy and quick-witted as hell, showing a stunning talent for television, similar to President Trump.  Graham could be loved for that alone, yet he's so much more.

Here's the other funny thing: he's baffling the left.  Here is Jake Tapper stroking his chin on TV, wondering about Graham's transformation and The Atlantic getting all deep and serious about how it could happen in a piece titled "What Happened to Lindsey Graham?"

The befuddlement of the left is an amusing thing.  Get a grip, boys.

Do we love ourselves some Lindsey?  I think this guy is going to be able to get anything he wants now that he's on this track.  Let's get some more of this new, improved Lindsey, as seen on TV!

Image credit: Fox News screen grab.