Rare News Desk
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is slated to debate his South Carolina Republican primary opponents for the first time at an event three days before the June 10th election.
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Graham will face the following six Republican challengers as he seeks re-election to a third term. Pastor Det Bowers, S.C. Sen. Lee Bright (R-Spartanburg), local businessman Richard Cash, attorneys Bill Connor and Benjamin Dunn, and public relations executive Nancy Mace.
These six challengers have participated in candidate forums across the state and, according to The State, “Graham’s absence from those forums has drawn ire from some of his opponents.”
Graham is a good debater, so it should be interesting to see how he defends some of the material that will inevitably be thrown his way.
First on the docket should be his history of voting, which includes: Voting in favor of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Patriot Act, TARP, increasing of the federal minimum wage, the Internet Regulation Bill, raising of the debt ceiling (six times), and supporting the appointments of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
Graham also has a history of making non-conservative remarks regarding constitutional rights and other issues, which Freedomworks’ Julie Borowski recently compiled.
On Syria: “The world is literally about to blow up and our president did not really paint a fair picture of the threats we face.”
On climate change: “We agree that climate change is real and threatens our economy and national security. That is why we are advocating aggressive reductions in our emissions of the carbon gases that cause climate change.”
On TARP: “I think TARP I was necessary because the whole economy was going to collapse and Bernanke, Paulson, and everybody that I know and quite frankly trust, after Lehman brothers went down, that if we had not involved ourselves quickly you’d have a financial meltdown.”
On the First Amendment: “Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.”
On drone strikes and Rand Paul’s filibuster thereof: “[Rand Paul]’s saying now that he wants this President to tell him that he will not use a drone to kill an American citizen sitting in a café having a cup of coffee, who is not a combatant. I find the question offensive. As much as I disagree with President Obama, as much as I support past presidents, I do not believe that question deserves an answer.”
On NSA-type data collection: “I’m a Verizon customer. I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States. I don’t think you’re talking to the terrorists. I know you’re not. I know I’m not. So we don’t have anything to worry about.”
The June 7th debate will be broadcast live on ETV-HD, scetv.org and participating local South Carolina news websites.
