Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says he plans to support the Republican nominee for president in 2016 but that if the nominee is Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton would be able to “tear him apart” on foreign policy.
“I would vote for the nominee of my party, because they [had] been able to prove fellow Republicans that their view of the world was right — that’s not a dilemma I’m going to face,” Mr. Graham said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead.” “Rand Paul and I actually agree on a lot of domestic issues like saving Social Security and Medicare, but on foreign policy, we’re … worlds apart.”
“If he did get the nomination, I think she would be able to tear him apart because his view of foreign policy is one step behind leading from behind,” Mr. Graham said. “At the end of the day, the average American sees radical Islam as a threat much greater than the NSA.”
Mr. Graham has made foreign policy a key point of distinction between himself and Mr. Paul in the 2016 race for the GOP presidential nomination.
But Mr. Paul’s team has pointed to past polling that shows the Kentucky senator running closest to Mrs. Clinton in head-to-head match-ups, which was the case in a CNN/ORC survey released this week in which Mrs. Clinton led Mr. Paul by 1 point, 48 percent to 47 percent.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.