Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) was buried in mockery after fumbling an answer on foreign policy – her late brother's core issue – during a Republican Senate debate.
The recently appointed senator was asked during the debate Tuesday night whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea, and the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham was unable to answer.
“I’m just going to be honest here — I’m not on national security,” she said. “I’m not that informed on national security, but I do support the military.”
“National security is not my thing," she added.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), her opponent in the GOP primary runoff election, pounced on Graham's answer after the debate.
"She's running for the United States Senate," he said. "It's a six-year term. You need to get, you need to get fully versed in what issues you're going to be dealing with. This isn't a trained, you know, getting trained on the job."
Others were less diplomatic online.
Quipped humorist Paul Rudnick, "In a debate Darline Graham admitted she doesn't know anything about national security, 'But I often saw my brother Lindsey in the company of soldiers sometimes in swimwear.'"
"This is painful to watch," winced Reason's Billy Binion. “'Being related to a former lawmaker is not a qualification for the Senate."
"Often when you have a mistake like this, it's in a moment, you're rushed, you're tired – that's not what this is," observed former congresswoman Katie Porter on CNN. "This might be just dumb! Ralph Norman is not the sharpest tool in the shed either."
"Yeah if this is your answer, you are not qualified to be a US Senator," opined Democratic influencer Adam Cochran. "This is why party approved nepotism has no place in US politics."
"Back in the day, Sen. Kennedy said of Lindsey Graham 'if you want to stump Lindsey, ask him to name a country he wouldn't bomb,'" recalled journalist Eric Michael Garcia. "The fact his sister didn't know this and just offered a perfunctory line that 'I support the military' reveals how out of her depth she is."
"Not sure how to feel about this," sighed history teacher Ashley Duffany. "On one hand, I'm horrified she's running for Senate and unfamiliar with NatSec issues... especially basic ones like this. On the other hand, I'm just glad she admitted the truth! Low bar these days."
"Remember that SNL skit with Chevy Chase satirizing Gerald Ford by saying, 'It was my understanding that there would be no math'?" asked Grant Stern of Occupy Democrats. "Well, Darline Graham just did it in the South Carolina Republican Senate debate. In real life."
"I'd like to congratulate Darlene Graham on her new title as 'South Carolina candidate with worst answer on international issues,'" clapped Mike Nelson of The Dispatch, adding a photo of the Miss Teen USA contestant who provided an infamously jumbled answer about geography. "Nobody thought the old champ could be unseated."