Lindsey Graham‘s poorly timed announcement of a nationwide abortion ban is continuing to face criticism from his fellow conservatives. Following Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court, Republican candidates across the country saw their chances of victory take a significant hit as Democrats and independents mobilized to protect abortion access. The GOP had been avoiding the hot topic by leaving it up to the states to decide, but Graham’s proposal blew a massive hole in that plan less than two months before the midterms.
Graham stopped by Fox News on Wednesday night to defend the bill, but instead, he found himself being grilled by Jesse Watters who blasted Graham for knocking inflation out of the headlines.
“This is terrible timing, terrible tactics,” Watters said. “We could’ve shoved this down on their throat on the day Americans got hammered with this inflation number and the market crashing. And now all the media and the Democrats are talking about is federal abortion ban, federal abortion ban. You know that’s not smart politics, right?”
After Graham argued that there’s “no bad time to defend the unborn,” the two had a testy exchange to close out the segment. Via Mediaite:
The host wrapped up the interview by telling Graham, “I respect your opinion. Like I said, timing was off and timing is everything. Senator, thank you so much.”
“Tell that to the baby,” the senator quipped.
“I hear you,” the host replied. “I’m just talking raw politics.”
Graham’s less than sympathetic reception at Fox News arrives on the heels of his Republican colleagues throwing him under the bus for going rogue on the abortion issue. Mitch McConnell stuck to the initial GOP talking point that the abortion issue should be handled on the state level while Senator John Cornyn made it clear that Graham is on his own with this one. “That wasn’t a conference decision. It was an individual senator’s decision,” he told Politico.
(Via Mediaite)