November 11, 2015

Lindsey Graham Got Booted From the GOP Debates, So He Went Online and Drank Wine Instead

He posed such important questions as “why do we got a British guy asking questions?”

Matt Baron/REX Shutterstock

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Sen. Lindsey Graham’s quick wit and unapologetically hawkish stances made him a darling of the GOP undercard debates, but his falling poll numbers meant he was barred from the stage on Tuesday night. Both he and former New York Gov. George Pataki were booted from the debate stage altogether after their averages in national polls fell below 1 percent.

The senator from South Carolina instead held court on Sidewire, a newly released app that serves as a kind of distilled version of political Twitter. There, he posted his own commentary on the debate and fielded questions from the political journalists, analysts, and campaign staffers who populate the app. Here were the best moments of his solo pseudo-debate:

1. Didn’t we fight a war about this? When debate moderator Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal began speaking, Graham didn’t take to Baker’s English accent.

2. It’s all in the details. Carly Fiorina brought up her proposal for a three-page tax plan to replace the current, much longer version of the tax code. But Graham requested an important clarification.

3. Sick burn, bro. Inevitably, Graham’s longtime friend and campaign trail buddy, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, showed up on Sidewire to offer support for Graham. In return, Graham warned his 79-year-old colleague not to miss his bedtime.

 

 

On the whole, Graham seemed to enjoy kicking back and lobbing answers and one-liners from his computer:

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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