Sen. Linsey Graham (R-SC) has been friends with former Vice President Joe Biden (D) for roughly two decades and in a Tuesday virtual town hall, Graham called the Democratic presidential nominee a “fine and decent fellow” but also warned that he considers Biden to be a “figurehead of the most radical movement in American history.”
A constituent asked Graham, “I saw a commercial of you praising Joe Biden, what’s up with that?”
The South Carolina lawmaker said, “I like Joe Biden, I’ve been friends with Joe for about twenty-something years. He spoke at Senator Thurman’s funeral when Senator Thurman passed.”
He added that Biden is a “fine, decent fellow” and said that the clip that went around of him praising Biden “was out when I was running for president. Joe’s son … Beau died and I knew Beau pretty well, he served over in Afghanistan and Joe Biden’s had a lot of personal tragedies, so I will never say a bad word about Joe Biden as a person. I just don’t think he’s the right guy to be president.”
Graham continued, “He is in my view a figurehead of the most radical movement in American history, that’s coming from AOC and that crowd. And so my differences with Joe Biden are political and they’re real, they’re wide and they’re deep. But he’s a fine man.”
https://twitter.com/AlexThomas/status/1283099172867014656?s=20
The clip that Graham is referring to is likely one cut in mid-June in which he said, “If you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, then it’s probably, you got a problem. You need to do some self-evaluation.”
He added in the clip, “Cause, what’s not to like? He is as good a man as God ever created, he said some of the most incredibly heartfelt things that anybody could ever say to me. He’s the nicest person I think I’ve ever met in politics.”
Here’s that clip:
NEW: Republican Voters Against Trump Ad running in SC/NC/DC.@lindseygrahamSC on @JoeBiden: "as good a man as God ever created."
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 12, 2020
WATCH & SHARE #LGLovesJoe pic.twitter.com/qyWCSccfXZ
The ad, which was commissioned by the group Republican Voters Against Trump, ran the ad in Washington, D.C., and in South Carolina.
