U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reiterated his usual talking points during a press conference at Charleston’s Marriott Hotel, defending his commitment to vote against the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, speaking out against Russia and declaring the inevitability of a wave of Republican victories in the midterms the likes of which hasn’t been seen in modern history.
One surprising mention, however, was Graham’s seeming support of the medical marijuana legislation moving through the S.C. House of Representatives. The Senate-passed Compassionate Care Act, which legalizes medical marijuana, has both supporters and opposition on both sides of the aisle in the statehouse. But the legislation, originally passed by the Senate in February, had been lying dormant until Thursday, when members of the S.C. House took it up for the first time.
“I’m not for legalizing marijuana as a concept, but medical marijuana … seems to have some value,” Graham said. “People who are suffering from cancer and other illnesses — there is evidence that it is helpful. And the medical marijuana idea, I would be open to it. I would leave it up to the state as to what they would like to do in that space, but I do see some legitimacy to medical marijuana.”
At the same time, Republican candidate for the U.S. Congressional 1st District Katie Arrington, who challenges incumbent Nancy Mace, has attacked Mace over her support for marijuana legislation — though Mace recently voted against the recent marijuana measure.
Graham spoke at length about the Supreme Court nomination of federal appellate court judge Jackson, who he supported just last year when she was appointed to her current position.
“This is different than any other job in the judiciary,” he said. “A Supreme Court justice actually can make and mold the law. I found that during her time on the bench, she was an activist judge … you take the plain meaning of the law and you turn it upside down to get the result you want.”
“I did not feel bound by my previous support at the circuit court level because it’s a new game with new rules, as Joe Biden said when he was in a similar situation,” Graham added.
Graham also mentioned the upcoming midterm elections at the national level, where he believes the Republican Party stands to gain more ground than they have in one election cycle since 1994.
“As a Republican, I have never seen such a wave building,” he said. “Everything Joe Biden has touched has crumbled. We had the most secure border in the last four years when he came in office, now we have the highest number of illegal immigrants in the history of the country with no end in sight. Policy matters.”
“What’s missing for the Republican Party? A positive agenda … it is not enough to just point out the failures of the Democratic Party,” Graham said. “We have to put on the table a positive agenda of how we would secure the border, how we would regain energy independence, what we would do about a dangerous world.”
On Ukraine, Graham said it is shameful that the men and women “fighting like tigers” for their country still have not been given the military support they requested. He also warned that how the war in Ukraine ends will have a dramatic impact around the world, saying that should Putin still be left standing, China could see the invasion of Ukraine as a dress rehearsal for its invasion of Taiwan.
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