Lindsey Graham and George Pataki Punted From GOP Undercard Debate

pataki and graham

Lindsey and George, we hardly knew ye.

Out are Senator Lindsey Graham, John McCain’s Mini-Me, and former New York Governor George Pataki.

Next week’s GOP presidential undercard debate just lost its best comic.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham did not make the cut for the early debate Tuesday in Milwaukee on Fox Business News after failing to win 1 percent of support in four recent polls.

The Seneca, S.C., Republican was declared the winner of two previous undercard debates, scoring points with his humor and wit. During a California debate, Graham suggested Republicans and Democrats needed to drink more to solve their differences.

Graham’s campaign was unhappy that one of the polls used to determine the debate field, NBC/The Wall Street Journal, listed just 10 GOP candidates, rather than the full 15-candidate field, including the senator. The Wall Street Journal is co-hosting the debate next week with Fox Business.

“It is ironic that the only veteran in the race is going to be denied a voice the day before Veterans Day,” Graham campaign manager Christian Ferry said.

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This is long overdue. I don’t know what part of the GOP primary voter demographic Graham appeals to and neither do the voters. Allegedly, Graham brings some foreign policy gravitas to the stage but quite honestly, Graham’s pontificating on foreign policy from a position of never having to do anything about it doesn’t make him any more of an authority than, say, me. In fact, when I look at what I write and listen to Graham, I have no doubt that I feel much safer based on my views than his.

Pataki, who was duking it out for the Jeb-Bush-John-Kasich voters and therefore had a candidacy that at least made sense, didn’t even rate an comment in even the New York media.

Of course, liberals are upset:

This is absurd. The only reason anyone wants Lindsey Graham in the race is because they want the field to stay as large as possible to further their narrative of GOP-in-disarray. As the voters start to coalesce around the top four candidates we can expect more wailing from the media over how flawed the debates are… something we haven’t heard expressed over the quality of the moderation thus far.

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