Graham stands out in second-tier debate

Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham stood out in Wednesday’s second-tier debate, using wit and occasional salty language to get his points heard. 

Graham, the South Carolina senator who is running at near zero percent in national polls, created several “moments” that are already being replayed by CNBC, the TV network hosting the debates. 

{mosads}The underdog’s most memorable line of the night — “Make me commander in chief and this crap stops” — came after a tirade against what he described as the foreign policy failures of President Obama and his former secretary of State, Democrat presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Graham also got laughter and applause when he attacked Clinton for saying she was “dead broke” after eight years in the White House, as well as when he suggested Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist, never returned from his honeymoon in the Soviet Union.

It is unclear, though, whether Graham did enough to get the significant bump in the polls he would need to be elevated to the prime-time debate stage. He similarly deployed his humor to good effect in the last GOP debate, but it did nothing for his polling. 

None of the three other Republicans participating in the undercard debate — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former New York Gov. George Pataki — had a clear breakout moment.

The conversation took an interesting turn when the moderators asked about climate change – a topic hardly discussed in the two Republican debates held before tonight. 

Pataki took the unusual step of criticizing his own party for denying climate change.

“One of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous that in the 21st century we are questioning vaccines. … It’s uncontroverted,” Pataki added.

As Pataki said this, Santorum, who was standing beside the former New York governor, was shaking his head.

Graham also defended his belief that humans contribute to climate change, a position embraced almost unanimously by scientists. 

“I’m not a scientist. I have the grades to prove it,” Graham said. “I just want a solution that would be good for the economy that doesn’t destroy it.”