Sen. Lindsey Graham used two Fox News appearances yesterday to fundraise for his senate re-election campaign and the hosts were just fine with that.
Graham’s first Fox fundraiser was on Fox & Friends. Sure, it was embedded into a news discussion. Graham said his “goal” is to get Trump’s Supreme Court nominee (we've since learned it's extremist Amy Coney Barrett) on the court by Election day. Not one of the three cohosts, including “tough journalist” “not in the tank for anyone” Ainsley Earhardt, brought up Graham’s 2016 vow:
"I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination."
Then, after a round of pretending there’s a “Hunterghazi” scandal, Graham made his pitch for cash.
Graham is in a tighter-than-expected re-election campaign. Although FiveThirtyEight rates Graham as favored to win, a recent Quinnipiac poll has him tied with challenger Jaime Harrison. Politico reported, “Harrison has outraised and outspent Graham in every fundraising period this year.”
Twice on Thursday, Graham used appearances on Fox News to raise money. In the morning, on Fox & Friends, Graham whined, “My opponent raised six million dollars. I’m being outspent 4-1, outraised 5-1." He gave out the name of his website, adding, "if you want to help me close the gap, I need some help.”
Graham called the upcoming Supreme Court hearings “the Super Bowl of politics.” Without irony or challenge, he complained, “The double standard is stunning.” He continued whining that liberal nominees “get treated with kid gloves and that if Hunter Biden had been a Republican, the whole world would be blowing up right now.’
“Forty eight percent of the people who gave money to ActBlue [a fundraising vehicle for progressives] were unemployed in 2019,” Graham said, emphasizing that there's a groundswell of opposition. “This is a vehicle to get low dollar donations.”
Then Graham really got out his violin and begging cup. “I’m being killed financially. This money is because they hate my guts,” Graham continued. “I stood up for Kavanaugh. … The wrath of the left is coming down on me.”
He urged viewers to go to his website, adding, "five or ten bucks goes a long way if enough people would do it.” As Politico noted, Graham made a similar plea for donations on Hannity that night.
You can watch Graham beg for cash below, from the September 24, 2020 Fox & Friends. You can donate to Jaime Harrison here.
We can only hope that Harrison picks up enough momentum to send Graham to the Heritage Foundation or the Federalist Society as of January.