Darline Graham Defends Disastrous Debate Performance to Sean Hannity: ‘I Don’t Speak Politician’

South Carolina’s Sen. Darline Graham (R) defended her headline-making debate performance — in which she blurted out “I’m not that informed on national security” — by insisting she was just “being honest.”

Graham, 62, was appointed to finish out her brother Lindsey Graham’s term after the elder’s sudden July 11 death at age 71, and is running for a shot at the full term this fall after being endorsed by President Donald Trump.

While Lindsey Graham was a well-known foreign policy hawk who spent decades in Congress, his sister tried to backpedal during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, telling anchor Sean Hannity she’s “not a politician”:

SEAN HANNITY: So this issue of Taiwan came up last night, and I know people have made a big deal about it. I’m like, I wonder how many people around the country if I gave them a map could pick out Taiwan. I don’t think many, I mean, whole country. Never mind South Carolina.

DARLINE GRAHAM: Right. I think you’re 100 percent right, Sean, and, you know, I tripped up on one question last night, regarding Taiwan.

But, you know, I have said many times, I’m not a politician. Certainly not a career politician. I don’t speak politician. You know I was just honest, and I think that’s kind of a foreign concept but I talked to several people today.

I traveled around the state, and they said, you know, we appreciated the fact that you were honest, and I did say several times that, you know, China is our enemy, our military and economic threat to the United States.

Of course, Taiwan is our friend. But I think people in South Carolina are more worried about making ends meet. They are concerned about boys in girls sports.

One lady talked to me extensively about that today. They are concerned about the Second Amendment. They are concerned about the SAVE America act. Illegal immigration. So they are concerned about a lot of other things other than Taiwan.

Hannity then went on to suggest Graham “probably” knows “everything about the Middle East” because of Lindsey Graham’s frequent trips to the region, adding, “And I know you know a lot about Europe and the Ukraine-Russia situation because he went to Ukraine more than any other senator.”

Graham’s major flub came when moderator and Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren asked, “Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States? If so, why?”

Van Susteren later claimed on her Newsmax show The Record that she wished she hadn’t asked the question and slammed the media for covering the story.

“The media thinks that this one question is so important to only talk about that and ignore the other 19 questions, which are 40 answers. The ad nauseam repeating and replaying today of one answer by Sen. Darline Graham makes the media look bad. That was certainly not her entire contribution to last night’s debate.”

Watch above via Fox.

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