Hannity Called Out After Defending Darline Graham For Same Thing He Slammed AOC For
Fox News’s Sean Hannity, the longest-serving host on cable news, raised some eyebrows this week after his Wednesday night interview with Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) was compared to an attack he launched on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) earlier in the year.
Critics were quick to highlight that Graham, the sister of late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) who is running to keep his seat, was thrown a lifeline by Hannity after she botched a debate question on Taiwan – the very same subject Hannity ripped AOC for not having a better answer on.
Earlier in the week, during a GOP runoff debate for the South Carolina Senate seat, Darline Graham said, “I’m not that informed on national security,” while brushing off a question about U.S. policy toward Taiwan and China.
“So this issue of Taiwan came up last night and I know people have made a big deal about it. And 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,” Hannity told Graham, bringing up the controversy.
“I tripped up on one question last night regarding Taiwan,” Graham replied. “But, you know, I have said many times, I’m not a politician. Certainly not a career politician. I don’t speak politician. I was just honest, and I think that’s kind of a foreign concept.”
Hannity replied, noting, “To be fair, if people want to judge you on the South China Sea and Taiwan, ok, I think that’s fair. But I bet, based on all your time with your brother, that you know probably everything about the Middle East because he went on one trip after another to every country in the Middle East. And I know you know a lot about Europe and the Ukraine-Russia situation because he went to Ukraine more than any other senator.”
Hannity’s exchange with Graham on her foreign policy flub was quickly contrasted online in a supercut put together by online clipper Acyn Torabi.
In February, Hannity jabbed AOC over her answer at the Munich Security Conference on whether or not the U.S. should commit troops to defend Taiwan from China.
“Wow, even worse than Hillary [Clinton], though, radical squad leader AOC simply could not answer basic questions about global affairs,” he said before playing a clip of AOC’s response. “This is about as close to a Kamala Harris ‘word salad’ as you’ll ever get. Take a listen.”
AOC replied at the time, “You know, I think that uh this is such a — you know, I think that this is a — this is, of course, a very long-standing policy of the United States. And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point.”
Hannity offered additional details to Mediaite through a spokesperson: “For context, Darline was asked by both the President of our country and her state’s Governor to serve before she even had a chance to mourn or even bury the brother who raised her from the age of 13. She agreed to finish the job that was Lindsey’s passion. Anyone that expects her to be up to speed on every single issue involving the complicated world we all live in is applying a ridiculous and unfair standard. She was very clear in her interview with me that unlike Lindsey, her priorities are kitchen table issues that will impact the people of South Carolina.”
Watch above.
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