Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday said he has “no doubt” Barack Obama loves his country, although he does believe the President has divided Americans.
Graham was asked on ABC’s “This Week” to respond to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s (R) accusation that Obama doesn’t “love America.”
“Well, I love Rudy, but I don’t want to go there,” Graham said. “The nation’s very divided. President Obama has divided us more than he’s brought us together and I don’t want to add to that division.”
“I have no doubt that he loves his country,” he added. “I have no doubt that he’s a patriot. But his primary job as president of the United States is to defend this country and he’s failing miserably.”
Several potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders have addressed Giuliani’s comments in recent days.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who was present at the private dinner where Giuliani originally said that he didn’t believe the President “loves America,” initially declined to say whether or not he agreed with the former mayor. He later told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he didn’t “really know” whether Obama loved his country or not because he’d never discussed the matter with the President.
Graham’s response was more in agreement with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), all of whom said questioning Obama’s policies was fair game while questioning his “motives” or patriotism was not.
This post has been updated.
