Although he didn't have the chance to participate in the fourth GOP debate Tuesday night, GOP presidential candidate Lindsey Graham says he is not ready to be counted out of the primary as he didn't see enough leadership on the debate stages.
"Leadership is what I'm looking for. We had some articulate candidates, we have differences about the minimum wage with our Democratic friends. But the one thing I didn't hear last night was a plan to destroy ISIL," Graham, referring to the Islamic State, said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Wednesday morning. "Donald has got a bad deal in the making, he's wiling to leave [Syrian President Bashar Assad] in power. Nobody has embraced the idea of how to destroy them on the ground."
"A no-fly zone is a good start," he added, "but when are our people [going to] realize that you can't destroy ISIL from the air, but you need troops on the ground in Syria. And if you don't realize that, you're not ready for that job."
The South Carolina senator didn't reach the critical 1 percent in the polls to make the undercard Republican debate on Tuesday night. The majority of his small voting base comprises voters who ascribe to his hawkish foreign policy views. During his Wednesday morning interview, Graham also called the Islamic State "equal to Nazis and in many ways worse," warning that "they're coming here if we don't stop them there." Although his message is not resonating in the polls, Graham plans to spread his ideas through traditional retail politics.
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