What Lindsey Graham lacked in poll numbers, he made up for with jokes, wisecracks and occasionally saucy one-liners.
The senior senator from South Carolina dropped out of the GOP presidential campaign on Monday morning, telling supporters, “this is not my time.”
Graham’s good friend John McCain paid tribute to his ally’s cheeky speaking style, saying in a statement, “Republicans lost our most qualified, thoughtful, fearless and honest presidential candidate, not to mention the candidate with the best (and it seemed sometimes the only) sense of humor.”
Here are Graham’s 10 most memorable lines from his spirited, if ultimately doomed, 2016 run:
“ISIL would be dancing in the streets, they just don’t believe in dancing.”
— On what would (or would not) happen if Trump won in 2016, at the third GOP debate in Las Vegas on Dec. 15.
“Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you’re not willing to do that, we’ve got to come up with a new legal immigration system.”
— On why legal immigration was important and should be reformed, at the second GOP debate undercard in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16.
“On our side, you’ve got the No. 2 guy tried to kill someone at 14, and the No. 1 guy is high energy and crazy as hell … How am I losing to these people?”
— Handicapping the front-runners, and himself, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Oct. 26.
“The greatest character in Bond history was Pussy Galore, she was like, incredibly talented … Just her attitude toward life.”
— Discussing movies with CNN’s Kate Bolduan in an interview from Dec. 14.
“I’ve got a lot of friends. We’ll have a rotating first lady.”
— Graham, a bachelor, discusses White House companionship in a DailyMail.com interview published June 9.
“I wasn’t the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I’ve ever spent in any library.”
— On his studies, or lack thereof, at the Univ. of South Carolina law school, during the second GOP debate undercard in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 16.
“Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. Princess Buttercup would not like this.”
— On Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s foreign policy and affection for quoting from “The Princess Bride,” during the Dec. 15 undercard debate in Las Vegas.
“If I’m President, we’re going to drink more.”
— On how he might improve inter-party relations, during a stop at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 17.
“I can remember Fred. His wife called one night [to the bar] when I was about eight years old, and I answered the phone and his wife asked, ‘Is Fred there?’ So I ran up and said, ‘Fred, your wife wants to know if you are here.’ He said, ‘Tell her I am not here.’ So I went back and said, ‘He said he was not here.’ So I learned diplomacy at an early age.”
— On an early test of his diplomatic metal, during a “Politics and Eggs” gathering on March 9 in Bedford, New Hampshire.
“You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.”
— Laying into his favorite target, Donald Trump (and his campaign slogan), on CNN’s Dec. 8 edition of “New Day.”