He directly challenged Romney’s suggestion that the conflict in Afghanistan was a war of independence, and added: “From the party’s point of view, the biggest disaster would be to let Barack Obama become Ronald Reagan and our people become Jimmy Carter.”

Graham was not alone in his skepticism about Romney. Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), a senior Republican member of the Armed Services Committee, also voiced dismay with the former Massachusetts governor’s characterization of the Afghan war…

“Mitt is — I’ll tell you the mistake he’s making — he’s trying the old big-tent routine; it never works,” Inhofe said. “He doesn’t understand the situation if he thinks that’s what this is about; this has nothing to do with independence.”