BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Jill.

Let's talk about this and more with Lindsey Graham.

He's a key member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He's joining us from Capitol Hill.

Was it wise to pick Egypt, Senator Graham, for the location for this historic speech tomorrow?

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I don't know. I really enjoyed listening to that speech. It's made me wonder. Turkey is a more of a democracy -- Indonesia. But Egypt has its problems. Maybe something good can come from it. The only problem I've got is the way the administration has basically highlighted the differences with Israel about the settlements. I don't think that's been very helpful, quite frankly.

BLITZER: I want to talk to that -- to you about that in a moment. But the decision to go to Saudi Arabia and meet with the Saudi king, Abdullah first -- that's what he's been doing all day today.

Do you have a problem with that?

GRAHAM: No, because they're players. I mean, if we're ever going to solve this problem, we've got to get Arab -- moderate Arab Sunni states to stand up against Iran. That's a problem. And if we're ever going to have a peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, you're going to need all the players working together.

So it makes perfect sense that he would stop there.

BLITZER: All right. Let's -- let's talk a little bit about what you raised. Some are suggesting he's squeezing the Israelis -- the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an interview with Tom Freedman in the "New York Times," the president said this -- he said, "Stop saying one thing behind closed doors and saying something else publicly."

What's wrong, if anything, in your opinion, with the president of the United States urging the Israelis to freeze settlement activity and accept a two-state solution -- Israel living alongside a new state of Palestine?

GRAHAM: Well, there's a -- if you're going to look at the problems that exist. Let's talk about rockets coming into Israel. Let's talk about Hamas activities. Let's talk about Iran's influence in the Palestinian territories.

I mean, the point is that he has created, publicly -- sometimes things need to be said behind closed doors, because it fuels the fire that there is a moral equivalency between what is happening against Israel, and what Israel is doing.

I don't think there's a moral equivalency. The settlement issue is not nearly the same as 10,000 rockets landing on kids.

BLITZER: So what do -- what would you -- what would you prefer the president do?

GRAHAM: To pursue a two-state solution and find ways, behind closed doors and publicly, to restart negotiations. Challenge the Palestinian people to make up their minds as to which way they want to go. You've got one part of Palestine under Prime Minister Abbas. You've got another part controlled by Hamas.

Challenge the Israelis to stop expanding settlements, but do it even-handedly and get other actors involved, like the Chinese and the Russians and Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Try to put together a new coalition, start over and go back to the road map. The road map was a pretty good document. Let's get back on track.

BLITZER: All right. Let's talk a little bit about Sonia Sotomayor.

You had a chance to meet with the Supreme Court justice nominee today. When you were out on TV on Sunday, you said she should apologize for those comments about being a Latina woman and having -- being able -- better able to make a decision on judicial matters than a white man.

GRAHAM: Correct.

BLITZER: Did she apologize to you?

GRAHAM: Well, I'm going to let her speak to that. We had a very good meeting. She traditionally doesn't comment. Nominees do not comment before their hearing. I don't want to put words in her mouth. I'm sure she'll talk about that.

It was a good meeting. She's a nice person -- good character, very sincere. There are some questions about her temperament from lawyers that appeared before her. I've got some questions about some of her judicial decisions and her philosophy.

I told her this very directly -- that if I apply the standard that President Obama used as Senator Obama in the Alito/Roberts confirmation, I could not vote for her. If I applied a Ginsburg/Scalia standard, where both of them got 96, 98 votes, and she did well at the hearings, I could.

I've got to decide what is the Senate going to do now and in the future?

And President Obama is basically asking me to do something he wasn't able to do. And I've got to decide what's best for my party, what's best for the country, what's best for the Senate.

BLITZER: Are you happy Newt Gingrich changed his mind...

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: ...about calling her a racist?

GRAHAM: yes, because she's clearly not. She's lived a very rich, full life. The people who've worked with her throughout different jobs have nothing but nice things to say about her. And, yes, that's inappropriate.

But the comment that you mentioned before, she should have, in my opinion, apologized, because her experiences are real and will potentially make the court better, but it doesn't help to say that it makes her superior to someone else. That's going too far.

BLITZER: And Lindsey Graham is on the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee.

We'll be hearing from you a lot in the coming weeks.

Thanks very much for coming in.

GRAHAM: Thank you, Wolf.