I’ve been watching Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination hearings, have you? I hope you have better things to do with your time. I watch them so you don’t have to.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) has become the star of these proceedings due to his determination to be as quotable as possible. He told Sotomayor a couple of days ago that she would be confirmed, barring a complete “meltdown.” Now, a couple of people have said that that remark was sexist, that he would have never said that to a man. OK, maybe they’re right, but aren’t we ignoring the greater issue here? What is the point of having these hearings if the only way that someone doesn’t get the job is if there is wailing and gnashing of teeth?
Graham had another quotable moment yesterday. The blogosphere is falling all over itself to congratulate him, and I’ll give it to him, he did sound pretty damned snappy.
“GRAHAM: Well, I don’t know how else you could take that. If Lindsey Graham said that I will make a better senator than X, because of my experience as a Caucasian male makes me better able to represent the people of South Carolina, and my opponent was a minority, it would make national news, and it should.
Having said that, I am not going to judge you by that one statement. I just hope you’ll appreciate the world in which we live in, that you can say those things, meaning to inspire somebody, and still have a chance to get on the Supreme Court.
Others could not remotely come close to that statement and survive. Whether that’s right or wrong, I think that’s a fact.
GRAHAM: Does that make sense to you?
SOTOMAYOR: It does. And I would hope that we’ve come in America to the place where we can look at a statement that could be misunderstood, and consider it in the context of the person’s life.
(CROSSTALK)
GRAHAM: You know what? If that comes of this hearing, the hearing has been worth it all, that some people deserve a second chance when they misspeak and you would look at the entire life story to determine whether this is an aberration or just a reflection of your real soul. If that comes from this hearing, then we’ve probably done the country some good.” link
Tell ‘em what your name is, Senator Graham. But, does he deserve any snaps for his performance? I say NAY! He already said he’d vote for her barring a meltdown. What say YOU?
