Politics Can Be Brutal

Antonin Scalia

Saturday night, I heard about the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Immediately, a thought came to my mind: How soon would it be before the sides started to jockey for political positioning.

Well, it did not take long. The death of Justice Scalia has major stakes, politically speaking. While the sides balance sympathy for the Scalia family, it was all too inevitable that the sides (liberal and conservative, alike) would begin to battle.

But, honestly, the idea that replacing Justice Scalia should wait until there's a new president, nearly 11 months from now, is ridiculous. Join us in reality, here.

Honestly, though, people need to straight-up chill. The man just passed away and both sides are already fighting about a replacement that has not even be announced. But, in this day of hyper partisanship, should we really be all that surprised?

I was not and am not surprised.

No one should be surprised.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: We’re Not Going To Be A Party Of Angry White Guys

Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the more mild Republicans, is coming under heat for being considered a moderate by those on the far right. Sen. Graham is fast becoming a victim of the runaway freight train of conservatism that is flat-out steamrolling everything in its path.

Here is an excerpt from The State (South Carolina):

GREENVILLE – An often clamorous crowd blasted, grilled and occasionally cheered Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in a town hall meeting Monday that centered on health care reform but returned repeatedly to his positions on climate change, judicial appointees and immigration.

Graham returned the fire with a grin, at times shouting over his most boisterous critics and telling some who questioned his Christianity and party loyalty that their minority conservative views wouldn’t succeed without the political coalitions he said are necessary to serve the majority of Americans and attract enough votes in Congress.

“If you don’t like it, you can leave,” he said.

The 75-minute forum filled several sections of Furman University’s Timmons Arena and attracted demonstrators, critics with handheld cameras, shouts of “traitor” and “Sotomayor” – and a smattering of supporters.

Some did.

Here is a comment Sen. Graham later made to the angry crowd:

GRAHAM: We’re not going to be the party of angry white guys.

That did not go over well. Republicans, with these tea baggers and townhall nuts have created a monster that is spiraling out of control with anger.

See for yourself:
http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/981753.html

Sen. Lindsey Graham Wisely Distances Himself From Glenn Beck’s Freak Show

Face it, Glenn Beck has been a true freak show for quite some time, but he does have his following. It seems some Republicans are finally working to distance themselves and the GOP from the loud lunacy of men like Beck, who has become (in the eyes of many) the new face of the conservative wing of the political spectrum. The problem is that Beck is so far to the right of the mainstream that he needs a chartered airline flight to get to the middle. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), speaking on Fox News Sunday, had some less-than-kind words for Beck.

GRAHAM: No, I’m not saying he’s bad for America. You got the freedom to watch him if you choose. He did a pretty good job on ACORN. What I am saying, he doesn’t represent the Republican Party. You can listen to him if you like. I choose not to because, quite frankly, I don’t — I don’t want to go down the road of thinking our best days are behind us. We need to act decisively.

People are genuinely upset with how much money we’re spending up here. But at the end of the day, when a person says he represents conservatism and that the country’s better off with Barack Obama than John McCain, that sort of ends the debate for me as to how much more I’m going to listen. So he has a right to say what he wants to say. In my view, it’s not the kind of political analysis that I buy into.

I don’t agree with Graham a lot, politically, but I do agree with him on Beck (even though I think he could speak out even stronger against Beck, Rush Limbaugh and other extremists on the right).

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/04/graham-beck-fox/

Media Matters Notes Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Continuous Use Of Anonymous Sources To Advance Sexist Stereotypes

There is a time and place for anonymous sources in journalism. But, in general, anonymous sources do bring into question the reasoning behind the anonymity. For that, among other reasons, it’s generally best to avoid anonymous sources if at all possible. It’s especially wise to avoid anonymous sources when those sources are slamming a person and, as is the case with Judge Sonia Sotomayor, slamming her with stereotypes that some would consider sexist. In this case, the anonymous sources, if they do in fact exist, seem cowardly and perhaps motivated by partisanship or ulterior motives.

From Media Matters:

On their July 14 evening news broadcasts, both ABC’s World Newsand NBC’s Nightly Newsreported Sen. Lindsey Graham’s citation of anonymous criticism of Judge Sonia Sotomayor published in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciarywithout noting that Sotomayor’s colleague on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Guido Calabresi, has reportedly said of criticism of Sotomayor’s temperament on the bench, “It was sexist, plain and simple.” Additionally, neither ABC nor NBC noted that, in the words of CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, “[I]f you look at the full entry in this lawyers’ guide, Senator Graham did pick out the most negative comments, and there were a lot of positive comments in there, as well,” or that the American Bar Association rated Sotomayor its highest possible rating, “well qualified.”

Citing these anonymous sources, and cherry-picking the most negative comments about Sotomayor brings into question the credibility and integrity of Graham.

It was pretty taboo, during the presidential campaign last year, to discuss the supposedly bad temper of Sen. John McCain. Now, it seems to be open season on Sotomayor’s temperament (utilizing anonymous sources and not balancing the opinions of the supremely-qualified and well-reviewed judge).

POLITICO Contributor Has Interesting Take On Day One Of Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearing

This is a piece from Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton as published on POLITICO:

It’s Joe the Plumber all over again.Republicans are not going after Judge Sotomayor, they are actually going after the angry white male voters. Senator Graham made that very clear when, talking about her speeches outside the courtroom, he said: “I can just tell you one thing: If I had said anything remotely like that, my career would have been over. That’s true of most people here….” Reduce…

The Republican focus on the New Haven firefighter’s case will amplify these kinds of attacks. One needs only to watch Alexandra Pelosi’s fascinating film on the 2008 election to understand what kind of anger the senators are trying to stir up. If the GOP is serious about remaking itself and appealing to a broader part of the electorate, this is not the way to do it.

My take: I agree and have stated similar things repeatedly about Republicans being dragged (kicking and screaming) into a more diverse future. Sen. Graham has indeed seemed to be working to appease his base of highly conservative and old white men by pounding away at the overblown “wise Latina” comment and (in some other instances) the New Haven firefighters case. Monday was a part of the confirmation hearing where the politicians get to show off for the cameras and the people with their long statements. When it comes time to vote, you will see the prejudice out there and (contrary to what you heard from Sen. Graham) race will play a factor in this decision (it already has by pounding away at the “wise Latina” comment, which generally is taken out of context, and by the portrayals of her based on the New Haven case).

Sen. Lindsey Graham Falls For The Sexist Stereotyping Of Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, is falling for sexist stereotyping of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Think of how exceedingly rare it is for men to be criticized as having temperament problems. It’s something you here frequently with women because they are supposed to carry themselves in a more docile and less aggressive fashion. It’s a shame Graham is still living in the gender-role dark ages with this tired stereotype. Graham has been a part of a sizable group of right-wing people running down Judge Sotomayor. He has not trashed her as bad as other right wingers, but it’s safe to question his ability to fairly judge her. All of the criticisms of her are based mostly on out-of-context statements and smears from anonymous sources (talking about her temperament).

GRAHAM: I believe she does have the intellectual capacity, but there is a character problem, there is a temperament problem.

Some Republicans continue to reach hard to blow anything out of proportion to find a way to derail Judge Sotomayor’s candidacy for the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s a shame Sen. Graham seems incapable of judging her by what he has seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. Instead, it seems the senator is more interested in anything negative from her – regardless of the source or the motive of the source.

Right wingers are reaching because they have very little real ammunition to use against Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has a strong record and is a worthy candidate to replace the retiring David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/03/graham-sotomayor-character/

Read the Think Progress story closely. At the end, the author posts a video where it seems Sen. Graham may have contradicted himself.

Lindsey Graham Continues To Take Sonia Sotomayor’s Comments Out Of Context

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was on Fox News Sunday taking U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s comments out of context to inflame the Republican base. Sen. Graham, like so many others, chooses to take the comments of Sotomayor out of context to fire up the largely white and very conservative Republican base (this is, of course, why you hear people like Pat Buchanan referring to her as an affirmative action selection).

“What she said is that based on her life experiences is that she thought a Latina woman, somebody with her background, would be a better judge than a guy like me — a white guy from South Carolina,” Graham said. “It is troubling, and it’s inappropriate and I hope she’ll apologize.”

She has nothing to apologize for with regard to those comments. What Sen. Graham and others on the right should apologize for is taking what she said out of context. Perhaps if they put it into context, to be fair, and then called for an apology … they might have a (shaky) leg to stand on.

Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/31/graham-calls-sotomayor-apologize-wise-latina-statement/