The Reality Check

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 6 today to endorse the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Of course all 12 Democrats on the committee voted to endorse her. So who was the sole Republican Senator? I guess it's probably a moderate Republican, one of those guys that has the potential to pull an Arlen Specter and jump ship to the other side. Nope, it was Senator Lindsey Graham from the great liberal state of South Carolina. What was he thinking? Wasn't he the most avid opponent to Judge Sotomayor's nomination? Yes, he was and that is precisely why Lindsey Graham voted in favor.

Everyone knew, even by Lindsey Graham's admission at the beginning of the hearing, that Judge Sotomayor was going to get endorsed and probably get confirmed. But the Republicans couldn't just give her an easy ride. They had to get as much political gain out of the whole thing as they could. So the Republican Senators probably got together in closed-door meetings and strategized about how they were going to approach these hearings. They probably discussed what questions they could and should ask, how aggressive they were going to be and how they were going to handle Sotomayor's infamous 'wise latina' comment. Although it was a ridiculous issue, and calling Sotomayor a racist from that comment was obviously a gross overreaction, it drew the public attention unlike Sotomayor's views on the role of the courts would have. So, although the Republican Senators know she's not a racist, they implied that maybe to get press coverage.

Back to the point. Lindsey Graham probably nominated himself as the attack dog, because he's still very popular in South Carolina and has some political capital to gamble with. In addition, Lindsey Graham has the clout in Washington to take leadership as well. Okay, so back to the question, why did he vote in favor? Well, precisely because he was the nastiest to Sotomayor. It was probably decided before the hearings even began how they were going to proceed and how they were going to vote. Lindsey Graham voted to endorse Sotomayor to soften the blows of his accusations and harsh questioning during the hearing. Why? Because Sotomayor's going to get confirmed either way. Lindsey Graham's harshness with Sotomayor pleased the conservatives. Conservatives understand that she's going to get confirmed anyways, so Graham's vote doesn't matter anyways. In addition, Lindsey Graham's favorable vote for a Democratic nominee hedges him for future votes against Democratic nominations and this vote that's in the offical record keeps the Democrats from using this as ammunition for retaliation.