Republicans are giving Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson a hard time. Paul Waldman writes:
Republicans know they can’t stop Ketanji Brown Jackson from being confirmed to the Supreme Court. Since they don’t hold a majority in the Senate, they cannot simply refuse to allow her nomination to be considered. Given her sterling record and lack of disqualifying misconduct, they won’t be able to turn any Democrats against her.
So they try to change the focus to their own victimhood:
You can see it in the multiple times senators have brought up prior judicial nominees who were either deprived of their supposedly deserved place on the high court or mistreated by cruel Democrats before taking their seats. The average voter may not recognize all the names in the GOP’s parade of decades-old judicial martyrs (Miguel Estrada, Janice Rogers Brown), but the activist base knows them, if only as victims of some long-ago Democratic treachery.
It all culminates with Brett Kavanaugh, the victim to beat all victims, his name invoked again and again. How can the poor Supreme Court justice even bear to get out of bed in the morning, knowing only that he’s a hero to his party and will be making the country’s laws for the next 30 years or so? What a nightmare it must be for him.
So GOP senators repeated again and again that they would never abuse Jackson the way Kavanaugh was treated. “You’re the beneficiary of Republican nominees having their lives turned upside down,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) told her, adding that “Most of us couldn’t go back to our offices during Kavanaugh without getting spit on.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) agreed, telling Jackson that “No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits,” though “dating habits” is an interesting way to refer to what Kavanaugh was accused of. “We won’t get down in the gutter like Democrats did during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
To all this umbrage, one might respond, “Let us know when Jackson is credibly accused of sexual assault.” But this has nothing to do with her. The point is that Republicans know the sense of victimhood ties their entire movement together, and the more it is nurtured, the greater their chances of keeping that movement mobilized in November’s midterm elections, the 2024 presidential campaign, and everything that happens between and beyond.
No, this isn't about Jackson. It's about November's election. That's why Graham asked Jackson about her religion. To which the judge correctly responded, "Senator, there is no religious test in the constitution." Graham -- who is a lawyer -- knows that. But he was speaking to the largest part of the Republican base -- evangelicals.
Hemingway had a phrase to describe people like Graham and his colleagues. "Lower than snake shit," was how he characterized them.
Image: bbc.com
7 comments:
"Lower than snake shit," That's the best line I've heard in a long time. Putin comes to mind but then again, I can think of many deserving such a description. Thanks for Owen, you made my day
Don't thank me, zoombats. Thank Hemingway. He had a way with words.
Lindsay Graham voted for KBJ twice before, when she was appointed to lower level courts. But now he has a problem with her because Kavanaugh faced three credible accusations of sexual assault on a teen? It's all just a performance for the drooling Fox audience.
Cap
Watching a few minutes of the hearings yesterday, Owen, I was very impressed by the assertive and confident manner in which Brown Jackson responded to her interrogators. It is clear she is no one's fool, but I don't doubt that in many of the circles the Republicans cultivate, she will be seen as "an angry black woman," a common derogatory phrase uttered by cryto-fascists.
Actually, I meant to write cryto-racists.
Precisely, Cap. If you're looking for principles, you'll find them nowhere near Lindsey Graham.
There are both crypto-fascists and crypto-racists in Republican ranks, Lorne. Some members of the party qualify for both categories.
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