Setting The Rules

Professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell has a post up over at the Nation about the hearings for Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and the racist and sexist treatment she received from GOP Senators on the committee. The whole post is excellent but there was one thing that she hit on that I hadn't thought about but which struck a chord with me...

Like Eckford, Sotomayor has been praised for her dignity, her stillness, and the evenness of her voice as she responded to hostile mischaracterizations. She managed to laugh off sexist jokes. She didn't flinch when she was repeatedly interrupted. Senator Lindsey Graham warned that her confirmation could only be derailed if she had "a complete meltdown." The rules of the game were set: the Senators could mischaracterize her record, accuse her of racial bias, and mispronounce her name but she could not respond in kind. She could not be hurt or offended or angry. She had to remain a pillar of rationality and neutrality and control.

Now at the time when Graham made that pronoucement about a "complete meltdown" many media outlets painted it as him hinting at voting for her, or that he ws being a realist. But when I heard it I heard something different but I just couldn't put my finger on it. But I think Professor Lacewell knocks it out of the park with this one. The comment was meant to put her in a box lest she do ANYTHING that could be interpreted in any way as a "meltdown". That meant no angry retorts and no showing of emotion or passion. And in many ways it mean she had to "shuck and jive" in order to make it through the process unscathed. Don't misunderstand me, I am a major proponent of you doing what you have to do to get the job done. So I don't have anything bad at all to say about Judge Sotomayor handling herself accordingly. But I wonder just how many women of all colors watched these proceedings and decided to never to support a party that could be so openly sexist as well as racist as they were in questioning her.

Obviously I will not week for the GOP's electoral difficulties arising out of their treatment of Judge Sotomayor. But its just so curious to me how clueless and mindless these old white men continue to be to the world changing around them.


Update: I just wanted to post this TYT YouTube clip of John Roberts and Sam Alito avoiding answering questions during their confirmation to compare and contrast. Check out how Roberts gets a little heated a couple of times. I doubt anyone said he "melted down" back then but you can bet your ass that had Judge Sotomayor had done the same thing that would be all we were hearing about.