“Average, everyday white guy” Lindsey Graham on Sotomayor and ethnicity

ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf reports: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor continues her grueling regimen of courtesy calls. On her schedule late this morning was a meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, who had gone further than any other sitting lawmaker in criticizing Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s infamous 2001 speech at Berkeley. He never used the “r” word that one former lawmaker and a current notable talk radio host did, although Graham did Stoomayor should apologize. After their meeting, at which Graham said he found Sotomayor to nice and impressive, Graham said he did not ask Sotomayor for an apology. And he wouldn’t say if she offered him one. He said she needs to make a public accounting for her comments and that their impact, at this point, goes beyond her nomination. “This is more about than just her confirmation. We’ve got some big issues to resolve here. This comment that she made. This speech she gave. That needs to come to a conclusion in a way that makes us a better country. Maybe this is sort of what Eric Holder was talking about – that we just need to put these things on the table.” Graham pointed to what he perceives as a double standard – her comments shouldn’t end Sotomayor’s chances at the court, he said, but he argued if he made similar comments they would have ended  his. “She was trying to articulate that ‘all the things I’ve gone through in life as a Latino woman of which I am very proud, I’ve come a long way and I’ve had a hard struggle, I think that makes me a little better than the average everyday white guy,’” Graham said, paraphrasing her 2001 speech. “Well. Being an average everyday white guy, does it make her better than Roberts or Alito? It does not exactly make me feel good to hear a sitting judge say that. But do I think in her heart that she hates white people?  No.” (Despite the expanding importance of the discussion on race and ethnicity, Stomayor shouldn’t speak to the Judiciary Committee, according to Graham, until September, which is when Graham thinks it would be appropriate to hold her confirmation hearings). Graham praised Newt Gingrich for dialing back his own allegation that Sotomayor’s comments were racist. “I do believe it is unfair to call her a racist based on that statement,” Graham said. “I do think she needs to explain herself. I do think she needs to understand she has offended some people and I’ll let her speak as to what the appropriate response is.” “Words like that (racist) really do hit hard. And she didn’t deserve that. I think she does need to be challenged. I think she needs to prove to me and others, not just me, that anybody out there that’s looking for an independent judge, if they found themselves in litigation with a Latina woman, you fill in the blank that she would give you a fair shake. That’s up to her. It is fair to make her address that question. It is not fair to say that she is a racist. The Obama Standard or the Scalia/Ginsburg Standard
“If I used President Obama’s standard – Senator Obama’s standard – I would never vote for her.” He read off a quote where candidate Obama said Obama “said when I look at Sam Alito’s ideology, and record I’m deeply troubled. Well, when I look at her ideology, philosophy and record I’m deeply troubled,” said Graham. He pointed to near unanimous and unanimous votes for Justice Ginsburg and Justice Scalia.  “What happened to those days. That’s not the Senate I’ve been a part of.” “If I use the Ginsburg/Scalia standard, she stands a chance of getting my vote. If I use the Senator Obama standard she would never get my vote… she said all the things I would like to hear. She said the things Alito and Roberts said. That I’m bound by the law.”