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Chris Cillizza's strange scorecard

July 15, 2009 10:01 am ET by Jamison Foser

Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza offers a scorecard of "winners and losers" from yesterday's Sotomayor hearings.

His second "winner"? Lindsey Graham, who Cillizza says "was the Republican senator best able to rile Sotomayor" and "managed to unsettle Sotomayor." Cillizza provided no evidence to support that assertion. Nor did he mention that Graham asked Sotomayor if she has a temperament problem - a question that was rather odd coming at the end of a day in which she had answered a barrage of often hostile questions without losing her composure.

Cillizza wrote that Graham's "low-key delivery" proved that he is "one of the best questioners/smart legal minds in the Senate" -- but even Chris Matthews found Graham's questioning condescending. When even Chris Matthews thinks someone is being condescending to a woman, there's a problem.

Even more odd, Cillizza couldn't think of a single Republican to list under the day's "losers." Not, say, Jeff Sessions, the Senator whose own judicial nomination was derailed amid charges of racism - and who suggested that Sonia Sotomayor should have ruled the way Judge Cabranes did because he is also "of Puerto Rican ancestry." Not only that, Sessions blundered into a Marshall McLuhan moment - something that just doesn't happen in real life.

No, Cillizza's "losers" were President Obama and Democrat Herb Kohl - not because Kohl did anything wrong, but because the cable channels didn't cover him.

Tags: The Washington Post, Chris Cillizza, Supreme Court Nominations, Sotomayor Nomination

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    • Author by bintx (July 15, 2009 10:20 am ET)
         
      Graham's "questioning" was condescending, rude and in a court of law, he would be offensive to the members of the jury. I've polled many, many juries post-trial and people don't like this sort of "questioning."
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    • Author by brew50 (July 15, 2009 10:25 am ET)
         
      What do you expect? Chris Cillizza and all these other "political pundits" are more entertainers than "political analysts." They are the "political meteorologists" who always get the forecast wrong.
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    • Author by mk3872 (July 15, 2009 10:41 am ET)
      1  
      At least this kind of nonsense helps to prove your point that our MSM & press are not really serious about policy and governance.

      Everything is DC insider back & forth and drama, regardless of facts.

      That is what grades an A+ in their scorecards.
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    • Author by Easy to refute wingnuts (July 15, 2009 10:48 am ET)
      1  
      His second "winner"? Lindsey Graham, who Cillizza says "was the Republican senator best able to rile Sotomayor" and "managed to unsettle Sotomayor."
      Who knows? Maybe Sotomayor is unsettled by closeted gays.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by vwcat (July 15, 2009 11:10 am ET)
      2  
      Cillizza fits the stereotype of Washington journalist. Shallow, silly and subject to rightwing talking points and thinking.
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    • Author by mattcable250650 (July 15, 2009 1:53 pm ET)
         
      Have to say that BagNews Notes has found a perfect picture for Lindsay Graham. The man just comes across as the utter sleazoid we all know he is!
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    • Author by thebewilderness (July 15, 2009 2:19 pm ET)
         
      Whereby white male Chris Cillizza demonstrates that a white male life experience informs his view that white males are winners.
      Surprise!
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    • Author by tangaroa (July 15, 2009 3:42 pm ET)
         
      Graham is a "winner?" How can a man who made himself look like a whining wimp with a quote like this be a winner?

      "I never liked appearing before a judge that I thought was a bully. It's hard enough being a lawyer, having your client there to begin with, without the judge just beating you up for no good reason. Do you think you have a temperament problem?"
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