OK, so WHY did Lindsay Graham ask what Kagan was doing on Christmas Day?

[CTyankee]

He interrupted her answer to say he wasn't referring the the Christmas Day bomber, he "just wanted to know" what she did on Christmas Day...

He knows she's Jewish. What is the purpose of asking such a question in a formal hearing? What value does the question bring to these hearings?

My guess is that he wanted to further separate her from the "rest" of the people, to continue the "upper west side, Princeton, Harvard Law School" labelling even further...but wasting the people's time on such a question borders on insane...

Why isn't this question being asked anywhere?

[Loge23]

1. Because he's a race-baiting pig?

Like the rest of the republicans.
Either they are out and out racists and corporatists, or they condone their party line of being such.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. she should have replied

Oh, get up and enjoy the day... what do you do, Senator?

[CTyankee]

5. Her answer was perfect. She herself had a big laugh.

But jollies aside, why isn't anybody asking this question? Maybe we're just plain embarrassed that he would ask her that question in the first place?

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. She should have said,"Why do you ask?" nt

[babylonsister]

3. Because she's 'Jewish' and he wanted everyone to know she's

'Jewish'. I loved her response...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/106271...

snip//

"Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant," Kagan quipped.

[flamingdem]

43. really?? I like her answer nt

[Cassandra]

4. A movie and Chinese food.

What else?

[BonnieJW]

25. And also cleaning the wax out of our menorha's.

Tradition! Movie and Chinese on Christmas.

[Kber]

39. Best day of the year to ski.

[Syrinx]

6. I haven't seen the footage

But I suspect that it's because she's from the upper-east side of New York. (Or is it upper-west. I forget where the jews live.)

[onenote]

54. you forget "where the jews live"?

Uhh, Jews live all over New York City, all over New York state and, in fact all over the country.

[Inuca]

8. I doubt it has any secret

or evil meaning. He has a rather informal way of talking for a senator. You could equally well ask why he said "suck". Just because. Not everything has a special significance.

[Mimosa]

48. Totally agree and even think it he was playing straight man

So kagan could lighten things up. Long time paying attention and one catches on to people's individual styles.

[activa8tr]

9. I think that was a good question to ask about why he asked

He probably had nothing of substance left to ask so he was winging it.

[onenote]

55. if you watch a recording of the hearing, it was impromptu banter in the midst of his question

about the Christmas Day bomber.

Some serious poutrage going on here. Frankly, I thought the entire Graham/Kagan exchange was well played on both sides.

[Lint Head]

10. Lindsay Graham is a South Carolina Senator.

South Carolina is a notoriously bigoted state that has marginalizes Jews.
I was born and raised there. I knew many politicians there and have friends and relatives there.
I have never personally witnessed more derogatory statements against Jews than I have there.
Bigotry is everywhere but in South Carolina it is a deep stain in the fabric of life.
The problem is that the people that are bigoted see it as acceptable. I no longer live there partly because of this.
I have confronted the people in my life that are this way. It is not pleasant. I feel good that I do not stand by and let
this ignorance stand.

[Alcibiades]

14. I second that sentiment

Though I was born in NC and live here currently, most of my family hails from SC, and I spent most of my childhood there. Although South Carolina is changing, change is coming more slowly there than most places. There exists in South Carolina, as in other places in the Deep South, a hard core of white racists, who may not even be a majority within the white community anymore, but who are nonetheless powerful. They are aided by the traditional social and economic elite of South Carolina, the most reactionary and useless people you'd ever want to meet. It is they who are, in so many ways, responsible for South Carolina's backwardness.

[blm]

45. I am shocked that some here who have no clue about SC GOP tactics have invested in DEFENDING Graham

here on these threads for what we KNOW was a standard ploy.

[TheKentuckian]

11. Jew baiting sells to their backwards constituents by pointing to difference

[Schema Thing]

12. because the two were joking back and forth

jesus christ people, listen to the exchange, and if you don't pick up the friendly joking, realize that you have a disorder that doesn't allow you to recognize humor.

[SpiralHawk]

15. Well, Republicons have generally stomped the everloving shit out of joviality

for most of the planet, and the image of the republicons on bended knee groveling out a freakin apology to BP has left honorable people with a STUPENDOUSLY SOUR sensation in the soul. Consequently, if a smidgen of actual levity does appear, it's damn likely to be overlooked...

[Celebration]

21. Agreed

He was deflecting all the tension in the room.

It was kind of meant as a parody on all the questioning, I feel.

Graham can be rightfully criticized for many things, but not for this.

[DeschutesRiver]

23. That is the way I took it also; same thought re Graham.

I think the exchange was quick witted and funny (for a Senate hearing).

[CTyankee]

27. Ah, so Graham was setting her up for the joke!

It was all scripted...

Yeah, that makes sense...

[Schema Thing]

32. yes, he was.

no, it wasn't scripted.

[CTyankee]

38. Had to be! She was so perfect in her pretense that she was answering

a question about the Christmas Day Bomber...the timing was wonderful!

I'm sure it had nothing whatsoever to do with all that stuff about the Upper West Side of Noo Yawk that the pubs were going on about earlier...

[unblock]

30. it was friendly joking, but it was also with an agenda.

republicans always play on racial and religious differences, but they always know they can't just come out and say, "hey, you're black!" or "look, a jew!" they can't do anything so overt.

so they find "innocent" ways to bring out the point without making it look like they're trying. talking about her being from manhattan's upper west side is part of it, or in another context, implying a "hollywood" connection is code for "jewish".

this "friendly joke" was a golden opportunity for a republican shit to bring out the point while just making a friendly joke.

from his point of view, kagan fell into the trap by acknowledging that she's jewish. she made the standard joke about it, and got good laughs, but that only earns points with the non-bigots. the republican base now sees her as having horns on her head and a jesus-denier.



politically, she would have been better served to have responded, "i spent it with my family, of course"

[Schema Thing]

33. There isn't an :eyeroll: icon large enough for your silliness

this was totally off-the-cuff, two people finding humor in words that could be taken two ways.

[unblock]

37. listen to the actual dialog. graham set himself up. it was not remotely off-the-cuff

he said, "christmas day bomber. where were you at on christmas day."

that's a notably convenient way of phrasing it.

he said both "where were you at" instead of "what are your views on" or "do you support the decision in"
AND "christmas day" instead of "the christmas day bomber case" or just "that incident" (having already said "christmas day bomber".

both parts of his own chosen phrasing were necessary to make it into a joke. when kagan responded straight to the actual legal question, graham interrupted her to ask it again, this time more clearly with the other meaning,

"no, i was just asking where you were on christmas day."

he TOTALLY set himself up for this. this was not a give-and-take and not off-the cuff.


and for good measure, after she delivered the predictable joke, graham added, "well, that's what christmas and hannukah are all about." kagan hadn't mentioned hannukah at all, so again graham is doing something to inject her judaism into the procedings.


absolutely no doubt. certainly, if this were a private sector interview, kagan would have an open-and-shut discrimination case. of course, such rules don't apply to congress....

[blm]

42. what makes you so certain of your view, esp given SC GOPs historical use of pointing out

a candidate's Jewish faith?

[deminks]

13. The thugs are fundraising.

They get there race-baiting, hate-filled, borderline violence-provoking sound bites on teevee that the MEdia happily covers for them for free. They then put the videos out there to raise money from their race-baiting, hate-filled, violence-provoking constituents.

It wasn't meant for us, and if we get peeved, so much the better.

I don't like Kagan, but my disgust for the thugs and the MEdia is so much bigger.

[customerserviceguy]

16. It was an unusual question

But I see the Repukes being somewhat restrained on her. I think they know that if a nominee goes through a grueling process, they take it out on the other side once they get on the Court. That's my theory with Thomas, anyway.

I think Goober Graham was just trying to be playful, it let Kagan have a light moment that she knew would be played on national television.

[ChicagoSuz219]

17. Am I crazy?

Am I the only one who heard the beginning of the question had to do with the Christmas Day Bomber?

Am I making that up??

[Schema Thing]

18. yes, that's how it started, the rest is them joking around

I can't believe this is being passed around DU as if it is an issue.

[formercia]

19. It looked like Jew Baiting to me.

I'd bet most of the peckerwoods in SC had a good inside joke laugh over it.

It is a fucking issue, or are you that insensitive?

[Schema Thing]

26. Insensitive? You didn't "get" their normal human interaction

... that is insensitive.



It was good humored joking, and no reasonable rational person would think it "jew baiting".

Kagan certainly got the joke. Which, btw, was kinda funny and fairly well played by both parties.

[AlinPA]

24. 1. He started by bringing up the "Christmas Day bomber". 2. Then he awkwardly

asked "Where are you on Christmas Day".
3. She then started to reply, assuming his question had to do with the legalities involved in that case.
4. IMO, he realized his initial question was awkwardly phrased and then inserted the somewhat self-deprecating question "I just asked you where you were on Christmas Day", and it turned into a humorous scene because of her great answer. He even said "Great answer".
I'll have to give him that, even though he is a slimeball. It's possible that he may have been trying to make her look different to please a racist/jewish hating base, but I'll go with the above after watching it again.

[SwampG8r]

35. outrage is the currency here lately

if you cant get your outrage by real things we just make up something to be outraged about
then you can sling names and act condescending to your fellow dems

[stray cat]

20. as a change of pace to lighten the mood and break the ice

[Celebration]

22. exactly n/t

[Schema Thing]

34. yep

[CTyankee]

40. Makes sense. I ALWAYS ask people what they were doing on Christmas Day

just to lighten the mood. It gets a BIG laugh all the time!!!

[CTyankee]

46. Refreshing, wasn't it? I guess the Republicans were sorry they had been race baiting

on Thurgood Marshall and wanted to set a better "tone."

Yes, that's it...

[blm]

47. I'm curious why a few here are so invested in prettifying what Graham did. Especially given the

GOPs consistent use of this 'not one of us' tactic in SC.

[CTyankee]

50. And it's not like they all weren't doing it during the rest of the hearings,

but when it comes to Jews, well, I guess that's different...it was just a bit of "fun." The fact that Kagan got off a good rejoinder doesn't obscure the fact that Graham's question was either 1) slyly anti-semitic or 2) just nonsensical.

Imagine if this had been a job interview and the interviewer asks (for no apparent reason) where the interviewee was on Christmas Day!

[onenote]

53. +1

[TheCowsCameHome]

28. because he was in the closet, and didn't get to see anyone that day.

[Sparkly]

29. He thought he'd spotted her in a "live nativity?"

[monmouth]

31. Her answers to most of these crackers makes them look petty and small...n/t

[xultar]

44. +1 rofl

[BlueIdaho]

36. And people say they won't bother going to the polls in November...

Refusing to support Democratic candidates makes it likely there will be more Grahams, Sessions, Boehners, racists, bigots, and tea baggers filling the halls of congress with hate. Republicans have always won elections by creating an "us" and a "them." this is a classic example of dog whistle politics, reminding the crackers back home that Kagan is not one of "us" - she's one of "them." For Lindsay Graham it's "mission accomplished." the question is, what are we willing to fight for, and fight against.

Are our Democratic leaders perfect? Far from it. Are they light years better than the fascist, racist, sexist, homophobic republicans waiting in the wings to take back the congress? Not yes, but hell yes.

[Robert DAH Bruce]

41. K&R

[Ikonoklast]

49. Because he's lonely and looking for some company.

Hey, it's no fun being a middle-aged single guy like Lindsay waking up on Christmas Day, of all days, to a big, empty house, all alone, no one to talk to or open presents with, have a nice breakfast, then go to Christmas services.


Oh, and the POS was pointing out to his constituency that Ms. Kagan is a Jooooooooo.

[Sebastian Doyle]

51. Maybe she should have asked him if he went to any parades in June?

Or do they have any of those in South Carolina?

[David Zephyr]

52. I thought it was an inappropriate question for him to ask.

On the other and, Kagan's response was superb and classy. I like her.

[CTyankee]

56. I think Jews have been having to put up with shit like that since forever.

My son in law makes funny jokes (that have an edge to them) about the insensitive shit that he and other Jews hear from gentiles. He's pretty funny, but you can tell it's a bit tinged with irony. He and my daughter, who is not Jewish, are raising the kids in Jewish traditions. I must say that I am much more aware of anti-semitism because of it. The thought of anything happening to my granddaughters is enough of a reason to be aware...