Lindsay Graham’s Sore Thumb
July 16, 2009
by Judy Silver
|In questioning Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Lindsay Graham dredged up the already debunked meme that she’s a angry bully, using this choice line:
You stand out like a sore thumb in terms of your temperament.
We’ve said several times on this blog that it’s sexist to characterize women as temperamental bullies just because they are tough. But in case you’ve had any doubt about Graham’s tendency toward gender-biased imagery, he took the rhetoric to a whole new level:
It’s hard enough being a lawyer, having your client being there to begin with without the judge just beating you up for no good reason.
Oh, so now she has no good reasons. She’s just hysterical. And if that’s not enough, when Sotomayor tries to answer Graham’s question, he cuts her off (at 3:40), apparently much more interested in labeling her with sexist tags than in getting to know her.
This comes right on the heels of Graham’s statement that Sotomayor would be confirmed, provided that she didn’t have a “meltdown”. When’s the last time anyone heard the spectre of a “meltdown” raised at a man’s confirmation? Again, Graham appears eager to associate Sotomayor with sexist imagery.
I can think of so many snarky jokes to make here about thumbs and other fingers, but maybe I’ll just leave them to your immaginations.
Great piece, Judy!
As several media outlets have pointed out, Sen. Graham has been trying to use these confirmation hearings to make himself appear smarter than the nominee. I have a feeling he would not be this way if the nominee was male.
Strong women are labled as bullies or as bitches because men have to find a way to justify their insecurities.
How about graham wrapping himself in “we need more women in higher office” at the same time?
The entire world is drunk on female blood lately …
They’re treating her more like Anita Hill (another powerful, threatening woman) than a Supreme Court nominee.
is TNA taking a position about the reversal of abused women now being able to claim regfee status.
Why are the women always so gracious? Re: Hillary, Gillibrand, Palin, and Sotomayer. The men are allowed to be rude, obnoxious, arrogant and stupid and the little woman must be gracious and accept all of this unacceptable behavior and everyone comments on how gracious the women are. So, men don’t have to be gracious? Just once I would like to see a woman just throw the crap right back into their faces and tell them what a sexist pig they are…really, just once have a woman not care what the consequences are, just tell it like it is. Tired of gracious; let’s kick some crap.
Palin was the only one who spoke up against sexism in the past year. I’m starting to think Democratic women just don’t have the guts or they are satisfied with Roe v Wade. You can’t legislate against sexism just like gay marriage would not remove homophobia from society.
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