I Know You Are But What Am I
by digby
Over the years, I have often referred top what I call “I know you are but what am I” politics but I’ve never seen a better example than this one:
“When Mr. Liu came to the Judiciary Committee and said that, basically, Judge Alito’s philosophy judicially takes us back to the Jim Crow Era, that to me showed an ideological superiority or disdain for conservative ideology that made him in my view an ideologue,” Graham told reporters off the Senate floor.
Other examples: right wingers like Andrew Breitbart insisting that if you call them out on their racism it makes you a racist.
In other words, all criticism of conservatives is illegitimate. It’s a neat trick.
By the way, how’s that gentleman’s agreement on filibusters working out?
* And yes, Liu’s being “Borked.” But about a decade ago it became obvious that this endless payback had become something of a Village construct. It had long since worked to cow the Democrats into never filibustering another GOP Supreme Court nomination — it’s real purpose is and has been for some time to keep the courts packed with as many hard core conservative ideologues as possible. Which makes Lindsay Graham’s comment all the more ironic. We are so far down the rabbit hole that behaving like petty adolescents has become a respected political ritual that serves a much more pernicious purpose.
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