Lindsey Graham references the 'good ol' days of segregation' at Amy Coney Barrett hearing with Democratic rival Jaime Harrison hitting back with: 'It's 2020, not 1920'
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham referred to segregation as the 'good ol' days' during Wednesday's confirmation for Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
'Do you think Brown v. Board of Education is a super-precedent? As in, you're not aware of any effort to go back to the good ol' days of segregation by a legislative body, is that correct?' Graham had asked President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick.
He quickly got pummeled by his Democratic opponent for the quip.
'Lindsey Graham just called segregation "the good old days." The good old days for who, Senator? It’s 2020, not 1920. Act like it,' tweeted Jaime Harrison, South Carolina's Democratic Senate candidate, who is Black.
Graham bristled that his remark - 'made with dripping sarcasm' - had become controversial when he talked to reporters in Capitol Hill's corridors afterward.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham got pummeled by his Democratic opponent Jaime Harrison after he referenced the 'good ol' day of segregation,' which he later told reporter he 'made with dripping sarcasm'
Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison tore into his political rival, Sen. Lindsey Graham, for uttering 'the good ol' days of segregation,' at Judge Amy Coney Barrett's hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill
Democrat Jaime Harrison is essentially tied with Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina polls and received a record-breaking $57 million in the third quarter, breaking a record for a Senate race set by Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke in 2018 when he challenged GOP Sen. Ted Cruz
'If anybody was listening to who I am and what I said you know that it was with deep sarcasm that I suggested some legislative body would want to yearn for the "good ol' days of segregation,"' Graham said.
Graham had been discussing what are called 'super-precedents' with Barrett, court cases where there's no question that they'll provide the basis for future decisions.
One of those is Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 case that struck down racial segregation in public schools.
'The point that I'm trying to make is there is nobody in America in the legislative arena, wanting to take us back to that dark period in American history,' the South Carolina Republican continued. 'And for my opponent to suggest that says far more about him than me.'
'And in terms of that statement ... it blows my mind that any rational person can believe that about me,' Graham added.
He chided Harrison for 'a game we're playing here with the people of South Carolina.'
'There are plenty of differences between my opponent and myself, manufacturing the scenario that Lindsey Graham wants to go back to the days of segregation is not worthy of the times in which we live, is not worthy of an assault on me. We have plenty of differences with Mr. Harrison,' Graham said.
'I want to assure the people of South Carolina: that statement was made with dripping sarcasm,' the senator added.
Harrison, who previously ran for Democratic National Committee chair, has been able to vastly outraise Graham, who is hoping to earn a fourth Senate term in what has traditionally been a reliable red state.
Two late September polls found Graham either tied with Harrison or just one point ahead.
Harrison set a Senate fundraising record, raising $57 million in the third quarter, beating out the previous record held by Rep. Beto O'Rourke for raising $38.1 million in his bid to oust Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.