Conventional wisdom turned on its head: Graham, the guy from deep-red South Carolina, votes yes while Jon Kyl, the guy from a state with a huge Latino population, votes no. Neither one’s up for reelection next year or else that might have (would have?) broken differently. We’ve been over and over the pros and cons of voting no so I won’t belabor the point, but I have to say, I think Grahamnesty played this one exactly right. The GOP potentially had only two things to gain from the hearing: Making the Democrats squirm over identity politics and seizing the high ground of “reasonableness” so that they could point back to this as a precedent the next time a nominee — whether Democrat or Republican — comes up. Graham was more successful in both respects than anyone else on his side.

Could have done without the tribute to our wise Latina’s “edginess,” though, even if it was designed to provide cover for future “controversial” conservative appointees. Click the image to watch.