Dana Milbank likens Jeff Sessions to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace for his outspoken stances on immigration policy
Over the last 30 years, Jeff Sessions as a U.S. Senator and as a political nominee has faced some disgraceful attacks that have associated him with racism, particularly coming out of the media.
Going back to 1986, when Sessions was nominated by President Ronald Reagan for a federal judgeship, his opponents, including then-Senator Joe Biden, accused him of having used racist language and condemned him for having an outspoken stance on the politics of the NAACP.
His confirmation failed when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted not to allow his nomination to proceed to the Senate floor despite the protestations of the ranking Republican committee member, then-Alabama Republican Sen. Jeremiah Denton.
Sessions would go on the Alabama Attorney General, then U.S. Senator. Biden has since said that he was completely wrong about Sessions, and deeply regretted how the federal judgeship hearings played out. But even since becoming a member of the U.S. Senate, the completely unfounded racial attacks have continued to be employed by Sessions’ political opponents — including members of the media.
As the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee during Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominations of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, any resistance Sessions showed against the president and his two nominees was deemed “racial politics” in some corners of the media, with his failed 1986 federal court nomination used as circumstantial evidence to back up the claim.
And the same seems to be case in Sessions’ latest fight as a stalwart opponent of the bipartisan effort of the so-called “Gang of Eight” now being waged in the U.S. Senate.
Writing for The Washington Post on Monday, Dana Milbank equated Sessions with former Democratic Alabama Gov. George Wallace, known for his pro-segregation stands highlighted by his 1963 “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” at the University of Alabama.
“Not since George Wallace, perhaps, has an Alabamian taken as passionate a stand for a lost cause as the one Jeff Sessions is taking now,” Milbank wrote.
Milbank, seemingly disdainful of Sessions’ cause, used invective throughout his 750-word screed to describe the Alabama senator, referring to him as a “wiry Southerner” with his “his trademark twang” and “petulant” responses.
That’s come to be expected of Dana Milbank, who once took it too far for his media colleagues when he suggested “Mad Bitch Beer” for Hillary Clinton. He’s a Washington Post scribe with liberal leanings and the delusions of being a clever writer.
Dog bites man, right? Yale-educated lefty hates on Republican Alabama senator.
That wasn’t the case according to Charles Dean of The Birmingham News. Dean determined there was some news value in Milbank’s essay that needed to be showcased to AL.com readers that might have missed it.
“Milbank points out that no senator has talked more during the committee hearings – almost 3 hours total – but that just two of Sessions 49 amendments to the Gang of Eight bill have been approved,” Dean wrote. “And Milbank correctly points out that Sessions efforts to kill the immigration bill are being turned aside not just by Democrats but by fellow Republicans. Sessions has been the leading opponent of the immigration bill charging that the bill will only make worse the nation’s immigration problems.”
That begs the question: If Milbank’s take on Sessions is noteworthy, given he is a frequent guest on MSNBC and as a platform with the Post, will Dean put forth the effort when the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Mark Levin speak in praise of Sessions, given they have further reach than Milbank?
I wouldn’t count on it.
Jeff Poor is the media reporter for the Washington, D.C.-based Daily Caller. He is also a columnist for Mobile-based Lagniappe and a Yellowhammer contributor. He is a graduate of both Auburn University and the University of South Alabama.
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