(Greenville) - Two things have happened in the past couple of days which can present to every thinking person in this state, a chance to re-evaluate some of our most fondly held prejudices.

The questioning of proposed Federal Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, by our Senior Senator, Lindsay Graham, points up one of the most common prejudices we hold - that he is somehow a traitor to this state. I have begged to differ with this view of Lindsay before, and I beg to differ now. He is still one of the most brilliant jurists I have ever met, as well as being a patriot to South Carolina and these United States.

I do not agree with his support of Sen. John McCain's original view of immigration policy. I think it was destructive and wrongheaded. People who enter this country illegally are criminals. Period. That they have criminally stolen services from this state and country's citizens, even if it is for their needy children, that theft and their existence on this side of the Rio Grande is prima faciae evidence of their criminal activity, no matter what. On the other hand, he was and is right when he maintains that there needs to be a permanent solution to the immigration challenge. And to be perfectly honest, he NEVER said that the illegality of these people was not a criminal activity. He said that we should deal with it in a different way. He never disagreed with the principle that even the children of illegals, who are here, but not born here, are also complicitly illegal.

But even that view is instructive of the brilliant legal acumen that resides within the mind of Lindsay Olin Graham.

His questioning of Ms. Sotomayor, also shows that Sen. Graham has a much better handle on the law than she does. His manner, which is always gentlemanly and calm, was definitive in its pursuit of her attempts at evasive answers. At one point, as Ms. Sotomayor was trying to put a good face on her previous collegial racism (quite common, even in places such as the University of Georgia and the College of Charleston), his gentle doggedness reminded me of a kindly labrador retriever, whose soft mouth and gentle paw will inevitably work out the tennis ball trapped under the dresser. Her intellect was helpless before his undeniable logic.

But he is also a scholar of Sun Tsu. And as such, he allowed his opponent an avenue of surrender which enabled him his victory and her retreat, with only the cover of an inept Dick Durbin. Graham, with just the lightest of touches, provided enough fodder for his party, turning a ginned-up bravado into General Tsu's chicken that day, and yet, allowing the schooled candidate only the slightest of pride. Frankly, one has to wonder, if the wrong person will get to sit on the bench.

You wonder, that is, right up until he does something like voting FOR HER, which is so political, it sours the stomach. He, apparently, hasn't heard that legal latinos don't like the fact that THEIR jobs are being taken by illegals. By this vote, Lindsay Graham has firmly set himself on the side of illegality and scofflaw.