McCain Calls on Durbin to Apologize for Lynch Comments

Arizona Sen. John McCain has called out Democratic Senate colleague Dick Durbin for racially tinged and "totally inappropriate" remarks he made about Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, The Hill reported.

"I was so surprised and disappointed in the comments that he made yesterday," McCain said, calling on Durbin, an Illinois lawmaker and Senate Minority Whip, to apologize.

Durbin accused Republican lawmakers of holding up approval of her nomination, forcing Lynch to sit "in the back of the bus" — a reference to civil rights era offenses perpetrated against blacks, The Hill reported.

Said Durbin on Wednesday in remarks made from the Senate floor: "Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar."

McCain said that Durbin's comments made it seem "that racist tactics are being employed to delay Ms. Lynch's confirmation vote," The Hill added.

He called Durbin's remark "offensive" as other Republican Senate leaders decried the tactic.

"The remarks made this morning by the Democratic leadership were misguided, shameful, and as their own record shows, hypocritical," said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley in a statement.

Rich Lowry, writing in Politico Wednesday, said Durbin "went straight to a Rosa Parks metaphor" to accuse GOP lawmakers of racism at the same time Hillary Clinton tweeted out that it is sexism at work hampering Lynch's nomination. He noted their "synergy."

Lowry, in arguing against confirmation, exposed the Democrats' double standard.

"As an African-American woman, Lynch represents a gloriously double-barreled opportunity to accuse Republicans of sub-Rosa hatreds," he wrote in Politico.

"The political benefit of what feminists call intersectionality — membership in two or more historically oppressed groups — is not having to choose which accusation of bias to make. One day, it can be racism; the next it can be sexism. Or, different people can make different charges of an -ism on the same day. The possibilities to mix and match are endless."

Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers worked Thursday on a new plan to break a "logjam" against Lynch's confirmation, Politico said, noting, however, that it is not expected to happen quickly.

Related Stories:

• Tom Coburn: 'Back of the Bus' Crack on Lynch Typical of Durbin
• Black Caucus Chair Says Race Maybe a Factor in Loretta Lynch Vote Delay