Ed Whelan has said most of what needs to be said about Milbank’s latest valentine to Senator Lindsey Graham, over at Bench Memos. Here’s Milbank:

“I think there’s a good reason for a conservative to vote yes, and that’s provided in the Constitution itself,” Graham told his peers before reading to them from Federalist No. 6, by Alexander Hamilton. “The Senate should have a special and strong reason for the denial of confirmation,” he read, such as “to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from family connection, from personal attachment and from a view to popularity.”

As Whelan points out, Graham had the wrong Federalist Paper in mind, and Milbank didn’t double check. Whelan goes on to note that both Milbank and Graham are misreading Hamilton. I’d note also that what Milbank presents Graham as “reading” is not a direct quote, but a stitching together of different sentences and some additions to the text. The words “The Senate should have a special and strong reason for the denial of confirmation” do not appear in the text.