The announcement of Justice David Souter's pending retirement has certainly gotten many on what's left of the right wing up in a kerfuffle already, as they try to figure out how exactly one effectively opposes a nomination when one has but 40 votes in the Senate to work with.
One name in particular is of high interest, in part because her nomination would once again pit the Republican Party in a death battle between those who see a way forward and those who want to fight yesterday's losing battles. That person is Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who presently serves on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
Given the changing demographic of swing states, the GOP can ill afford to further alienate the emerging Hispanic base in states like California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Collectively, those states account for 118 House seats, 8 Senate seats, and 126 electoral votes. There is also a substantial Hispanic community in Colorado, another state the GOP can't afford to lose - especially when one considers that the conservative wing of the party has all but destroyed the GOP in New England.
Politically, there are no points to be scored by objecting to a Sotomayor nomination. She was nominated to her first federal judgeship by a Republican (George H.W. Bush), and was supported by both the Republican (Al D'Amato) and Democratic (Daniel Patrick Moynihan) senators in her home state. And when you consider that guys like Sen. Orrin Hatch have voted for her previously, she's got all the bipartisan insulation she could possibly need.
But at the same time, there will be an enormous wail from the screech-and-guffaw wing of the GOP about any Obama nomination. They will find any reason possible to attack any nominee, without considering for a single moment the political ramifications of attacking an Hispanic female whose nomination would be groundbreaking.
As we've seen time and again through bungled efforts by the Club for Growth that has cost the GOP seats in Rhode Island, Maryland, and New Mexico (to name a few), conservatives have no sense of timing. They will act on what they claim are their principles even if it means making their own political goals more difficult to accomplish. If their goal is to return to a position of power, then they need to understand that there is a time to dissent and a time to shut up and take your medicine.
And yet, conservatives will be wholly unable to resist the opportunity to kick at someone like Sotomayor, even as it hurts their own cause in the long run. It's just like the kid who can't stay out of the cookie jar even though he knows it's going to get him grounded.
Discipline is a large part of what is needed to get any political party out of the weeds and back into power. Discipline is also the one thing that the conservative movement completely lacks, preferring instead the approach of the petulant child. Listen to their radio shows. Read their blogs. This isn't a movement about creating a majority-producing agenda. This is a movement about bitching and whining and telling each other that, if only the world listened to them, it would all be better. They are enablers of the first order.
Obama should nominate Sotomayor because she's qualified and will bring a different background to the court. But he shouldn't be ignorant of the chaos and high comedy that her nomination would produce for the rest of us.
Conservatives stand by ready to dig the hole deeper, Mr. President. Please hand them the shovel.
One name in particular is of high interest, in part because her nomination would once again pit the Republican Party in a death battle between those who see a way forward and those who want to fight yesterday's losing battles. That person is Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who presently serves on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
Given the changing demographic of swing states, the GOP can ill afford to further alienate the emerging Hispanic base in states like California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida. Collectively, those states account for 118 House seats, 8 Senate seats, and 126 electoral votes. There is also a substantial Hispanic community in Colorado, another state the GOP can't afford to lose - especially when one considers that the conservative wing of the party has all but destroyed the GOP in New England.
Politically, there are no points to be scored by objecting to a Sotomayor nomination. She was nominated to her first federal judgeship by a Republican (George H.W. Bush), and was supported by both the Republican (Al D'Amato) and Democratic (Daniel Patrick Moynihan) senators in her home state. And when you consider that guys like Sen. Orrin Hatch have voted for her previously, she's got all the bipartisan insulation she could possibly need.
But at the same time, there will be an enormous wail from the screech-and-guffaw wing of the GOP about any Obama nomination. They will find any reason possible to attack any nominee, without considering for a single moment the political ramifications of attacking an Hispanic female whose nomination would be groundbreaking.
As we've seen time and again through bungled efforts by the Club for Growth that has cost the GOP seats in Rhode Island, Maryland, and New Mexico (to name a few), conservatives have no sense of timing. They will act on what they claim are their principles even if it means making their own political goals more difficult to accomplish. If their goal is to return to a position of power, then they need to understand that there is a time to dissent and a time to shut up and take your medicine.
And yet, conservatives will be wholly unable to resist the opportunity to kick at someone like Sotomayor, even as it hurts their own cause in the long run. It's just like the kid who can't stay out of the cookie jar even though he knows it's going to get him grounded.
Discipline is a large part of what is needed to get any political party out of the weeds and back into power. Discipline is also the one thing that the conservative movement completely lacks, preferring instead the approach of the petulant child. Listen to their radio shows. Read their blogs. This isn't a movement about creating a majority-producing agenda. This is a movement about bitching and whining and telling each other that, if only the world listened to them, it would all be better. They are enablers of the first order.
Obama should nominate Sotomayor because she's qualified and will bring a different background to the court. But he shouldn't be ignorant of the chaos and high comedy that her nomination would produce for the rest of us.
Conservatives stand by ready to dig the hole deeper, Mr. President. Please hand them the shovel.
6 comments:
If I heard the drumbeats on Sykes' show yesterday correctly I'm pretty sure that the knock against her will be that she's Latina. Therefore, she'll be giving H1N1 flu to the other justices.
I don't think the Latino vote will be gravitating toward those who are equating Latinos with Mexico and hence the flu and untimely death.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see who gets a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to make up for Specter's disembarking.
With the exception of Lindsey Graham and (perhaps) Orrin Hatch, the GOP contingent is comprised of those Senators most likely to indulge the wackiest objections to any Obama nominee.
It would serve the party well -- and, I suspect, suit the Recess Supervisor's inclinations -- to install someone a bit more even-tempered and well-informed than the likes of Jon Kyl and Tom Coburn.
On the other hand, there is this, which mitigates toward adding another Cobernesque member.
That is, if the GOP really wants to play hardball with Obama's nominees.
Of the current list, both Orrin Hatch and Lindsey Graham get it. Both have been strongly critical of this Club for Growth movement that forces the GOP to fight battles in the rear flank. And it would certainly be in the party's best interest for one of them to keep the rest of the merry band of wingnuts from hanging the whole party publicly.
Jeff Sessions has a whole history of crazy remarks about the Klan and the ACLU, which means that he's probably the frontrunner to take over the committee. That'll make things fun!
Jeff Sessions as the ranking member of Judiciary. God help us.
Of course, if the Senate doesn't change the rule you cited, the Dems are going to need either Hatch or Graham to end debate. Hatch helped Clinton with Ginsburg and Breyer, and Graham was part of the Gang of 14. Neither is particularly prone to wingnut appeasement.
I'm guessing Obama will get exactly who he wants.
And remember RS, the people screeching the loudest and trying to pull all the parliamentary tricks available (if any) will be the same people who said only a couple of years ago that the Constitution somehow guarantees a nominee an up or down vote in the Senate.
Club for Growth? You mean Club for Shrinkage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_McLane_Wardlaw
What, based on Obama's past 100 days, suggests that he will do anything tending towards the political center?
...especially when a Clinton campaign volunteer (who also happens to be a Hispanic-American woman) is sitting in the 9th Circus?
Given the makeup of the Congress, we should be so lucky as to have Obama nominate Sotomayor.
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