Obama’s racist, liberal Sotomayor, God help us.

By Robert The Silent Majority

From an MSNBC Article (Excerpts in bold):

GOP faces delicate task in fighting Latina pick
All-out assault on Sotomayor could alienate Hispanic and women voters

President Obama nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court yesterday, putting her in line to become the nation's first Hispanic justice and creating a difficult political equation for Republicans as they weigh how aggressively to fight her appointment.

Let me help the “republicans” along a bit; fight her with every ounce of your being. This choice is one of those moments when the conservatives can set themselves apart from the moderates and give the voters a choice in the next election.

An all-out assault on Sotomayor by Republicans could alienate both Latino and women voters, deepening the GOP's problems after consecutive electoral setbacks. But sidestepping a court battle could be deflating to the party's base and hurt efforts to rally conservatives going forward.

This is not a “Latino” thing or a “woman” thing and where Republicans will get in trouble is by accepting this premise to begin with and going on the defensive. Obama has set the trap with his willing accomplices in the media. The Republicans need to avoid stepping in it with both feet. They need to attack this appointment on her merits and completely ignore the ancillary issues that will act as a distraction to the true issues.

In introducing Sotomayor at the White House yesterday morning, Obama hailed the 54-year-old appeals court judge as an accomplished and "inspiring" individual with a compelling life story. She would replace Justice David H. Souter, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush but became a reliable member of the court's liberal wing.

Senate Republicans responded with restraint to the announcement yesterday and their largely muted statements stood in sharp contrast to the fractious partisanship that has defined court battles in recent decades. Leading conservatives outside the Senate, however, did not hold back, targeting a pair of speeches in which Sotomayor said appellate courts are where "policy is made" and another in which she said a Latina would often "reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

It is clear what kind of judicial activist Sotomayor is and what kind of Supreme Court justice she would make. These are the issues that the conservative Republicans need to be pointing out. She is clearly the racist and to point that out may not be politically correct but she cannot hide from her statements and voting history.

Critics also targeted her support for affirmative action, with Rush Limbaugh calling her a "reverse racist" in his syndicated radio program, citing a case in which she ruled against a group of white firefighters who claimed discrimination in hiring practices.

White House officials argued that the comments in the speeches were taken out of context, and they said that the firefighter’s case was an example of Sotomayor accepting established precedent, something they said conservatives should applaud. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, who are on the verge of controlling a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate, warned Republicans of the dangers of pushing too hard against Obama's first court pick.

The only danger lies in allowing the press and the liberals to dictate what conservatives should be for or against. There are true philosophical differences her and an important opportunity to contrast the conservative agenda against the liberal agenda. I hope our conservative leaders take the opportunity to show that contrast.

Strong words
"They oppose her at their peril," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said of his GOP colleagues and conservative activists who are leading the court fight. "I think this process is going to be more a test of the Republican Party than of Sonia Sotomayor."

For the first time in memory I at least partly agree with Schumer. This is a test of the resolve of the conservatives. If Republicans allow Schumer and others to dictate their agenda then they are doomed to fail. It is as simple as this; if the liberals think we should be doing it, we need to do the exact opposite. I seriously doubt the liberal establishment has our best interests at heart.

Conservative interest groups have been warily preparing for the prospect of Sotomayor's nomination since word of Souter's retirement first circulated last month, viewing her as among the most liberal contenders for the appointment. But some Senate GOP officials privately conceded that, barring a major stumble, the judge will probably be confirmed with relative ease.

That does not mean that they should not object to her nomination with every available means. It may be a foregone conclusion that she will be nominated but it is also a great chance to point out the glaring differences between the conservatives plan for America and the liberal plan for advancing a socialist agenda.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that we need to tread very carefully," said John Weaver, a Republican political consultant who advised Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for years. "The only way we'll find ourselves in a political predicament is if we don't treat her with the same respect that other nominees received."

"If she answers questions in a crazy way, then that's one thing," said one senior Republican aide who participated in strategy discussions. "But the immediate reaction is not to just try and bring her down."

This kind of conciliatory thinking is what has allowed liberals to ramrod through their agenda thus far. We have to take a stand on principle. Sotomayor represents everything that conservatives stand against and to stand around and allow her appointment without objection is to accept that our party is without principle. I hope they choose to stand on principle and let the chips fall where they may.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, did not comment on Sotomayor's qualifications for the nation's highest court yesterday but indicated that he was not inclined to rush the confirmation process.

"We must remember that a Supreme Court justice sits for a lifetime appointment, and the Senate hearing is the only opportunity for the American people to engage in the nomination process," Sessions said in a statement. "Adequate preparation will take time."

Obama's plan
Senior White House officials said the key to what they hope will be a 72-day campaign to confirm Sotomayor by Aug. 7, the start of the Senate's month-long recess, is to ensure that they retain control over the story line of the judge's life and career. A senior White House official said the administration had mapped out four distinct phases of what officials hope will be the path to an easy confirmation: the first 24 to 72 hours of the rollout; the period between the rollout and the start of Sotomayor's Judiciary Committee hearing; the hearing process itself; and the period between the hearing and the Senate floor vote.

"We have to keep control of the narrative, to make sure that her story doesn't get told by someone else," the senior aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. Within hours of the announcement, White House officials and Senate Democrats circulated favorable quotes about Sotomayor from Republicans, including former senator Alphonse D'Amato of New York, who supported her 1992 appointment to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush.

Every conservative should be outraged by that last paragraph. We are being told unequivocally that they intend to control the narrative. This is not being done in the interest of accuracy but in the interest of expediency. Conservatives are being effectively locked out of the debate. The only question is whether they intend to stand idly by while it happens or stand up and be heard.

Schumer, who is Sotomayor's senior home-state senator, will take the lead in introducing her to his colleagues, officials said. One Democratic aide who is helping to manage the nomination said that to minimize potential missteps, Sotomayor will pay courtesy visits to Judiciary members "and then disappear" until the confirmation hearings begin.

Senate Democratic aides said one factor working in Sotomayor's favor is her long public record as a federal judge. The confirmation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., for instance, was slowed while the committee sought to extract records from the nominee's executive branch service from the Reagan presidential library. But no such obstacles appear to threaten information gathering on Sotomayor, aides said. White House officials were scrambling to prepare materials to transmit to the Judiciary Committee yesterday. The nominee will submit an extensive committee questionnaire in the coming days, and a law enforcement background check is already underway, as is an effort to gather all of her judicial opinions. But if Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sessions fail to reach agreement on a time frame for moving forward, and Republicans elect to exercise their right to procedural delays, the confirmation process could easily spill into September, giving Sotomayor's opponents four additional weeks to attempt to derail her nomination.

The playbook is being laid out for all to see and yet I predict that there will be not outrage at the political calculation and malicious exclusion of the conservatives by a president who promised “a new spirit of bipartisanship”.

If Republicans bend over and allow themselves to be raped by the process than they get exactly what they deserve. They will do well to remember that we are watching closely; we are keeping score and they will be held accountable to the voters.

Republicans have a chance to draw a clear contrast on an ideological basis. The liberals will most certainly fight hard for their principles the only question unanswered is whether conservatives will have an advocate in the process.