My sense is that they aren't that stupid--at least in the Senate. Michael Steele and his band are another story. But, after thinking about this some more today, I'd actually be shocked if the GOP fought this the way Buchanan wants them to fight it.
On another note, maybe that Rosen piece was some sort of stealth liberal tactic. It really would be a disaster (for them, not us) to go around (as Buchanan does here) claiming this woman isn't that smart.
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I don't know. Everytime I think they can't be that stupid, they've been exactly that stupid. We'll see.
I predict the RNC is searching for hispanic Bond babes as we type.
...and what they're actually doing is putting Tom Tancredo up to call Sotomayor a racist. Is there no one left in the party who remembers that they were going to try and win the latino vote on conservative social issues?
I don't think this is going to be a tough deal for Obama or Sotomayor. And insofar as wingnuttia--the "bah, Limbaugh!" bunch--goes, one really does wish we could for just a second on these shows have someone just say it--don't bring that weak-assed s**t into the lane. Bo-ring!
But Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake made an interesting point yesterday when she wrote all this noise really is just a way for Republicans to raise money, and one has to admit that perhaps that is what their non stop soap opera roadshow is all about.
These guys can't even do the loyal opposition thing straight up, but I agree with TN, once we get into the Senate, there will be the required noise, but no more--a few bits about wise Latinas and judges affecting policy, and then it will be all over. And it is curious, so many on the right, John Yoo included, seem to have a propensity for plagiarizing Rosen.
"all this noise really is just a way for Republicans to raise money"
Exactly. Though one wonders where the money is coming from in this economy. W raised a remarkable amount in a very short period of time for his library, but his family has been part of the monied elite for a hundred years. Can Limbaugh's listeners really afford to give to the GOP?
Maybe they're going to use Obama's fundraising strategy - $5 from a million people is as much as $5,000 from a thousand. That seems at least a bit unlikely, though; I'm not sure they're set up for that kind of viral campaign.
Great, so they can raise as much money as they want, and it won't matter as much as the fact that they're going to loose even more of the Latino vote, and look more and more right-wing.
"..she wrote all this noise really is just a way for Republicans to raise money.." ah, i hadn't even thought of that. man, that is a great point.
pat buchanan is a waste of time.
I think Buchanan is still trying to exact revenge for what happened to Robert Bork. He and the right will raise a stink and be outraged, in response, the left will also be outraged. But in the end, Republicans in the Senate probably won't do much. They will put up less a fight against this nominee than the Democrats(including Obama) did against Bush's.
It is pretty apparent they couldn't do much even if they truly found her objectionable. Even if they could block this, in return, they might get someone who would be more in line with the liberal that someone like Jonathan Turley might find to his liking.
I saw that bit last night, after spending much of my day obsessively reading teh blogs. The two things that I knew that I wished Chris Matthews had pushed: the Rosen article had been largely discredited as shoddy journalism, and Rosen himself was quoted yesterday as supporting Sotomayor's confirmation. I felt like the armchair quarterback, shouting at Joan Walsh to hit harder. Don't these people have staff?
Remind me again why Pat Buchanan still has this kind of platform?
He was a speech writer for Richard Nixon. He coined the term "culture wars." He was a right winger who critiqued Bush, and whatever his faults, it appears that despite being maddeningly dunderheaded, people on the right find him personable. Finally, he serves as MSNBC's answer to (what used to be) Alan Colmes.
Excuse me, people on the left find him personable.
The fact that anyone still seriously listens to Pat B. is a marvel to me. Besides the out and out racists I mean. The guy is just a bitter old cracker, but I guess that even that group needs representation on the teevee.
My brain tells me that the Repubs will not be able to do much to hinder this nomination, but after the last eight years of unparalleled stupidity and partisanship I'm more than just a little bit paranoid. I worry that the Repubs will swoop in and work their Karl Rove "magic" with enough name drops of 9/11 and their traditional fear mongering even though I know that those days are long past.
Instead, I think that the nutbags of the party (Rush, et al) will complain loudly and with enough racist overtones that the Dems can help them craft the noose with the rope Obama has given them to hang themselves while the silent majority of Republicans will move forward and confirm her with little fanfare. This could be one of those seachange moments in the Republican party since Obama has outplayed them so thoroughly with this pick, and I'd like to think that the cooler heads within the party will step up and start changing the suicidal course the Repubs are on, but I really doubt that the moderates within the party have the sack for it.
Sotomayor will get confirmed, and drag at least 10-15 Republican senators on board. Her confirmation hearings won't be a cakewalk, but my guess is that Senate Repubs will skate right up to the line without obliterating it.
Talk radio, on the other hand, will be like a scene from Hiroshima. Just my two cents.
I really can't believe the revolting line the Washington Republicans are trotting out this time around: she's an affirmative action hire who has it in for white men. In other words, she's a racist who benefits from racist policies and if she's chosen, it'll be another step in the effort to demean and disempower white men. Oh, and she's a fiery latina bitch. This is the argument we're seeing from teevee pundits like Buchanan, but also from supposedly series folks like Ed Whalen and Ilya Shapiro.
Of course, non-leftists can hope Deomocrats prove their intellectual bankruptcy by responding to substantive arguments about judicial decisions with irrelevancies like her personal background and accusations of racism / sexism.
Well, I call it a hope, but that's really like saying I hope the sun rises tomorrow.