« Obama, Sotomayor, and the Double Dog Dare
[video, round-up] Sotomayor so not image of GOP’s generic opposition »
The Video Clip Critics Will Try To Use Against Sonia Sotomayor
Commentators and news people on several networks and on the radio are saying that critics will use a statement President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor made about how the court is where policy will be made.
If you do a You Tube search, you’ll find that most of the clips go a little over a half a minute — just enough to quote the sentence. But it was, in fact, part of a longer statement. Rather than rely on Rush, or Sean, or the inevitable GOP ad here is the longer version so TMV readers who are Republicans, independents and Democrats can make up their own minds.
More than two minutes gives you more to judge (positively or negatively) than a little over 30 seconds (which is what you’ll likely to hear on Sean and Rush and the inevitable GOP ad):
FOOTNOTE: As others here have noted on TMV, I fully expect a mega-partisan battle since American politics in the 21st century seems locked into a polarized course where many on each side see what the consensus is from opinion makers on their side — and then follow suit. The big if is this: IF critics fail to make a case that convinces the country’s vital center and IF the GOP opts for a filibuster and IF she is defeated, then in political terms the GOP will have almost fallen into a political trap. The Republican party is already sagging with one of the country’s fastest growing groups in terms of population and clout — Hispanic voters. And defeating Sotomayor, with her life’s narrative, could be political poison in 2010…and 2012.
UPDATE: Time’s Mark Halperin also sees a trap for the mainstream GOP.
UPDATE II: Here’s the video of Obama’s nomination announcement and Sotomayor’s comments:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
opinions powered by SendLove.to
5 Responses to “The Video Clip Critics Will Try To Use Against Sonia Sotomayor”
Moderate Reps are already signing her praises. The conservatives are waiting until the confirmation hearings. The Reps know that they need to be very careful here. She'll go through…battle or no battle. Rep politicians can't afford to attack her. Sean and Rush will, but their followers always vote Republican anyway…so who cares what they say? That is unless you are using them to paint the Rep party as a bunch of wackos.
It's well and good that moderate republicans are singing her praises, but just how much power do they have within the party? I'd love to see more evidence they are gaining influence, but they have their work cut out for them. As for the R's being painted as “a bunch of wackos”, I believe they themselves have had a firm grasp on that particular paintbrush. If however, they are prepared to pass it on to the more moderate (rational) members within the party then it would be a welcome step forward.
Clips of William Ayers and Jerimiah Wright were played for months and months with very little practical effect. I don't really see why this should be any different.
Limbaugh and Hannity make millions of dollars appealing to a relatively small segment of the population, so they have no reason to stop what they're doing.
President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor
If confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, Judge Sotomayor, 54, would replace Justice David H. Souter to become the second woman on the court and only the third female justice in the history of the Supreme Court. She also would be the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court.
See details of her biography:Judge Sonia Sotomayor-news-online
What's ironic, or hypocritical even, is that the very lawyers who will use her statement to decry “activist judges” know very well that she's right. It is in fact appeals courts that decide if a certain application of the law is valid. There's no realistic way to make laws so specific that the agencies involved in carrying them out do not need to write rules of their own (cleverly called “the rule-making process”). It is the rules and their enforcement that get kicked up to appeals courts in order to see if a judge will disagree with the application of the law.