GOP Frets Over Sotomayor's "Personal Politics, Feelings, And Preferences"

Here's the latest news on Sotomayor talking points, people!

Let's say you are prepping yourself to oppose Sonia Sotomayor. Or, at the very least, prepping yourself to oppose judicial activism (excepting the sort of judicial activism that would overturn the Kelo decision, of course). Or, alternatively, prepping yourself to oppose EMPATHY (by which we mean: empathy that does not specifically limit itself to empathizing with very brave, test-taking, Connecticut firefighters, WHO ALL MUST EMPATHIZE WITH, LEST THEY BE COMMUNISTS). What are you talking about, at this moment? Well, as one wag points out to me in an email, you are singing a specific refrain, today:

Orrin Hatch (R-Utah): "I will focus on determining whether Judge Sotomayor is committed to deciding cases based only on the law as made by the people and their elected representatives, not on personal feelings or politics."

Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): "We will thoroughly examine her record to ensure she understands that the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, despite their own feelings or personal or political preferences."

Charles Grassley (R-Iowa): "The Judiciary Committee should take time to ensure that the nominee will be true to the Constitution and apply the law, not personal politics, feelings or preferences."

John Cornyn (R-Tx.): "She must prove her commitment to impartially deciding cases based on the law, rather than based on her own personal politics, feelings, and preferences."

Given the quartet of speakers, I'm guessing that "personal politics, feelings, and preferences" is a JUDICIAL CODE WORD for "menses." Hopefully, Kay Bailey Hutchison can clarify and/or expand on this.

Meanwhile, if you are prepping yourself to support Sotomayor, you are probably memorizing this phrase: "compelling personal story." Mind you: compelling personal story basically means "grew up in the Bronx" and achieved success despite having never been a "Fly Girl" on In Living Color.

Also! Be on the watch for reports that describe Sotomayor's parents as "immigrants!" As the aforementioned emailing "wag" points out, it's sort of like saying that Meghan McCain's father "immigrated to the United States from the Panama Canal Zone." And don't make the mistake that Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin did (originally) in this post, and call Sotomayor a "Latina single mother." Remember: to be a single mother, one must actually have children!

Anyway, as you can see, your Sonia Sotomayor Drinking Game is already taking shape! If you divine any interesting patterns in the coverage, do let us know!

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Comments

[SurrealPumpkin]

The best part is that if the GOP had bothered to look at Sotomayor's judicial record they'd be fighting to have her on the court. The judge most certainly places the law ahead of personal preferences.

[GAPeach99]

Someone who doesn't have empathy -- would that be a socio path?

Is the GOP saying they prefer socio paths on the high court?

[frappe]

The GOP (Gimmicks Only Party) was the apparent inspiration for the "Borg Collective" in the Star Trek series. The concept or idea seems to have originated or developed because Republicans always seem to repeat the same message or talking points on queue, like a bunch of brainless parrots. In the Star Trek series, the Borg Collective derive their explicit instructions from some centralized, hierarchical, authoritarian structure -- much like fascist or communistic regimes.

[GLT21]

Sheep

[robeson]

Why haven't 'yellow dogs' Bayh, and Nelson jumped in lock step opposition?

[helloworld2008]

LOL. Any time the GOP speaks up, they seem to get weak in the knees.

[motoGpifupleez]

RethugliKlans don't have the ability to form a thought of their own.
They regurgitate the talking points provided them by that slug Frank Luntz.

[Bozwellian]

Frankie replace Karl as ROver fell out of favor after seeral major elections were losft taking HIS advice and using HIS talking points...These days the regurgitation are spouted by the small contingency trying desparately scam others into to thinking they are relevant...Even THE VIEW, Lizabeth regurgitates almost word for word the daily issued script...The ditherings harpies seem not to mind that folks have noticed the SAME -O in what they trot out to spout off with and find them all easy to dismiss !!!

[Bude]

The republicans had prepared their opposition argument years ago. They were simply waiting for a name to plug into it.

They will oppose anyone nominated by a democrat. Is that news?

[SatinPanties]

Mr. Linkins,

As if I already didn't have enough reasons to drink, now you give me another idea for a drinking game!

Cheers!

[PiscesPrincess]

Jason; Thanks for calling to our attention the continued lock-step of the Republicans in the Senate.
Those four are saying what the Dems said a few years ago when they were expected to pass on a couple of justices who Do seem to make judgements based on
"their own feelings or personal or political preferences."
It would be amusing if it were not such a serious issue.

[rockyb26]

years ago they determined that the SAT was biased against minorities because the scenarios in the questions were more likely to be encountered by whites therefore they were more likely to know the answers. why is everyone so shocked by this? tests can be be biased, especially if they're created by humans

[julesbh]

I have high hopes for Sotomayer, but I was disappointed to read this: "The New Haven firefighter case is one of the most controversial rulings in Sotomayor's record, and one that will no doubt be a prime source of criticism from conservatives. The case, Ricci vs. DeStefano, was brought by Frank Ricci and a group of his firefighting colleagues (all non-black including one Hispanic man). The men were denied promotion after an examination to determine their eligibility to move up yielded no successful black candidates. As a result, the New Haven authority decided to discard the exam results and grant no promotions. Ricci and his colleagues argued they'd been discriminated against, but their case was dismissed. Sotomayor was part of a three judge panel on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals who upheld the dismissal. The case is currently pending before the Supreme Court. It raised considerable ire, sparking affirmative action debates."

[dwright]

do you know the legal specifics? I withhold any opinion until I read how the case was written. Sometimes it is a technicality that makes a judge make a seemingly strange decision.

[julesbh]

I guess that will come up at Ms. Sotomayers hearing. I'm hoping it is ta technicality and not anything suspect.

[imfedup]

It's not a strange decision. Tests can be written with a bias toward or against an ethnic group. They are written by human beings, and most of the time by white males. Her ruling does not mean she advocated unqualified firefighters being promoted. It means there was sufficient evidence that the tests were discriminatory.

[SurrealPumpkin]

I can't quote the specifics, but I think the decision was based on New Haven law which allows the disregarding of the test results.

[Corral]

Tests of this sort, like intelligence tests, have historically been put together to reflect the ability of the individual to communicate their understanding of the world from a cultural perspective. There is no perfect test of course, but, people make the tests. The test maker has to be sure that their own cultural preferences aren't too imbedded in these "general" tests. It isn't fair to create and grade a test based on the life experiences of just one type of life experience. There has to be an effort to consider the true commonalities that all cultures within our country can respond to...

[julesbh]

I know in NY the tests for police dept. and fire fighters have been modified to reflect racial diversity. I do not know about Ct.

[wdw505]

justice is supposed to be blind.......you are supposed to be impartial.......

[C65]

Corral,you are so right.I was thinking of the people that write the test,do they
include African Americans and other Minoities,because if they did maybe that
would even the playing field as it should have been all along.
Take for instance,if a Whites were asked to take a test,drawn up by an Chinese
based on their culture,ir­regardless of the Chinese being an American,how
would they pass this test,never having the experiences the Chinese had?
I would like to frame it like this;If you were reared in a household,familiar
with wine and caviar,how could you describe it's taste,if all you've had was
burgers and fries?

[bruster55]

How were these firefighters treated any differently than the other firefighters. Were black firefighters appointed over white firefighters, No they weren't. In order to have a case of discrimination. Discrimination has to actually have happened. In this case no discrimination occured, so the case was dismissed.

[wdw505]

no.....jobs were offered.......tests were taken........no black passed the test........jobs were taken off the table.....­.discrimin­ation is in place

[julesbh]

I understand what you are saying, what I don't get is why the FD offered this test for promotions in the first place if they weren't going to follow through with it? I could see if there was a hiring freeze instituted after the test, but technically when the freeze is lifted then the people who passed should be promoted.

[3rdpartypatriot]

Racial discrimination is okay (encouraged actually!) as long as it's against a group made up of primarily white males... Didn't you know that?

[sasidechick]

No one has been more mistreated in this country that white males.

Do you see how silly that looks??

[Gingersp]

You are "reverse discrimination" exists. But the Supreme Court needs diversity -- there ARE too many white males. When women make up half the population, but only one in nine on the Court, something is wrong.
Sotomayor is not just a woman and she is not just hispanic. She is highly qualified for what Obama has nominated her for. Period.

[rockyb26]

you're kidding right?

[robertlockwoodmills]

Nothing magnifies the intellectual bankruptcy of Washington politicians than a Supreme Court nomination. Personally, I'm livid that a left-handed, green-eyed homosexual of Slavic descent has never been on the court.

[dwright]

Oh please, they do it all the time. Tea bagging parties, listening pizza parties, Rush's slumber parties. Secession etc.

[Corral]

Boo hoo...the GOP have their panties in a bunch because there is a possibility this nominee might not make decisions based on the preferences of grumpy old white guys. The nerve. I mean, this country has been run by the preferences of grumpy old white guys. Oh right.......that is why our country was brought to it's knees at the brink of devastation. Well, grumpy, old, racist white guys, I think that it is a good thing to have an intelligent non-white grumpy guy on the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas doesn't count. Gosh, he doesn't even talk! Are most of the surviving Republicans in Congress really as dumb as they act. It can't only be that they are doing the bidding of their special interests. I mean, they really do act dumb. They have held back this country for so long in so many ways. Waiting for the last one to retire or be voted out.

[OKnight]

night all, easy on las...breaks rather easily...

[mamacat]

After all the other lies and scandals involving the right-wing extremists who now control the Republican Party, why in the world is anyone still listening to anything they have to say? These guys couldn't tell the truth if their lives depended on it.

[OKnight]

ur correct...

[Lasnoe]

really? why don't you list the lies....

[OKnight]

have a copy of ur birth certificate...

[thepoliticalcat]

We can start with "Iraq has WMD."

[TheLearnedEnglishDog]

stfusockpuppet