Kirsten Gillibrand Bungles Sotomayor Introduction

All New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand had to do on Monday was introduce Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Unfortunately, she screwed that all up, so now she will face seven primary challengers. Glenn Thrush has the scoop on Gillibrand's inability to stop talking about Sotomayor without someone applying duress.

In a move that induced cringes in the gallery, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) cut her off in the middle of her extremely long introductory statement on Sotomayor -- telling Gillibrand the committee needed to speed up Sotomayor's swearing-in.

"20 more seconds?" she asked.

"Okay." he said.

She skipped a half-page and hit the coda: "I strongly support Judge Sotomayor's nomination..."

Gillibrand later attempted to put the matter behind her, quipping, "I wasn't aware that the five-minute rule was in effect... or I would have been shorter." Of course, the "five-minute rule" actually refers to the amount of time any senator is allowed to fondle David Brooks' leg at dinner. Jesus, Gillibrand is such a noob!

Anyway, now Justice Roberts will have to reintroduce Sotomayor in a private Oval Office ceremony for her nomination to count, and even afterwards, people will probably demand she brandish her birth certificate at all times.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[BRCC]

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's introduction of Judge Sotomayor was conscientious, thorough and heart felt. Frankly it was refreshing to listen to compared to other speeches and bloviating that happened throughout the day. What is the problem with a person doing her due diligence and being detailed in her thoughts?

[fran20]

Jesus, Gillibrand is such a noob!

What? "Noob" is a new one to me, but if it is what it sounds like, it definitey does not apply to Gillibrand. She was one of Sotomayor's earliest advocates, encourating Obama to nominate her. She had a right to offer preventive quotes by the other justices before the GOP Senators attempted to spin Sotomayor's words against her. Leahy was condescending, and Gillibrand handled it with humor and grace. Lighten up.

[treadway123]

Shse has to speak slow,clear and loud to get the old white senators to pay attention,not dose off!

[rollingdivision]

The Church’s position on politicians (and, presumably Justices) and abortion is summarized by the following paragraph from then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI): “5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.­” http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/bishops/04-07ratzingerommunion.htm Thus, bishops informed John Kerry, in 2004, he would not be eligible to recieve communion because of his position on abortion. I’m not saying that a person should be rejected or confirmed based on his or her religious beliefs, but I can’t help wondering if that is why these nominees were nominated and if the Pope's letter would influence/have influenced his vote on issues before the courts.

[TeresaInPa]

I think the Pope and the RCC should stay out of American politics. Why is it that you and he constantly refers to politicians as "he". Why is it that the RCC objects to Abortion but not the death penalty or unjust war? And why is it that we only hear about this in terms of democrats? Surely there are some pr-choice republicans who should also be making the news as being denied communion?

[rollingdivision]

If confirmed, Sonia Sotomayor will be the sixth Catholic justice of the Supreme Court (Thomas, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito and Roberts being the others). That is 66% of the court as compared to 24% of the US population. (This percentage of the population is from a study titled “Americans Struggle with Religion’s Role at Home and Abroad”, released on March 20, 2002 by the Pew organization. A Harris poll in 2000 put that number at 19.9%). It would also mean that, of the 14 Catholics ever to have served on the Supreme Court, 6 would be current.

[IssuesInFocus]

Tells you how power, knowledge and the right moves work.
On your next 'move' in college, (lol) think law and Ivy League... that's the first important step. With that comes the connections on how to be a law clerk with another well known attorney. Then the rest will be history. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hW_tVDDdro

[deannrosp]

I remember when Patterson introduced her as his choice to fill Clinton's seat; she kept the media waiting then showed up with a huge entourage and introduced each and every person. She's long winded and a media hog.

[glorialovelace]

She didn't show up with "a huge entourage.­" The people who were on that platform had all been ordered to show up by the Governor. The group consisted of various New York State pols, including members of our congressional delegation. The people thanked by Gillbrand included Reps. Nita Lowey -- who was there -- and Carolyn McCarthy -- who did not attend.

[furey]

But Senator Gillibrand did not "screw up" by agreeing to support this investigation:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/make-it-happen-on-purpose/

[Terrence0258]

I don't want to sound sexist or anything but I saw her intro yesterday and the whole time she spoke it sounded like a high school cheerleader trying and failing to get a crowd pumped up at a pep rally, and then at the end when she said something about Sotomayor being the brightest legal mind in the history of America or something like that I almost died laughing.

[glorialovelace]

She has a very young voice, yes.

[fran20]

You're right--you sound sexist.

[TeresaInPa]

you hate to be sexist? Then next time don't do it?

[lizletzler]

It's time the alpha males in the Senate got over themselves and stopped feeling threatened by two smart, accomplished, articulate, uppidy women.

[newhouse1]

Today was senatorial puppet theater and Gillibrand's intro was a bit protracted. Even all the committee members doing a monologue was a bit like fingernails on chalk boards, notably, AL Franken's. She should have tailored her remarks with assumption Feinstein, Klobacher, Leahy, and Feingold were going to cover her bona fides, and just underscored her pride that all New Yorkers were being uplifted with Sotomayor's nomination.

[Chopin]

Mr. Linkins, that's hardly a story worth blogging. Any new inexperienced US Senator can make a blooper. You did Huffpost journalism a slight disfavor by trivializing the potential primary challengers to Senator Gillibrand in the upcoming NY Senate race. Of course the substance of serious challengers to her appointed senate seat have nothing to do with such a trivial incident.

In a later paragraph, you resorted to personal @&#*$ attributes. If I made similar comments, they probably would have been rejected by Huffpost. C'mon, Mr. Linkins, let's raise the level of journalism.

[ESerafina42]

Evidently some of these people are still ticked off that the, you know, "anointed one," Caroline Kennedy, wasn't chosen, so they won't give Sen. Gillibrand a break. Pretty childish, if you ask me.

[nibblybits]

Or maybe we're annoyed at having Gillibrand, who is Republican in all but name only, was chosen to represent us by fiat of an inept and unpopular governor. Perhaps we prefer having a real Dem with a proven record of Dem voting for one of the two senatorial seats in Congress.

If you're not a NYer, maybe you should just shut up and let us be the judge of who should represent us.

[RFBorjal]

Thank goodness, he said "noob!" For a while, I thought he said "boob!"

[vgirl1]

Huff Posts conclusion and Leahy's move here were both too petty for words.

There is no way that one more minute would have been disruptive to the day's earful of meaningless diatribe by the members of the Committee as each got their two cents worth of posturing on the record and their 2 minutes of visibility before all the news networks.

Give us a break!

[nibblybits]

Considering Gillibrand's long-time anti-immigration stance, it's especially weird to have her introduce Sotomayor, who spoke so movingly about the struggles of her immigrant parents to provide a better life for her.

[glorialovelace]

Gillibrand never had an "anti-immigration" stance. Gillibrand was anti ILLEGAL immigration, which is not the same at all as being anti-immigrant.

Furthermore, since Puerto Rico has been virtually part of the United States for generations, it's not really correct to refer to people who come her from PR as immigrants since they have had full citizen rights since 1917.

[zukervati]

Not the sharpest tool in the shed!

[fran20]

You obviously know nothing about Gillibrand to make that comment. She's exceptionally intelligent.