Sotomayor And Republican Racism

From Craig Crawford:

President Obama is free to go hard left with his next Supreme Court appointment. That's the lesson of the failed attacks on nominee Sonia Sotomayor during this week's Senate confirmation hearing.

Racially-tinged inferences, snide liberal bashing and the shameless pandering to anti-intellectual sentiment that once won the day for Republicans are now falling flat. The Sotomayor nomination has proved to be yet another test case for the efficacy of traditional conservative attack lines.

Republicans might have hoped to use this hearing to put limits on how far the President can safely go in picking liberals for future openings. Instead, they showcased just how narrow and out of touch their political base has become.

It is stunning that the GOP did not learn this lesson in the election of Barack Obama. Until Republicans get past calling 1-800-HATE there will be fewer and fewer voters on the other end of the line.

It's pretty clear to me, given how some of these GOP senators held out their racist mentality for all to see, that the Republicans used the Sotomayor hearings to actually promote racism. That's why the GOP allowed a good old boy like Jeff Sessions to run the show for them -- they knew Sotomayor would easily be confirmed, so why not use the hearings as an opportunity to throw some red meat at the 20% or so of the U.S. population that currently make up what's left of the Republican Party.

And I fully support such a strategy. The last thing I want the GOP to do is something that would actually expand the number of Republicans.

Palin/Sessions 2012!