There’s two things that jump out about the Sotomayor nomination: (1) the Village has a major hard-on for that New Haven affirmative action case (here; here; here) and (2) the Republicans are in a tough bind politically with this choice. Jay Newton-Small sums up the second point pretty clearly:
It’s no wonder that so many Republicans reacted to President Barack Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court Tuesday by arguing that the confirmation process couldn’t be rushed: the GOP knows it has been dealt a bad hand, and it’s playing for time.
Villagers get hot and bothered about affirmative action because they believe, incredible as it seems, that their profession is a meritocracy. We’ve explored this delusion before. Republicans get hot and bothered about it because it has been a good political issue for them in the past.
But the fact is that screaming about about quota queens and welfare moms and young bucks buying T-bone steaks simply is not a magic bullet anymore. It works with white southerners and it works with Chris Matthews’ cranky uncle. But the Republican party has already maxed out with that demographic. Unless they can improve their standing with women, Latinos, and younger voters, they’re screwed. Obviously, attacking a Latino woman for being a Latino woman will hurt politically with Latinos and women. And younger voters don’t hear 40 year-old dog whistles that well.
If Republicans are smart, they’ll just keep walking, no matter how much Fred Hiatt eggs them on.