Sotomayor Confirmed; Rethugs Weep

Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be the next Justice of the Supreme Court. The Senate voted to confirm Judge Sotomayor today by a vote of 68 to 31, with only 9 Rethuglicans joining the Democratic majority. She will be sworn in shortly. May she have a long and distinguished term.

Aside from the fact that the Supreme Court will be getting a highly qualified and experienced jurist in Judge Sotomayor, the Rethuglicans' clumsy and transparent focus on ethnicity/race issues before and during the hearings will certainly hurt them with Hispanic voters, perhaps for a generation. Ah yes, a win-win of potentially epic proportions.

BONUS: As a well-deserved finger in the eye for Senate Rethugs, Sen. Al Franken, much reviled on the far right, was presiding over the Senate during the roll call vote and announced the results. SWEEEEET!

Sotomayor Clears First Hurdle

By a vote of 13 to 6, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the President's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Every Rethuglican, except Lindsey "Cracker" Graham, voted against Sotomayor. They will pay for their partisan BS, especially in states with large Hispanic populations (Cornyn-Texas, and Kyl-Arizona), and it's always a bonus to see their hypocrisy exposed.

Quote of the Day - Halfwit Edition

"You'll have a lot of 'esplainin' to do." -- No, not Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz). It's Oklahoma's (other) crackpot Rethug Sen. Tom "Preacher" Coburn, to Latina Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor today. Remember also this cucaracha is Sen. Don Juan Ensign's "deacon."

Pinhead Punditry

Fux Channel's resident mental case Glenn "Dreck" Beck had another hissy fit on his program yesterday over the first day of hearings for Judge Sotomayor. Yesterday, of course, was purely for the opening statements of the Senators and a statement by Judge Sotomayor, with no questions scheduled until today's hearing. That fact didn't stop the mentally challenged Dreck from criticizing the "softball questions" that didn't occur. Note to Dreck: you might want to tune in today for the questions, Einstein. Such is the level of intelligence on the Fux Channel.

Sotomayor Hearings Begin

Today is the beginning of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings and, as expected, the fringe right-wingers are starting their memes.

Ranking Rethug Sen. Jeff "Erson Davis" Sessions (Rethug-CSA) is wondering if Sotomayor's nomination represents a "dangerous" path for the Supreme Court (seeing this Southern fried chicken drawl about Sotomayor's "racism" is like seeing Limpballs bring up Fatty Arbuckle -- it just serves to remind one who's the real racist/ obese pervert).

Sen. Jon Kyl (Rethug-AZ) is raising the "empathy=bias" meme that the wingnut commentariat has been flogging for a month (zzzzzzzz...hmm? no traction? oh well, it's all we got...).

We can hardly wait for New Haven Fireman Frank "Lawsuits 'R' Me" Ricci to take his place among the stellar wingnut panel the Rethugs are going to put forth (including Linda "LINO" Chavez and the wingnut legal brigade from George Mason University "Law" School - what, no one from 4th tier Regent Law School available?).

(Photo: Sen. Jeff "Erson Davis" Sessions, in his wingnut warpaint)

A Tennessee Gentleman

Tennessee Rethuglican Sen. Bob "Gentleman Dork" Corker was to have met with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor last Thursday, but abruptly cancelled after waiting only 10 minutes for Judge Sotomayor to arrive. The Judge is still on crutches, having fractured her ankle a few days before, and was delayed in her meeting with Gentleman Dork, who said he had to move on to another meeting (with who, the Tennessee Squirrel Skinners Association?)

Gentleman Dork, of course, achieved a level of infamy for the racist TV ad which featured a sexy blonde ("Harold, call me") that ran during his Senate campaign in 2006 against African-American Rep. Harold Ford.

We understand that he's trying to reschedule a meeting with Judge Sotomayor; that's a meeting she should decline this time around. You won't get this buffoon's vote, and you certainly wouldn't want it.

(photo: Senator, it's not polite to disclose your sexual inadequacies in a public forum)

Poot Goes 'Pfffft'

Former House Speaker and stinkbomb thrower Newt "Poot" Gingrich is retracting his smear of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a "racist." We've been hearing that the Rethuglican "leadership" in Congress was furious that Poot and party boss Pills Limpballs were out in front of cameras with their smear campaign against Judge Sotomayor, at a time when Senate Rethugs are erecting the facade of "reasonable concern." Poot then decided to beat a hasty retreat.

With Poot's backpedaling, that leaves long-time racists Pat "Pitchfork" Buchanan and Limpballs as the pasty white faces alleging "reverse racism" in some benign comments several years ago by the Judge. We can understand their tantrum: racism is their brand, dammit, and nobody's going to steal it from them.

(photo: Poot, shown in the few seconds per day that his mouth is shut)

"Foaming-in-the-mouth Crazies"

Re frothing Sotomayor-induced wingnut seizures, Bob Herbert calls 'em like he (and we) sees 'em in this caustic salvo appearing in today's NY Times. Herbert lays into the sickening hypocrisy of the racist right and their cowardly minions in Congress. Read it.

And our brain-dead villager media? Transcribing the right-wing meme, as you would expect.

A Supreme Choice

Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor has been nominated by President Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter. When confirmed, Judge Sotomayor would be the only Justice with trial judge experience, the Justice with the most experience as a judge, and the first Hispanic woman ever on the highest court. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court bench by President George H.W. Bush, and has served on the Court of Appeals for 11 years. Her modest beginnings in the South Bronx, her scholarship to Princeton, where she finished at the top of her class, and her graduation from Yale Law are an inspiring story of courage and hard work.

Unfortunately, in today's political climate, it's no longer enough to debate a nominee's judicial record. We can expect ads on TV and radio twisting and distorting Sotomayor's record, with the talking, empty heads in the media promoting every false story without checking. In fact, right wing groups already ran preemptive ads that depicted Sotomayor, Judge Diane Wood, and Solicitor General Ellen Kagan as far out of the mainstream, they just didn't know which person would get Obama's nod. He picked a judge that has all the potential to be a great Justice.

Preemptive Sliming: A Case Study

If you want to understand how a right wing smear develops and is propagated, read John Cole's summation of the excellent piece by Glenn Greenwald in Salon about the New Republic's smearing of Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor is one of a number of female judges that would be under consideration to fill Justice Souter's chair when he retires. Apparently, anonymous weasels on the right wing launched a whisper campaign to preempt Judge Sotomayor's consideration by President Obama, and they used a two-legged turd by the name of Jeffrey "Slimer" Rosen, writing in the New Republic, to do the job on the Judge. The article was full of catty, unattributed smears, something that belongs on a bathroom stall.

Bear in mind that Sotomayor, a Princeton (summa cum laude) and Yale-educated jurist, has served on the Second Court of Appeals for over 10 years, and is well regarded as a centrist by the American Bar Association. Undoubtedly, the fact that she worked her way up from a working class Puerto Rican family in the Bronx makes some right wing, silver-spoon elites nervous, as they observe her from their clubs and the cocktail circuit. Tough torts. There are a lot of great choices for the President, but this episode has made us root for Judge Sotomayor all the more.