I think the problem here is the outmoded framing of the nomination entirely with the judge’s ethnicity and gender. The Republicans are deftly exploiting the shallow, symbolic factors related to Sotomayor’s nomination. Those factors really should be beside the point. If the public discussion were more honest and open paricipants would all recongize and agree that having more diversity among judges opens the judicial system up to being more responsive and even handed than if we had a purely homogeneous judiciary. It’s just a fact of human nature that who we are can have an important impact on how we view and evaluate situations and circumstances. If the judiciary is so utterly dominated by one kind of viewpoint then it naturally has limitations as a result. This would be true no matter what particular class or group dominated. It would be just as detrimental if all judges or the vast preponderance were black males or black females or hispanic females, etc… The fact that Sotomayor is hispanic and female should only be a secondary factor IMHO because by any measure she is a very capable judge and that is really what is important. My own view is she is being put in a position that I’m sure she dislikes by focusing on her demographics as though those factors alone define her instead of her substance. Wouldn’t human beings be a sorry lot if the only things that shaped our viewpoint and intellect were the circumstances to which we were born? I cannot wait for the day when the symbolic gender, ethnicity, race and other such factors are of no consequence and we only focus on what kind of judge the nominees really are.

What a pity that the first non-white (as it were) president will be, I believe, an ineffective, one-term president, clearly incapable of understanding macroeconomics and already having lost the respect of many of the world leaders. Being from Chicago and having seen the post-Alinsky result of Alinsky-style “community organizing”, I’m at a loss to understand how the Obama administration would want to emulate that!

Seriously though, I don’t think it’s over for Sotomayor. She is one of the most qualified candidates to be nominated for the Supreme Court. The media is painting her in a very negative light and if not for them, I think she’d likely have a much higher approval rating among Americans. The media is great at messing up a person’s image.

The rampant ignorance in this Country is staggering. Among these are the Dupes, redneck vacuities, cretins, and crackpot evangelicals who most reliably vote against themselves in every cycle. The scoundrels at Fox Newstwisters Channel and in rightwinger squawk radio depend upon them for audience ratings and for their obscene compensation and wealth for spewing the plutocratic bilge.

If I am on target she is the throw a way candidate. If she can make it through the entire elimination process she might have a chance. The Democrats only have a simple majority and what is the cost of a vote?

I think and I could be eating my words but we will have another one for the same seat to be vacated by Souter.

If you notice there hasn’t been too much commenting on the “NEXT”
choice for SCOTUS,and like I say thats going to be the one!!

And I do recall as you have suggested.

I may be wrong but,I think this back and forth on the nomination,is really building up to the real fight,if I can use that term.

In my humble layman opinion,its the “NEXT” nominee where all the fireworks are waiting for.

Again this is my humble opinion.
*************************

But then again, you sir may be correct. If you recall this has been done before.

CNN is to the right and its poll is probably indicative of that. Ask a republican and you get a republican’s response, ask a democrat and you get a democrat’s response.

In my humble layman opinion,its the “NEXT” nominee where all the fireworks are waiting for.

Again this is my humble opinion.

She should be be calling for obama’s arrest.

I don’t care who gets in the Sct. I just hope that they are wise, regardless if female, mexican, asian, african, white. Too much stupidity on there already.

I like everyone until I have a reason not to. Because this is a life time/life long appointment and the removal process is extremely difficult and they can hide for years. I say what I say because I feel that it is that important.

I heard people say we need a White Female, We Need a Mexican Male, We need another Black Male, We need an Asian.

What we need is someone to do what they say and mean what they do. The Bubble as Scott McClellan states needs to be burst. Because he said Geo the 2nd was really a nice guy, maybe so, but too stupid to run a company on his own.

Could you imagine Dick Cheney on the Sct? AT least you know what evil he is capable of.

Americans are gullible, susceptible to propaganda, willfully ignorant in some cases and on the borderline of being too stupid to have an effective democracy.

Republicans are adept at nurturing this stupidity for their own ends. The specious objections to Sotomayor are just another example of rousing the rabble.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/12/AR2009071201530.html

In appearances, her demeanor, and even her choice of words when she’s speaking, she stands out as not part of the “old school,” and even something radically new, from a radically “new” president. Because she’s not photogenic, not a great and inspiring speaker, and not representing herself as part of the old establishment in just a “different shade of pale,” people don’t like her. It’s not so much anything that you can put your finger on, it’s just the gut reaction that people get… Maybe were getting burned out on “change.”

I for one believe she’ll dispell some of the discomfort that people are feeling during the confirmation hearings as we gain an insight to her thought process. Is Sotomayor likly to be a “Great Justice,” probably not, but a good one, I think so… That’s my “two cents worth.”