In the Arena

What if…

  • Share
  • Read Later

The Republican Party decides not to go berserk over Sonia Sotomayor? As Mark McKinnon says in the Daily Beast:

Let’s face it, Sotomayor is a political trifecta. Woman. Hispanic. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from George H. W. Bush.

Yes, Mitch McConnell has to make his pro forma gestures about doing due diligence. And it is important to fully examine Judge Sotomayor’s judicial record. But, every day this confirmation battle gets unreasonably extended is a good day for Democrats and a bad day for Republicans.

It would be remarkably sane for Republicans to chill on this one, to not alienate an ethnic group–Latinos–who were a crucial part of Karl Rove’s plan to achieve permanent majority status. But there’s a beast to feed. Rush has to have his daily reflux. The interest groups need to send out direct mail letters and emails, begging for funds. (It’s how they survive and make money–and by the way, these sort of fights have been a speciality of liberal interest groups for twenty years, since Robert Bork first harrumphed his way to oblivion.) And members of the Senate need to please those interest groups if they hope to get campaign contributions when the election draws nigh.

In other words, confirmogasms have become big business. They distort more than enlighten, especially Supreme Court confirmations, where the nominee sits and pretends to be all judicious and undecided about the very issues–say, abortion–that he-or-she has been selected to be “reliable” on.

It would be nice if we were spared the carnival in Sotomayor’s case. But somehow I think we won’t be.