Today in the Senate Judicial Committee a vote will be held on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Once out of the committee, she will be allowed a vote on the Senate floor. So far on the committee, only Senator Lindsey Graham, (R-SC) has stated he will vote for Sotomayor. Senator Cornyn (R-TX) did say, however, that he will vote for her in committee if his vote was needed for her to get to the vote on the Senate floor. He doesn't support voting for her on the final vote.
I want to thank Senator Graham and other Republicans who have come out to say they will vote for Sotomayor's confirmation. Senators Snowe, Collins, Martinez and Lugar have all stated they will vote for her.
To the other Republicans I would say this: vote for her. I understand the inclination to vote against her. She was very slippery in her hearing. She stated opinions one way and her record shows differently. Even some liberal columnists, like the Washington Post's Richard Cohen, have written that she is not the brightest bulb in the box. Many others were more qualifed, more intelligent, more suited for judicial temperment but she is the president's choice.
The Democrats like to push the fact that Sotomayor has so many years on the Federal bench. It's true but that doesn't mean she is the best choice. And, yes, she is an affirmative action choice. She has benefited by affirmative action through out her life, as she is the first to state. She admitted her grades were not truly good enough to be accepted into the college she was given the scholarship to attend but she was given it due to her ethnic background. She is the president's choice.
Here's the thing - in the past it was the process that allowed the president his choice on nominees if that nominee was qualified and of good moral character. This was the accepted way of conducting business. Then, as the Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, the Democrats threw that out the window. They are very sore losers and truly mean spirited politicians. Even though Republicans voted unamiously for Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a far left liberal, the Democrats decided to vote against the two nominees of President George W. Bush. John Roberts and Samuel Alito were subjected to nasty campaigns of personal destruction. Democrat special interest groups, led by Teddy (the swimmer) Kennedy and Patrick Leahy (the Democrat kicked off the Senate Intelligence Committee for leaking national security secrets to the press) and their vile actions included trying to unseal the adoption records of Justice Roberts' two young children. Samuel Alito's wife was reduced to tears during his hearing as Kennedy demanded to know why Alito was so racist. He wasn't,of course, but the truth doesn't much matter to liberal Democrats if it gets in the way of their goal.
President Obama, as Senator Obama, voted against Roberts and Alito. He fell in line with fellow liberal Democrats. He never bucked the party on any liberal issue. He was never a post partisan politician, despite his claims. He even was in favor of filibustering Alito when it was discussed within a meeting of other liberal Democrats on the committee.
So, Repubicans must rise above the fray as we always do. We must lead the politicians back to the commonly held ways of civility in poitics. We cannot criticize Democrats for their nasty methods if we do the same. We must lead by example.
Senator Graham gets it. I know that the purists in the Republican party and those who consider themselves conservative will be once again screaming about this. That is a pity. They do not get it any more than liberals who proceed with unhelpful ways.
Sotomayor is qualified. She is of good moral character.
Elections have consequences. Maybe next time all those who were so "pure" as to not vote for the conservative candidate and stayed home instead of voting will remember that. McCain is conservative. He is conservative on social and fiscal issues. But, because he works with the other side, as he is elected to do to move issues forward, he is demeaned by "purists".
We lost. Elections have consequences. Move on.
3 comments:
Are you going to tell them to vote for the Healthcare bill too because "elections of consequences?"
Jo:
No. That's not the point of this post. I want health care insurance reform but not the way Obama wants it - with government takeover. I want private enterprise solutions - like Switzerland does but on a larger scale for us.
The consequence of this election is that now we will have Obama care, not what McCain would have presented and certainly not rushed through as Obama is trying to do.
Unfortunately, I don't think any amount of trying to rise above the fray and lead the Democrats back to a modicum of civility will ever work.... the mean spirited nasty politicians on the left are fiercely entrenched... and completely insulated from what the "people" actually want. Civility just won't happen. It is way too late.
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