Conservatives Redraw Plan Of Attack On Sotomayor

Conservatives Redraw Plan Of Attack On Sotomayor
by Liz Halloran

NPR.org, June 10, 2009 · In the two weeks since President Obama made Judge Sonia Sotomayor his pick for the Supreme Court, outnumbered Republicans on Capitol Hill and conservative activists have struggled mightily over how to mount a credible opposition.

Conservative efforts to frame a coherent case against the nation's first Hispanic nominee took on new urgency Tuesday, after Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced that Sotomayor's confirmation hearings will begin July 13, months earlier than many GOP leaders had wanted.

The GOP is still debating how to make that case against a nominee who, barring a disqualifying revelation, is expected to emerge from her Senate review as the newest justice. But consensus is emerging over how to use Sotomayor's confirmation process —and its three or four days of televised hearings — as a jumping-off point to appeal to the moderate and independent voters whom the party has been rapidly shedding.

Rule 1: Focus On Her Rulings

Conservatives seem intent on staying away from the kinds of personal attacks that marked the days following Sotomayor's nomination. Instead, they'll focus on her role —both while on the bench and before — in racial preference cases and in cases that conservatives say suggest the judge's decisions were colored by "empathy" based on her own ethnic identity.

"There's clearly an effort under way to make this an educational experience and to draw a clear line where liberals stand on the courts and where conservatives stand, and what they're looking for in a judge," says Tony Perkins of the conservative Family Research Council.

"The party should celebrate yet another barrier broken in American politics," says Whit Ayres, a longtime GOP pollster and consultant, "while simultaneously engaging in a professional and respectful way the very real substantive issue that her nomination raises."

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105173070&ft=1&f=1014

Maybe that will work. :eyes:

that when I saw a *fake* news story that had Gingrich complaining about Sotomayor being on crutches (to elicit sympathy during confirmation hearings) I actually thought it was real at first. I would absolutely not be surprised about the depths to which they would go to slander anybody.

They have the Rush Limbaughs of the world--those guys don't do "racially sensitive".

Clearly.

Crazy