Listening to the rhetoric coming from the GOP concerning the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor is laughable. Not surprising, just laughable.
And here's the other part of the gag: If the situation were reversed, the Democrats would be using the same tired rhetoric. Anyone who says nominating justices to the Supreme Court is not political is simply fooling himself.
I'm leaving Rush Limbaugh, who along with former Vice President Dick Cheney seem to be the leaders of the Republican Party, out of the equation because his response is so predictable that it doesn't need to be repeated here.
But here's what Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had to say: "You have to be careful, you don't want to be seen as a bully in this situation. I think our party will right now avoid the partisan knee-jerks that come with some of these things. We're not in the business of pillorying someone ... we do have some reservations and concerns on her views on the Second Amendment, her views on abortion, her views on ... property rights."
Oh, really? And then he turned it over to the experts, the ones constantly running for office. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, who is a likely candidate for president in 2012, said that Sotomayor, who he referred to in a press release as "Maria"(I suppose he's been watching "West Side Story" too much lately), is the "clearest indication yet that President Obama's campaign promises to be a centrist and think in a bipartisan way were mere rhetoric. If she is confirmed, then we need to take the blindfold off Lady Justice."
Mitt Romney, another GOP candidate for president, also waded into the fray by calling her nomination "troubling." He went on to say: "Her public statements make it clear she has an expansive view of the role of the judiciary. Historically, the court is where judges interpret the Constitution and apply the law. ... What the American public deserves is a judge who will put the law above her own personal political philosophy."
Don't they know that the American public can see through this baloney? Of course it's all about politics. Everything in Washington is about politics. To believe that a president doesn't choose a nominee that reflects, at least to some degree, his own political philosophy is silly.
And as I said before, if the situation were reversed the Democrats would be blowing the same hot political air.
Get on with the hearings. Ask tough questions. But don't think you're fooling any of us with all that hollow talk.
