Fare thee well, Justice Stevens

After nearly 35 years on the Supreme Court and 90 years on the earth, Supreme Court Justice and former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Stevens is retiring.

Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, the leader of the liberals on the Supreme Court, announced on Friday that he will retire at the end of this term, setting up a confirmation battle over his replacement that could dominate the political scene this summer.

In a brief letter to President Obama, whom he addressed as “my dear Mr. President,” Justice Stevens said he was announcing his retirement now because he had “concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court’s next term” in October.

Is he going to molest children with David Souter, tour with Them Crooked Vultures, or is he just retiring so he can vie for a prestigious nomination to Judge Judy's seat on the TV Court? Who knows. All we do know is that this will invariably set off some apocalyptic struggle over his replacement. I think we all remember how classy the Sotomayor confirmation was... well that was when the Democrats had some limited measure of control over confirming her. Now?

Maybe I'm overreacting. It's not like GOP leaders talking about filibustering the next Obama Supreme Court nominee a few days before Stevens retired, is it?

The second-ranking Republican in the Senate suggested on Sunday that the party would filibuster the next appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, if that nominee were deemed to be outside of the judicial mainstream.

"It will all depend on what kind of a person it is," Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) declared during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." "I think the president should nominate a qualified person. I hope, however, he does not nominate an overly ideological person."

And what is an overly ideological person? Anyone the President nominates. Even though anyone he nominates will probably be considerably less liberal than Stevens is/was.

Still, Kyl is at least a damn sight better than the Bachmann types who will be livid that this Obama fellow thinks he has some Constitutional power to appoint people of his choosing to vacant Supreme Court positions. The nerve! He's shoving judicial nominees down people's throats! This all sounds Maoist... or Stalinist! Tyranny!

So, just in case you thought there was a possibility that American politics would get... we won't say smarter... but.... less.... monstrously stupid, well, I hate to break it to you, but those hopes got shanked in a prison shower. In any event, this will be great fodder for Sean and myself. We eagerly await meeting the new liberal Satan who will invariably wish to bring about the destruction of this country and replace democracy with some sort of communist fiefdom where abortion is the only currency. Good times!

Cheap Blogging Crutch 10.06

Sotomayor shows she's no Clarence Thomas as Supreme Court opens
New Liberal Hispanic Satan took her seat on the Supreme Court Monday and thanks to some reinforcement of the court's foundations, the ground did not open up and swallow everyone whole. One interesting note: she apparently asked more question in on hour than Justice Clarence Thomas has asked...ever. And that's not an exaggeration. He hasn't spoken in court in years. Way to put that seat to good use Clarence. I don't see why anyone would want to use that seat to ask questions before deciding stuff. Rookie mistake, Sotomayor, rookie mistake.

Shroud Of Turin Reproduced; Italian Group Says Relic Is Man-Made, Fake
If there's one thing I've learned over the years is that religions in general tend to respond really positively when scientists come in with facts, figures, experiments, means testing, and evidence to back up their claims towards aspects of science and the natural world. So I'm sure they'll be extra happy now that science has used its powers to start chipping away at religious dogma and relics.

Burden of Proof on Obama's Origins
Hey, didn't you think it would be a great idea to read a story about the lead nut "investigating" the Obama birth certificate "controversy", Orly Taitz, that treated her as just a normal working mom trying to uncover all the vast insane conspiracies she believes in? No? Well fuck you, because the Washington Post did. Because what this country needs is for more newspapers to spend more time profiling everyone with a crackpot conspiracy about the President.

Obama quietly tries to shore up Senate support for public option
According to the LA Times, President Obama and the White House have been working for the last few weeks now to make sure that a public option is included in any final health care bill. Hey great, better to push for it at the end instead of twisting arms in the beginning, right? No? It would have been better to push hard for this months ago instead of spending all that time undercutting the public plan with statements about how a public plan isn't important? Ah well, at least this will allow them to offer up a meek "we tried" when there's no public option and thus no real mechanism for driving down costs.

No Exit: The never-ending lunacy of Betsy McCaughey.
Did you ever wonder where every crazy conspiracy, shoddy statistic, outright lie, and death panel type rumor in our health care debate came from? Chances are it came from long time health reform advocate Betsy McCaughey. I don't know what's more stunning: that so much bullshit can be generated by one person or that she's still taken somewhat seriously by our mainstream media betters.

YES!!!!

Bill Ayers! Puerto Rican terrorists! He's done it again! What were they thinking? Finally, crazy ads!

I mean sure, the Bill Ayers thing didn't work against Obama and Sotomayor has exactly no connection to him, but I'm sure it'll work this time. I mean just look at that: she supports a terrorist group. Terrorist Puerto Ricans! Surely if you were to rank all the terrorist organizations by their dastardly machinations and bombings it would be Al Qaeda at #1, obviously, but next at #2 would clearly be the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Educating Puerto Ricans...about terrorism. Defending against the illegal reaches of the oppressive America regime. THEY WILL NEVER BE THE 51st STATE YOU FASCISTS!!!

I'm just sorry they couldn't fit in their crazy claims about Sotomayor stealing all 'yer guns and their attempt to use MLK to bash minorities into this ad.

Quote of the day

Congressional Quarterly's Carl Crawford on his general impressions of the GOP's performance in the first day of questioning Sonia Sotomayor:

They are coming across as a bunch of snarky and bitter old white men who cannot bear the thought of their kind losing power.

Yeah, that's pretty much on point.

Still it probably would have helped their case if the Republicans hadn't let the first guy to ask questions be Jeff Sessions, a man who the judicial committee refused to seat on the federal bench in 1986 because of his hostility to the idea of civil rights and his "gross insensitivity on racial issues". Oh well, we'll just chalk this one up as a "learning experience" and hope they do better if Obama mistakenly tries to nominate anther non-white to the Supreme Court.

Quote of the day

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) illuminating for all the inherent stupidity that the Supreme Court nomination hearings have become during the last decade or so:

"Unless you have a complete meltdown, you are going to get confirmed," Graham said to the amusement of those in attendance. "And I do not think you will. The drama that is being created here is interesting."

So why even go through with this circus? Every potential nominee is so coached and rehearsed not to say so much as one controversial word or even one smidgen of a potential opinion they might have that all it basically comes down to is a massively stupid proceeding.

Especially this one. Democratic Senators throwing softballs and attacking conservative judges, Republicans trying to prove they aren't racist by telling Sotomayor they'd totally vote for her if she was a conservative Hispanic male, the two Senators who take this seriously getting specific questions knocked down with "I'm sorry I don't answer hypotheticals", protester sideshows, Patrick Leahy threatening to beat the fuck out of anyone who speaks out of turn, and endless droning discussions of her biography. Let's just stop wasting everyone's time and stop pretending like everyone in the House and Senate hasn't already made up their minds. Does anyone think anyone will concoct some ingenious question that gets her to say "I can't wait until I can get on the bench and start sticking it to whitey"? No? Go vote then.

Bilingual stupidity

As a service to our Spanish speaking TB readers, and really there has to be almost one of you, I wanted to point you all towards a new service being offered to you: Newt Gingrich! Tweeting! En espanol! Muy caliente!

You know, just in case all you in the Latino community didn't quite fully understand his myriad of denigrations towards your culture, language, peoples, status, countries of origin, and leaders over the years. Newtie is kind to the Spanish speaking cultures, deigning to translate his brilliance even if he feels you don't deserve it. He wants you to learn things, namely English. But if he must communicate in "the language of the ghetto" to teach you important things about which liberals you should be hating and exactly how racist Sonia Sotomayor is, then he will stoop to your level.

Where else will you learn about his appearances on Neil Cavuto's show to talk about some $16 million "mouse" Nancy Pelosi is building? Why is el diablo Pelosi constructing such a large and expensive rat? Who knows, but it is probably completely unrelated to the fact that that Newt doesn't know casa is actually the word for house. Newt Tweeting in Spanish despite not knowing words you learn on the first day of Spanish class? That's just some of the brilliance you'll be on the receiving end of, Latinos. Now we're not the only ones who have to listen to and understand him, you have to suffer along with us.

Finally we're back into some serious Sotomayor insanity

Christ, I thought I was going to have to wait forever for the fringe religious right-wing to get sufficiently livid over Sonia "Empathy" Sotomayor and her liberal agenda. I guess they were busy watching that Iran business and praying that it would trigger The End Times. That left only Newt and Rush to froth at the mouth and yell "racist!" Ah well, they've shown up to the party now, a little late, but arms full of crazy dip and irrational chips.

The picture, where the prospective SC Justice is conflated with Skeletor and a battle damaged T-800 Terminator, is a flyer for Randall Terry's 12 city "Someone Filibuster This Bitch" Tour. Terry, of course, is the man that not only refused to even intimate that George Tiller's murder was somewhat wrong, but once called for the murder of an abortion doctor on the radio....and it happened two days later. So he's a real peach.

The hope is that by holding rallies that are more sparsely attended than those teabagger parties Terry and his righteous flock will somehow be able to force Sam Brownback (seriously) to attempt a filibuster on Sotomayor....even though she most assuredly has more than 60 votes on her side. Plus, as a side bonus, maybe they can also get some violence incited against some abortion doctors and women who display their ankles in public.

The tour involves stops at various senator's states where they will plead with the senator's to filibuster this baby eater. It even involves a tour to various PA bishops in an attempt to get them to stop giving communion to Senator Casey, before the final protests at the Sotomayor hearings. Good luck with all this fruitless preaching to the choir. I think you would have had more luck screaming "racist" or "reverse racist" with Rush. I just hope the media coverage of you also includes a recording of your plaintive cries of anguish when the new liberal menace is confirmed overwhelmingly.

Sotomayor moves forward

It seems the Sotomayor confirmation process has regained some semblance of sanity. It would have been hard to get crazier, but still, things have been knocked back into almost sane levels of discourse. Well, by current standards anyway. Even Newt Gingrich is on board. He no longer thinks Sotomayor is a complete racist, he just think she's a "racialist", whatever that means. I guess that makes her a 7 on the racism scale, instead of her previous Tufnel-esque 11. Even Christian groups are getting on board, with the organization "Faith and Action in the Nation's Capitol" anointing the confirmation room with holy oils in an attempt to bless the room for a "truthful process for the American people." And if it perhaps leads to evil liberal spirits being forcefully exorcised from Democratic lawmakers and Sotomayor as they enter the room, that's just a bonus.

Even Sotomayor's recent ankle shattering has been met with some measure of restraint. Tom Tancredo has gone out of his way not to mention that white men are sturdier and have stronger ankles and said he even kind of regrets greasing the LaGuardia Airport terminal floor and paying an intern to trip her. Lawmakers are even going out of their way to be more accommodating.

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) had “a bag of ice and a pillow on hand” when she arrived, and quipped, “I hope you all note that some Republicans are empathetic, too.” Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) both signed her cast, and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) presented the Yankees fan with a “snapshot…of himself posing outside the old Yankee Stadium.”

Oh, that Vitter. As long as he isn't paying you $300 an hour to fuck him, he's a real charmer. But I can see why he was nice, he really needs to learn her judicial thoughts on prosecuting lawmakers who moralize about values and nail hookers on the side. And that rascal Ben Nelson. I'm sure there's nothing Judge Sotomayor will cherish more than a photo of you standing outside a stadium. You do know how to pick a gift.

See? Everything is all right. Just ignore the previous weeks. This is a semi-adult legal body conducting themselves in a semi-adult manner. No need to remember all that shame you felt. Blessings! Racialist! Ben Nelson photos! Meetings with Johns! America is back on track.

Headline of the day

From the Huffington Post front page:

Activists Stunned At Pat Buchanan's Racial Tirades

Really? I know we all marveled at how Crazy Uncle Pat was able to tamp down his desire to start dropping the N-Bomb so he could provide cogent political analysis of John McCain's imminent electoral death during the election, but did we all really think he was going to be able to resist the siren call of "Latin woman on the Supreme Court" and not immediately revert back to the Classic Buchanan America fell in love with?

I mean come on, MSNBC is bringing the man on specifically to talk about race issues and GOP response to Sotomayor. How can he, or viewers, resist the temptation to revel in the insanity?

Media Matters has put together a stunning highlights package. Highlights: claiming Sotomayor didn't know English during college, and his support of a segregationist judge Nixon tried to get on the Supreme Court. It's like watching Jordan in his prime.

Newt's "My bad"

Newtie is remorseful. He's decided that spending a full week yelling "RACIST!!!!" not only makes the throat red and inflamed, but is also intensely damaging to things like relations with the Latin community, elections, opinions of your sanity, and the reputation you're trying to cultivate as a conservative intellectual. He just wants to return to a safer place where we can all just demonize her for being a liberal. So now he wants to close the racism door on the racism barn after all those racist horses escaped.

My initial reaction was strong and direct -- perhaps too strong and too direct. The sentiment struck me as racist and I said so. Since then, some who want to have an open and honest consideration of Judge Sotomayor's fitness to serve on the nation's highest court have been critical of my word choice.

With these critics who want to have an honest conversation, I agree. The word "racist" should not have been applied to Judge Sotomayor as a person, even if her words themselves are unacceptable.

Yeah, I guess when your comments find you echoing the words of Tom Tancredo and allowing David Duke to re-enter the stage and throw his two cents into the political debate probably caused Newt to reassess some things. Like how far he's sunk and whether he's too old to get married for a fourth time. But only after he stopped crying and took the gun out of his mouth.

So you guys gonna take back all the hysterical/emotional/temperamental stupid woman attacks, or are we all still cool with those?

Battle of intellectual equals

Seems Rush Limbaugh really pissed of some people by comparing Sonia Sotomayor to David Duke. Like, for instance, David Duke. He really didn't appreciate the comparison. Why? Because unlike Mr. Dr. Duke, Sotomayor is a total racist.

“Limbaugh, a recent addict to illegal drugs, has no business making personal attacks against me for my past,” Duke said. “I have consistently supported true equal rights, stating again and again that I support the best-qualified person regardless of race in hiring and promotions.”

Ouch, cheap shotted by a KKK Grand Wizard. Nice sentiment though, Dave. Strike that, it would have been nice had you not then immediately parroted Tom Tancredo's lies about Sotomayor and La Raza before claiming that affirmative action is racist. Or that whole part where you claimed Sotomayor was part of a Jewish conspiracy to "control any person who is influential or who may at some point in the future become influential.”

Yeah, kind off flew off the rails there at the end.

Quote of the Day: Someone tell him to breathe

Tom Tancredo, out there proving that you can't a tarnish your reputation if your reputation is as someone who race baits Mexicans.

TANCREDO: If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case, which is, from my point of view anyway, nothing more than a Latino — it’s a counterpart — a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses. If you belong to something like that in a way that’s going to convince me and a lot of other people that it’s got nothing to do with race. Even though the logo of La Raza is “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” What does that tell you?

I'm not that surprised he mistook the real La Raza slogan “Strengthening America by promoting the advancement of Latino families” with “All for the race. Nothing for the rest.” and confused the country's largest Latino civil rights advocacy group with a bunch of hooded white supremacist terrorists who murdered and harassed hundreds of thousands of people. Don't we all often make those mistakes?

He does raise an interesting philosophical question would a rose by any other name smell just as sweetly?" can you really be the KKK without the hoods and nooses? I'd like to thank Tommy for bringing up this important esoteric point about the nature of racism. Oh, he wasn't doing that? He was just being a racist? Sorry, my mistake.

That makes one

Instead of trying to present themselves as a sane party who was going to fight this SOCTUS nomination battle over judicial philosophy or even wait until Sotomayor's hearing to throw a hissy fit, most of the GOP decided to spend yesterday stripping themselves naked, setting themselves on fire, and running through the town square, nude and ablaze, screaming "RACIST!!!!!!" But there was a man who took a look at what was going on and decided he was going to kindly step aside and not associate himself with all the other people that decided to speak for his party yesterday. That man? The Balladeer, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) attacked Judge Sonia Sotomayor on his Twitter feed today as a “Latina woman racist” who should withdraw her nomination. On CNN this afternoon, Wolf Blitzer asked Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, if he agreed with Gingrich. “No, I don’t agree with that,” replied Hatch

Ok, that makes one. Anyone want to lay odds on there being a second?

Oh Liberal Media, when will you learn?

There's ThinkProgress, out there doing it again today. They've gone and taken a set of statements made by the racist spawn of Karl Marx and Beelzebub, Sonia Sotomayor, and gone and compared it to things Sam Alito said during his confirmation hearing. Whereas Sotomayor is the world's greatest racist/monster when she says her ethnic background and upbringing inform her judicial decisions, Sam Alito is a salt of the earth working class hero when he brings up his ethnic background and how it informs his decisions.

ALITO: Senator, I tried to in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point. … And that’s why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position. [...]

And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

Now the more ill informed of you might say "Doesn't that make him as big a racist as Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Sonia Goebbels or at least show that both of them aren't racist?" First things first: Alito made those statements while in the possession of a penis (which he prominently displays in a jar on his desk), white skin, Italian heritage, and nomination from a Republican; Sotomayor didn't. Secondly: Alito's schooling at Princeton and Yale Law and his tenure on the 3rd circuit were the product of hard work and achievement, Sotomayor's schooling at Princeton and Yale Law and tenure on the 2nd circuit were the result of affirmative action, racism, and ancient voodoo rituals. Thirdly: I don't have to say a third thing, didn't you listen to the first two reasons?

Clear enough yet? Thank me later for explaining it to you, Liberal Media. I don't want to have to do this again during the next SCOTUS confirmation.

Broken In Brief: Sonia Sotomayor implicated in Nazi War Crimes

WASHINGTON--In a shocking turn of events, Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor was accused of crimes against humanity after Fox News revealed evidence that she had overseen atrocities at the Ravensbruek Nazi concentration camp during the final years of World War II.

This revelation comes as a serious blow to the Obama Administration, which had hoped to appoint Sotomayor as Justice David Souter's replacement, making her the first Latina female to ever sit on the nation's highest court. Sotomayor's inspiring story of rising from a single-parent family in a south Bronx project, through an Ivy League education, and onto the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is now tarnished by her apparent involvement in arguably the greatest humanitarian atrocity of the last century.

When asked how Sotomayor could have possibly had any involvement in the crimes at Ravensbrueck, given that she was born five years after the camp's opening and therefore probably not capable of overseeing such atrocities, FOX News spokesperson Marissa Florentine assured reporters that although the tips had been provided "on background" and had been attributed anonymously, the network was confident the sources were "as reliable as any of those we have ever referenced in our ongoing mission to report and let you decide. Mr. Gingrich wouldn't steer us down a wrong path."

As of this hour those within the Obama Administration are unsure if the nomination will be rescinded. According to one source close to the President, the administration was "prepared for the revelation that she was in fact a woman, but this Nazi thing is really causing us to reassess our selection." Those close to the GOP leadership say many of the House and Senate leaders were "giggling uproariously" over the reaction and were debating on how best to reveal their upcoming accusation that Sotomayor had personally ferried across the border every single illegal immigrant currently in the United States.

Quotes of the day: On racism

Pat Buchanan on why the fact that no white men were finalists for Obama's SCOTUS choice and the fact that a damned Mexican stole another job from a white American makes this THE MOST RACIST THING EVER!

BUCHANAN: Look, are you going to let me talk, Lawrence? You got down to four women, not a single white male — all women
...
BUCHANAN: Yes. No, it did not occur to me. You mean there are no white males qualified? That would be an act of bigotry to make a statement like that.
...
BUCHANAN: I don’t say it’s an outrage, I say it’s affirmative action. They were picked because she’s a woman and a Hispanic and you know it as well as I do.

Newtie twisted a comment she made completely out of context and decided she's a total racist and Tweeted as such. The RNC agreed and reTweeted it.

newtgingrich: White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.

Tom Tancredo concurs go back to Mexico racist!

TANCREDO: I’m telling you she appears to be a racist. She said things that are racist in any other context. That’s exactly how we would portray it and there’s no one who would get on the Supreme Court saying a thing like that except for a Hispanic woman and you’re going to say it doesn’t matter!

El Rushbo is of the same mind

"So, here you have a racist. You might want to soften that and you might wanna say a reverse racist. And the libs of course say that minorities cannot be racists because they don't have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power. Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist and now he's appointed one."

So remember everyone, you may think that excelling at the top schools, a distinguished career, impeccable credentials, and a lifetime of service make you qualified for a position of importance, but it doesn't. Unless you're a white guy, you're just there because of racism or sexism and are almost certainly a complete and total sexist/racist yourself. Just wanted to clear that up.

Sotomayor: Day 2

We're into Day two of the Sotomayor nomination and we're seeing some themes reveal themselves. On the Democrat side the watchwords seem to be about biography, "compelling personal story", "mainstream", "agrees with conservatives on stuff", "moderate", and chortled declarations that if Republicans can't support her, they can't support anyone. Meanwhile the right's reaction has been split into two parts. From the right wing commentators we've got some variation of "half-wit affirmative action harpy", "possible immigrant", "reverse racist", and "most liberal person ever". As for elected Republicans, well I don't know, do you think there were talking points?

Orrin Hatch (R-Utah): "I will focus on determining whether Judge Sotomayor is committed to deciding cases based only on the law as made by the people and their elected representatives, not on personal feelings or politics."

Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): "We will thoroughly examine her record to ensure she understands that the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, despite their own feelings or personal or political preferences."

Charles Grassley (R-Iowa): "The Judiciary Committee should take time to ensure that the nominee will be true to the Constitution and apply the law, not personal politics, feelings or preferences."

John Cornyn (R-Tx.): "She must prove her commitment to impartially deciding cases based on the law, rather than based on her own personal politics, feelings, and preferences."

Uh-oh, a damned woman with her damned feelings and opinions is gonna muck up the He-Man Supreme Court Club. Obama didn't nominate a robot or a man, so now we have to deal with emotions and a uterus blocking the cold Constitutional calculations of the finely honed legal gland. I'm disappointed too. The Supreme Court is no place for feelings, which you only hear about when women are nominated.

Eventually we'll realize this and replace the justices with an emotionless robot voice connected to a complex series of punch cards and wires that booms down judgments from on high. Then we'll have perfect justice, until a week later when SCOTUSbot judges that the only way to save us is to enslave us. Until then we'll have to deal with Sotomayor's feelings and the fact that those feelings will make no significant alteration to the court's 5-4 makeup.

Is this good?

Despite all of the predictably sad, sadly predictable, and mildly racist conservative opposition to President Obama's nomination of Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, one voice of... um... reason has emerged:

I have no questions in my mind about her qualifications in terms of education, experience. A president is not required to nominate the most qualified person to the court. I think he’s obliged to nominate someone who is well-qualified, and I think by any measures, she is well-qualified.

To whom can this measured, level-headed assessment be attributed? None other than former criminal mastermind Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. I suggest we all forget about the perjury, the abject politicization of the Justice Department, the narrow pursuit of anti-American ideals, and just focus on backhanded semi-endorsement of an Ivy League-educated judicial scholar that the crazy right has sought to vilify and demean for, oh, the last 13 hours or so...

Dogs and cats, living together. Mass hysteria...

A compendium of childish reactions to the new liberal devil

Mike Huckabee hears "Latino" and "woman" and doesn't bother learning Judge Sotomayor's first name before he fires off a complaint about "feelings" and "the far left." He just assumes she's named Maria and may or may not be in the middle of a doomed romance/pitched dance off between the Jets and Sharks.

The Judicial Confirmation Network's Wendy Long dropped in the phrase "liberal judicial activist", accused her judicial style of dishonoring police and firefighters who died on 9/11, "reads racial preferences and quotas into the Constitution", and said she was more liberal activisty than the current liberal activist Supreme Court which is full of liberal activists. Judicalpocalypse in other words.

Rod Dreher calls her a mediocre Quota Queen, the left's Harriet Miers, and is relieved that Obama picked a dumb liberal woman instead of someone who can match wits with Scalia.

Charles Krauthammer decided she cares more about minorities and affirmative action than justice and that conservatives essentially need to oppose her to show that white people will not let this stand, man.

Red State: Intellectually shallow. To be clear: they were describing Sotomayer and not the entirety of their website.

Powerline wonders if she's "Che Guevara in robes". I guess we won't know until she's dead in Bolivia after failing to foment a revolution there.

The New Republic is perplexed as to why its dirty, anonymously sourced hit piece on Sotomayor is being used by conservatives to attack her. Gee, I wonder why.

National Review's Mark Hemingway: ‘Dumb,’ ‘Bully,’ ‘Doesn’t Play Well With Others,’ ‘Obnoxious’

ThinkProgress has video from Karl Rove to various Fox Newsies giving different variations of "not smart" and "intellectual lightweight".

There are also reports of a Virgin Mary statue bleeding from the eyes and the birth of a white two headed calf that the media ignored in favor of the birth of a tan two headed calf. We aren't even 12 hours into the nomination yet.

The new face of Satan

Obama finally made his choice for the Supreme Court and it is Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor. If confirmed she will be the second woman currently on the bench and the first Hispanic ever to become a justice. I know, old white men lose out again. Is there no end to the indignity they must suffer? Her stat sheet:

Administration officials say Sotomayor, with 17 years on the bench, would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years.
...
Obama had said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy _ the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans.
...
A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, a former prosecutor and private attorney, Sotomayor became a federal judge for the Southern District of New York in 1992. She became an appeals judge in 1998 for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which covers New York, Vermont and Connecticut.

As a judge, she has a bipartisan pedigree. She was first appointed by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush, and won Senate confirmation without dissent. She was named an appeals judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
...
In one of her most memorable rulings as federal district judge, Sotomayor essentially salvaged baseball in 1995, ruling with players over owners in a labor strike that had led to the cancellation of the World Series.

17 years experience? Christ, how's she going to be able to hide her judicial opinions, style, and beliefs with a 17 year history? That was the whole point of Bush picking Roberts and Alto: plausible deniability towards judicial philosophy. Roberts had only been a judge for 30 minutes and Karl Rove decided to pick Alito, a lifetime fry cook, after he saw him buy a John Grisham book and Hannity's book at a Washington area Barnes & Noble.

If you are actually interested in knowing what she actually has decided in court cases, Scotusblog has a nice little round-up. Additionally there's a NYT profile here, and some opinions from those who know her here, here, and here. Otherwise it's all just stupid political theatre from here on out. A world where Judge Sotomayor is cast as either the "most liberal jurist ever" who'll destroy the country with her activist judicial style of rewriting laws from the bench, an assassin plotting to kill the resurrected Jesus, or as someone who is barely literate and unable to even put on her shoes correctly, let alone be qualified enough for the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, the argument for her will be something along the lines of "she's makes John Jay and Thurgood Marshall look like Judge Judy", declarative statements that she is the most qualified person in the country, and a reference to one of her appellate decisions curing cancer. It's gonna be real awesome, and we haven't even got to the part where she tries to dodge questions at a judicial hearing and the Administration pretends not to know her thinking on any kind of legal issues.