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Friday, July 10, 2009
Slacker Friday

 

 

Today, I'm on the road and off the grid. Back here on Monday.

In the meantime, a question to consider: Should the Senate Republicans launch a scorched-earth assault on Sonia Sotomayor (whose confirmation hearing begins on Monday), if only to serve up red meat to their famished conservative base - or should they tread carefully next week, mindful of the backlash that might occur, among Hispanic and female voters, if they're perceived as beating up on a "well qualified" (the highest American Bar Association rating) Hispanic female?

Posted by Dick Polman @ 8:28 AM  Permalink | 119 comments
Comments   
Posted 08:47 AM, 07/10/2009
tr88
Wow Dick, how will we get by without your insight for 3 days? I guess we'll have to make due with 4 or 5 other DNC approved hit pieces by the opinion writers at PNI. No reason to question Sotomoyer at all, let's just let the politburo run us over, no questions asked. How was the backlash against Miguel Estrada and Alberto Gonzales. Were't they Hispanic enough for you? Phony.
Posted 08:52 AM, 07/10/2009
Vandy
"In the meantime, a question to consider: Should the Senate Republicans launch a major assault on Sonia Sotomayor." You mean, should the mean ol' Republicans follow the precedent set by the righteous Democrats, including then-Senator Obama--who voted for a filibuster against Alito?
Posted 09:18 AM, 07/10/2009
Frito1
Dick's off today so no insights on Sarah Palin, Fox News, Halliburton, Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh.
Posted 09:30 AM, 07/10/2009
gphilly
Do the neocons ever have anything good to say? I guess not.
Posted 10:23 AM, 07/10/2009
swedesboromike
Lady Maple- continued for the last blog posts. To be fair, you would have to recognize that Bush's unemployment stats were actually quite good and the economy was adding jobs from 2002 through 2007. The clever investment schemes laced with toxic assets were conceived long before President Bush. But he was the president so he gets much of the blame. So the question is what is the cure? There is a need for common sense low cost regulation of our financial sector but this president is applying a cure that further hampers the economy. It was unwise for the electorate to have given Obama the power to govern without any checks and balances from the Senate. And we are going to pay the price for that unless a few blue dog democrats come to their senses.
Posted 10:36 AM, 07/10/2009
tr88
Word is that Dick is interviewing with Caesar Chavez this weekend for a Minister of Disinformation post.
Posted 10:41 AM, 07/10/2009
eaglehoo
Except that there was no filibuster on Alito because there weren't enough votes, and the Dems came out looking bad afterwards. Dick poses a simple and reasonable question: what is the cost-benefit of all-out opposing a SC nominee (who is part of an ethnic gruop that both parties need to win elections) that is sure to get Senate approval in the end? And what does this have in the slightest to do with whether or not certain Bushies were "Hispanic enough" or how our president voted while in the Senate?
Posted 10:46 AM, 07/10/2009
jmc
"Should the Senate Republicans launch a scorched-earth assault on Sonia Sotomayor" Absolutely not! They should treat liberal judicial nominees with the same deference and respect the Democrats treat conservative nominees with. Oh, wait.
Posted 11:04 AM, 07/10/2009
Vandy
"Except that there was no filibuster on Alito because there weren't enough votes, and the Dems came out looking bad afterwards." Really? Obama was scarred by the media because of that? I must have missed that. It IS a cowardly thing, however, and I don't think you'll see the GOP filibuster. Let Ricci tell his story, expose Sotomayor's reasoning, then confirm her to let the American people know that elections do have consequences and this is what you get when you elect Democrats.
Posted 11:10 AM, 07/10/2009
LJL
Making the assumption that the GOP would launch a scorched-earth offensive assumes that the GOP is organized enough to do it, which really doesn't seem to be the case. However, it also assumes they are dumb and not understand that they would alienate Latinos and women as the price for cozying up to the whack job religious freaks on the extreme right. It assumes they would not understand that they risk a bigger beatdown in the next election than they did in the past two........So yes, I can see them doing that.
Posted 11:14 AM, 07/10/2009
gphilly
When did making sense ever enter into the GOP's thinking? Do they honestly think having Ricci testify is going to somehow change the outcome of the vote? Certainly not and the GOP will, once again, look like the angry, pathetic party of old white guys. Maybe they should be more concerned about all of their "moral" leaders abadoning their duties for a booty call. Oh wait, that would mean they have to have some morals to begin with. Next!
Posted 11:21 AM, 07/10/2009
AHiredGun
By all means, serve the red meat. The GOP cannibals need something to eat. Sooner or later they will be feeding on each other, because there will be no one else left in the GOP.
Posted 11:27 AM, 07/10/2009
ModerateMike
So today it is Sotomayer. It all seems like a big distraction from an economy that is hemmoraging jobs. Over 500,000 more jobs lost next. The Obama runs a far greater risks of offending the electorate due to the economy than Sotomayer getting a few questions in her confirmation hearing.
Posted 11:57 AM, 07/10/2009
LJL
Mike - In case you missed it, it's the GOP creating the distraction. You are right. They should be focusing on economic issues. But this is why they are quickly approaching irrelevance. They are so "concerened" about social issues that most of the country has moved on from and that only matter to the wacky right that they continue to alienate the majority of the country. Whigs in process....
Posted 12:16 PM, 07/10/2009
jwad (D)
Irrelevance.... http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_ballot/generic_congressional_ballot
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About Dick Polman

Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.

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All commentaries posted before April 18, 2008, can be accessed at www.dickpolman.blogspot.com.

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