Media Matters has been following the anti-Sotomayor whisper campaign that began shortly after her name was first mentioned. No surprise, but most of the pundits dutifully regurgitated the falsehoods. In early May, Politico's Mike Allen was already on t.v. giving us the rundown on the GOP's talking points.
This is going to be a battle. The right wingers are geared up and well funded. And, they've got their friends in the traditional media already spewing their rhetoric. Keep in mind that cable news wants this to be a battle. It's good for ratings. (And, let's face it, most of the very high paid media types in D.C. have absolutely no capacity to understand Sotomayor's amazing life story.) Today, however, as much as CNN is trying to stir the pot, their Republican analyst, Ed Rollins, said this will turn out to be a "brilliant choice."
Conservatives have been laying the groundwork for a couple of weeks, even though we didn't even have a nominee -- and, as noted, indoctrinating the talking heads. The attacks have already started:
Conservative groups reacted with sharp criticism on Tuesday morning. “Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written,” said Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network. “She thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one’s sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench.”The Obama team already knew that Sotomayor would face right wing attacks, but the president picked her anyway. Good for him.
The President wants this nomination confirmed by the August recess. The Senate Republicans will want to drag it out as a way to rally their troops. The Democrats in the Senate had better deliver.
