May 28, 2009 07:33 PM UTC

The Perils Of "Sotomayor Rage"

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Tom Tancredo handily winning the race to the proverbial bottom, courtesy TPM:

From the New York Times:

President Obama’s selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court has put the Republican Party in a bind, forcing it to weigh the cost of aggressively opposing the first Hispanic named to the court against its struggle to appeal to Hispanic voters.

The Republican Party has been embroiled in a public argument over whether to tend to the ideological interests of its conservative base or to expand its appeal to a wider variety of voters to regain its strength after the defeats of 2008. Many conservative activists and political strategists came out fiercely against Judge Sotomayor as soon her name was announced, denouncing her as liberal and promising Mr. Obama a tough nomination fight.

“The G.O.P. has to make a stand,” said Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. “This is what the base and social conservatives really care about, and we need to brand her a liberal with some out-of-the-mainstream positions. Forget about cosmetics and ethnic heritage, and focus on her record.”

But some Republicans warned that the image of the party’s throwing a roadblock before a historic nomination could prove politically devastating…

“If Republicans make a big deal of opposing Sotomayor, we will be hurling ourselves off a cliff,” said Mark McKinnon, who was a senior adviser to Mr. Bush and has long advocated expanding the party’s appeal. “Death will not be assured. But major injury will be.”

And while conservative activists and some Republican leaders outside the Senate are calling for a strong effort against the nomination, the reaction from some senators – who will actually vote for the nomination – has been notably measured, suggesting that they are not necessarily looking for a fight, barring some revelation in the weeks ahead.

As we discussed yesterday, Tom Tancredo didn’t get the memo–and he was joined in his fascinatingly absurd “racist” mantra by GOP luminaries like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, as well as locally on your conservative AM talk radio dial. In its way, this is the same problem the GOP had opposing the stimulus with “Swastika Guy,” or with Dave Schultheis wishing AIDS on babies. The crazies hog the limelight and whatever message was supposed to stick with voters backfires–and soon, all anyone remembers is the backfire.

There is a limited window for the GOP to get control of its message, and oppose Sotomayor (if they choose to at all) with fact-based arguments (to the extent they exist, Sotomayor is moderate enough that she has even some liberals worried) instead of over-the-top nonsense that winds up doing far more harm to their long term interests than Justice Sotomayor ever could. We’re betting most Americans don’t even know how many members are on the Supreme Court, let alone the names of any of them; but it’s not hard to remember strange racist rants like these. Another news cycle of regrettable posturing from a small but highly visible segment of GOP influentials like we’ve seen so far and the aforementioned window will close.