June 03, 2009 08:04 PM UTC

From the "No Shit" Department

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• by: Colorado Pols

We weren’t the only ones who commented that calling Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a racist probably wasn’t a good strategic move for conservative critics, so there’s no need to say “We told you so.” Actually, it was so blatantly obvious that this was a stupid line of attack that “we told you so” would be too generous.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich now sheepishly admits that the “racist” attack might have been a bad idea. From The Associated Press:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday he shouldn’t have called Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a racist, but said he was still concerned that she would bring bias to her decisions.

In a letter to supporters, the Georgia Republican said that his words had been “perhaps too strong and direct” last week when he called Sotomayor a reverse “racist,” based on a 2001 speech in which she said she hoped the rulings of a “wise Latina” would be better than those of a white male without similar experiences. Gingrich’s remarks created a furor among Sotomayor’s backers and caused problems for GOP figures who have been pushing to bring more diversity to the party.

We’ll give Gingrich some credit for belatedly realizing what a stupid attack this was for the GOP in general, but unfortunately for the Republican Party, the damage has been done.