Matt Yglesias

21 Responses to “Endgame”

1. El Cid Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 6:49 pm

   The foot-shooting continues.

   Top-ranking Republican strategists who specialize in Hispanic outreach say they are outraged, disturbed and concerned by the type of reception Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court has received from conservative activists.

   In the days since the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, several prominent conservative voices have leveled unusually blunt attacks at her resume. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and radio host Rush Limbaugh both insisted that the court of appeals judge was a racist for saying that her Hispanic background allowed her to come to better judicial decisions. Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, on Friday, called Sotomayor a member of the “Latino KKK.”…

   …”I think this is going to have a long-term effect,” said Frank Guerra, a GOP strategist who has worked on Rick Perry’s gubernatorial campaign in Texas and Jeb Bush’s in Florida – both heavily Hispanic states. “For the most part in politics, what gets said meets the immediate need but doesn’t address the long-term issues. And some of this dialogue is going to really hurt Republicans in their efforts to attract and keep Hispanic voters… This absolutely matters to the community. This is a watershed moment. It is a first. A Hispanic woman on the Court.”

   Arguing that about a quarter of the Hispanic vote usually remains undecided going into an election, Guerra concluded that the remarks of Gingrich, Limbaugh and others would help push a portion of that percentage more firmly Democratic.

   Democrats gleefully agreed, noting in part that the issue would be exacerbated by a Hispanic media that tends to cover political news in larger chunks than its American counterpart.

   This analysis is totally and completely wrong. Current Republican strategy needs to be doubled down, and public protests against all this Latina Raza-ism need be launched immediately by protesters all dressed as the Frito Bandito.

2. Al Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

   Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and radio host Rush Limbaugh both insisted that the court of appeals judge was a racist for saying that her Hispanic background allowed her to come to better judicial decisions.

   Sweet, sweet vindication.

3. Anonymous Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

   Sotomayor has made comments and decisions that give her a virulently anti-male, anti-white cast. There have also been many doubts made about whether she’s intellectually capable of being a Supreme Court Judge.(This is not to be a discussion about whether those are true; the fact is many people all around the country have independently come to these conclusions.)

   Taken them as a given, is it time yet for Obama to start thinking about withdrawing her nomination? We have a similar situation with Harriet Myers, minus the racism. Many would argue that, had Bush withdrawn that nomination earlier, he would have been in better shape.

   By withdrawing Sotomayor, Obama could demonstrate his bipartisan credentials and reach out to the many moderates who are questioning this nomination. He would also show that, despite being a poor judge of character, he is capable of acknowledging his mistakes and taking the advice of well meaning critics.

   Thoughts?

4. soullite Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

   I would like to point out that political science has a much better track record than Economics. My old poli sci teacher predicted just about every race while I attended the local lame ass community college, and that was a community college.

   What we should really be asking if the recession will make Economists consider treating their studies as if they were something like a social science and stop pretending that they are natural scientists. IF they did, they wouldn’t get slammed for having whack-job theories that cripple entire countries.

5. Fencedude Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:22 pm

   Thoughts?

   Here’s another shovel.

6. Ed Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:25 pm

   I’ve not followed the myriad Sotomeyor posts. Has anyone on the right tried making the argument that if she got on the Court we would have only one Protestant left there, and he is something liken ninety? Have we heard the argument that there are too many Catholics on the Court? They are trying every other bigoted argument so they might as well see if this one gets some traction.

7. El Cid Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:25 pm

   Sweet, sweet vindication.

   I’ll trade you a standard Democrat yield to right wing rhetoric for a bunch of pissed off Latino and women voters. Deal? No backsies!

8. Zephyrus Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:27 pm

   How does having Newt and Rush agree with you vindicate you exactly, Al? Do they have some claim to deeper knowledge that isn’t available to the rest of us?

   Oh, I forgot. They’re white, and white men know best. They’re the only ones who don’t have ovaries or melanin to cloud their minds, minds that, after all, are driven only through sheer objective rationality.

9. Zephyrus Says:
   May 29th, 2009 at 7:29 pm

   Oh, I didn’t bother to read your link.

   Carry on with your exposure of the Brown Menace.

10. Tyro Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

    Al gives a fascinating window into the wingnut mind here. He claims to be “vindicated” regarding his ravings that Sotomayor is a racist. He’s been raving like that for days, repeatedly. What is “vindication” for him? What is the accomplishment of his goal? When the administration says that Sotomayor might choose to word it differently. You’d think that for Al to be “vindicated” would mean, sensibly, for the administration to say that Sotomayor was racist– after all, this is what Al was claiming. In fact, Al does not believe Sotomayor is a racist at all. “Vindication” for him is when the administration looks like it’s backing down on something. Al is consciously lying in order to participate in a kerfluffle which he hopes will result in a “win” in the weekly news cycle. We all sort of knew that, but here he’s being up front about it.

    There are plenty of wingnuts that believe the talking points. The thing is that the wingnuts who spread the talking points know that they’re lies. It’s just part of a game to see how many people they can get to believe the lies and how much influence those lies can have in putting people they believe to be their enemies on the defensive.

11. DTM Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    Sweet–my state doesn’t have a charter school cap. Take that, Tennessee children!

    Note I don’t actually wish ill to Tennesse children, and in fact I recognize the need to tie funding like this to policies that are going to be more likely to work.

12. DTM Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    As for Sotomayor, let’s check in on some polling:

    Omero on Sotomayor Polling

    Omero reviewed the recent Gallup and Quinnipiac polls. Some findings:

    The Gallup poll showed a higher gender gap in support for Sotomayor than for past nominees, although she was overall about as well-received as Roberts. But according to today’s Quinnipiac poll, many more voters approve of Sotomayor (+30 “approve” minus “disapprove”) than approved of either Roberts (+17) or Alito (+14) at the time of their nominations.

    Good work, partisan hacks. But there is more:

    And women are responsible for the difference. Sotomayor receives similar ratings from men (+17) as the previous successful nominees (+21 Roberts, +16 Alito). But women approve of her nomination in much larger numbers (+41) when compared to Roberts (+15) or Alito (+11).

    Good work MALE partisan hacks. Omero goes on to show that the gender gap isn’t just a by product of the general partisan gender gap, but actually persists among Republican women.

    And finally just for fun, a little Rasmussen:

    Rasmussen Presidential Tracking

    President Barack Obama is enjoying a bounce in the polls following his selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court nominee.

    Yes indeed, time for Obama to think withdrawal–this is going just terribly for him.

13. Ed Marshall Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 8:35 pm

    Vindication! Winning the news cycle! Racist! Bitchy! Swarthy!

14. Nameless Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 8:58 pm

    I was very pro-Sotomayor and gave her the benefit of the doubt. That is, until now. I came across this video from the Nineties of her giving her views on her white colleagues while browsing Free Republic.

    This is truly her whitey tape moment.

15. melior Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    This is truly her whitey tape moment.

    Oh, the nonexistent whitey tape that really, really does exist and is going to be released any day now? That one, wingnut?

16. El Cid Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 9:19 pm

    melior: You didn’t visit the link.

17. Fencedude Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 9:56 pm

    I was very pro-Sotomayor and gave her the benefit of the doubt. That is, until now. I came across this video from the Nineties of her giving her views on her white colleagues while browsing Free Republic.

    This is truly her whitey tape moment.

    8/10

    Lost points for A) Rickrolling and B) Rickrolling using the actual Rickrolling video. BOOOOOOORING

18. DTM Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    Since the secret is out . . . for some reason, rickrolling never gets old with me. I couldn’t explain why–maybe I just like the song.

19. Stuart Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    The best kind of rickroll: one you see coming a mile away, but still click just to make sure.

20. Observer Says:
    May 29th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    “Defense of Israeli land grabs”? A drive-by insult was the best you could do?

21. Lenora Says:
    May 30th, 2009 at 9:25 am

    Yea charter schools! Let’s protect the kids from involved, savvy families and let the rest go dangle. And if we can pay teachers less to do it, so much the better.