Republicans Being Republicans

angeleno · 03:20 PM

Remember how I said that nothing would make me happier than to see the wingnuts go mercilessly at Sotomayor? Well, it seems that's not happening since they're keeping their racism to a minimum for the time being (the same can't be said about Faux News, and other commentators in the wingnuttia).

Quote:

Reporting from Washington -- Rush Limbaugh called her a "reverse racist." The conservative Judicial Confirmation Network said she carried a "personal political agenda" and should be blocked from the Supreme Court.

But beyond such heated criticism, commonplace in partisan court battles, the nomination Tuesday of Sonia Sotomayor to the high court brought a surprisingly muted response from the Republican senators who will actually vote on it.

The senators seemed to be taking their cues from quieter voices within the party who cautioned that opposing the country's first Latino Supreme Court nominee would amount to political suicide.

Moreover, some party strategists are telling GOP senators that attacking Sotomayor would waste an opportunity for Republicans to appear welcoming to Latino voters, many of whom turned away from the party in recent years because of conservative support for tough immigration restrictions and GOP opposition to legalizing undocumented workers.

"A lot of Republicans are worried that [fighting the Sotomayor nomination] could be the last straw when it comes to the party's ability to reach the Hispanic community," said Robert de Posada, a Latino GOP strategist who said he is advising Republican staff aides on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Republicans are in a very awkward position."

Lionel Sosa, a Texas-based Republican ad maker who designed Latino outreach for GOP presidents from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, said that opposing Sotomayor "would be one more nail in the Republicans' image coffin in terms of Latino voters."

"When you're anti the first Latina on the Supreme Court, you're anti-my-family. . . . I would take it that these people are anti-Latino," Sosa added. "The worst thing the Republicans can do is oppose her."

The Senate's Republican leadership, aware of the potential pitfalls, began conferring Tuesday with several Latino strategists, seeking their assessment of conservative opposition.

The GOP's dilemma on Sotomayor is the latest example of the party's internal struggle over how to reinvent itself at a time that its voter base is increasingly dominated by Southern, conservative white men.

Some moderates have argued that the party must work to recruit more minorities and broaden its ideological foundation. But many leading conservatives have rejected that and see the latest Supreme Court vacancy as a chance to beat the drum on social touchstones such as abortion, gay marriage and affirmative action -- while also revving up their fundraising machineries.

Only five years ago, President Bush won reelection by performing unusually well among Latinos for a Republican, winning more than 40%. Some Democrats were fretting over how they would respond if Bush were to nominate his longtime friend, Alberto R. Gonzales, who became attorney general shortly after the election, to be the Supreme Court's first Latino justice.

But conservatives blocked Bush's efforts to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants, and the harsh rhetoric of that debate sent Latino voters fleeing the party. Fewer than 1 in 3 Latinos voted for the GOP presidential nominee last year -- one reason that crucial states such as Florida, Colorado and Nevada fell into the Democratic column.

Democrats, seeking additional gains in Florida, Texas and Arizona, did not hesitate Tuesday to seize on the potential political benefits. The national party distributed an announcement in Spanish.

Also, I love how delusional GOP "Hispanic strategists" are (which is kind of an oxymoron, like "gay Republicans" or "plus-sized models").

Quote:

Then, De Posada said, if Obama does not act this year on his campaign promise to pass a legalization program for millions of undocumented immigrants, Republicans could make the case to Latinos that the president failed to deliver on their main issues.

"They would have grounds to go to the Hispanic community and say, 'Yes it's great to have a Hispanic justice, but on the most important and immediate issue that you care about, you're being ignored,' " De Posada said. "That's an opening for Republicans."

Yes, Hispanics will flock to the Republican side, and their wrinkly, gun-touting, teabagging, welcoming arms.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...6.story?page=1

angeleno · 05-27-2009, 10:43 PM

Yeah, never mind. They couldn't hold their racism anymore. Who cares about winning elections ever again, right.

CIR_DREAM2009 · 09:08 AM

Faced with the choice between expansion or their base, Republicans will choose their beloved (and crazy) conservative fringe base. Republican leaders wouldn't want to upset their overlord, Rush Limbaugh.

Conservative wingnuts will see it as a betrayal of the highest order if Republicans in Washington break ranks on immigration. Interestingly, I hope we see articles like this when the immigration battle heats up. Moderates will counsel moderation on immigration while conservatives will want a full scale immigration war like the heady days of 2007. But things change and 2009 will not be the same as 2007.

Quote:

For Republicans, Court Fight Risks Losing Hispanics to Win Conservatives

...

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.

...

But some Republicans warned that the image of the party’s throwing a roadblock before a historic nomination could prove politically devastating. Republicans saw a dip in Hispanic support in 2008, after eight years in which President George W. Bush and his political aides made a concerted effort to increase the Republican appeal to Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing group of voters.

Quote:

The conflicting pressures became clear as conservative groups came out against Judge Sotomayor even before she appeared with Mr. Obama at the White House on Tuesday morning. From the start, conservative leaders have made clear that they view the prospect of an ideologically charged nomination fight as a way to revive a movement that is lagging in spirits and money.

The countervailing pressures are no less intense. Matthew Dowd, a former adviser to Mr. Bush, said that in 2000, he calculated that Republicans needed to win 35 percent of Hispanic voters to beat Democrats. Mr. Dowd said that given the steady increase in the number of Hispanic voters, he now believed Republicans needed to win at least 40 percent.

Given that, Mr. Dowd said, Republicans could relegate themselves to long-term minority status if they were perceived as having prevented Judge Sotomayor from joining the Supreme Court, absent damaging revelations about her background or views.

Quote:

From the moment Mr. Bush began running for president while still governor of Texas in 2000, he pushed hard to appeal to Hispanic voters, and with considerable success. His aides argued that given Hispanics’ increasing electoral strength, attracting their support was a crucial part of trying to achieve dominance over Democrats. But the effort suffered a sharp setback when Republicans, over the objections of Mr. Bush, pressed to restrict immigration severely.

The party’s 2008 presidential nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, had long been a proponent of easing immigration restrictions, and almost lost the nomination because of it. In the end, he received 31 percent of the Hispanic vote on Election Day, according to a survey of voters leaving the polls. By contrast, four years earlier, Mr. Bush won 43 percent of the Hispanic vote.

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