No irony meter is safe when there's a Republican anywhere within 100 miles of it.

The meme is that Democrats are soft on national security but the Republicans are strong on it. The Repubs get the benefit of the doubt within this issue.

But equally pervasive is the meme that the Democrats are the party which includes minorities and the Republicans are the party of white males. In this area, the Dems get the benefit of the doubt. Dems can oppose a nominee of color without automatically being presumed to be a racist, (unless they are from the South and then the meme shifts).

I like knowing about these and definitely searching them out is good. It's just too bad a TV talking heads or reporter won't confront Republicans with this - otherwise it is just preaching to the choir.

I wonder if, in '03, any Dems referred to Estrada's favorite Hispanic meals or his non-existent desire to give a portion of the U.S. to Mexico as evidence of bias.

Both then and now, Republicans attempt to use race in order to get their way. The architects and engineers of the Southern Strategy have it down to a science.

As Steve wrote earlier: "Estrada was opposed by Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, and the William C. Velasquez Institute."

So, they too, were all anti-Hispanic? Oh, those self-hating Hispanics.

For too any Republicans, they simply can not see past the race/ethnicity of the person. Everyone is a monolithic bloc and controlled by identity politics except white folks.

Obama has once again proven to be a shrewd fellow!

Don't think for a moment that he didn't calculate the GOP dithering that we see transpiring.

The repugnacans are rapidly becoming less relevant than even just a few days ago.

Can't you hear the griping..?...."We have a black president and now he wants to get an Hispanic (I doubt they use the word Latina . Try S*ic) into the Supreme Court."....

jen f,

I think in many ways you're right, but it's not entirely applicable to this situation. The fight against Estrada was led by a variety of Hispanic groups.

I don't recall any prominent Democrat or liberal voice denouncing the pronunciation of his name or questioning his judgment based on his diet.

The GOP simply misses the point: question a nominee on substance and there is little to no political price to pay; question them on frivolities and bigotry, and there will be hell to pay.

Steve Benen wrote: "Republicans were engaged in the laziest thinking possible ..."

Sure, Republicans are just "lazy".

It's not like they might be, oh I don't know, maybe deliberately dishonest?

Nah, couldn't be.

They are just "lazy". Or "crazy". Or "delusional". Or "out of touch". Or somehow just "not getting it".

Not LIARS, though. Oh no no no.

What amazes me about this nomination is that she has written over 380 signed opinions. She has a record a mile wide and a mile deep. All the other side seems to be focusing on are irrelevant personal qualities. They are playing a very dangerous race card. It is as thought they really can't find something of substance to argue about in all those published opinions. If that's the case maybe the left ought to oppose her for being too bland.

Obama has once again proven to be a shrewd fellow!

Don't think for a moment that he didn't calculate the GOP dithering that we see transpiring.

I see this occasionally from Obama cheerleaders. "Look how Obama played rope-a-dope!" they say.

I have to disagree. The dopes here manage to rope themselves. It really doesn't matter what he does, the Republicans are going to look like idiots because that's all they know how to do.

They used the same line about Clarence Thomas - that it would be racist to oppose him. This even though he stood diamterically opposed to the interests of most African-Americans, and was a harrassing asshole besides.

I remember that a few days before the vote some Republican-funded "civil rights" group went on a national campaign trying to plant the meme that African-Americans would be outraged if Thomas were not confirmed. It was total BS, but I suspect it had some effect on the vote.

Yeah, and it was "sexist" to utter a single negative comment about Sarah Palin.
Blah, blah, blah, hypocrisy, blah, blah, blah.

Republicans are making this way too easy.

I suspect these same Republicans -- Jon Kyl is now the #2 GOP leader in the Senate -- would be outraged to see the same standard they used in 2003 applied to themselves in 2009.

Except that unlike the Democrats in 2003, the Republicans are mentioning ethnicity in their attacks.

White Republicans are the only people who believe in racial identity politics. Everyone else is smart enough to demand a little more from their role models.