Jesus, Republicans, we're so sorry your hate campaign isn't working out.

Part of this, I imagine, is the result of other news stories overpowering the nomination for media attention.

Really? You mean there's something more important than "She's an empathetic Puerto Rican?" I can't imagine how that doesn't stick with all the other crap Republicans have been throwing at the wall.

It might also be worth pointing out that there's nothing about her record which points to "liberal" leanings.

And unlike the justices that Bush gave us, she isn't a judicial activist either.

And that was the whole point of Obama nominating her. First, her moderation assured that there would not be a protracted fight that would absorb too much administration energy at a time when there is little to spare. And second, her moderation would serve to magnify the extremism on the other side, as it has when Gingrich, Limbaugh et al could not resist the temptation to launch their ideological counterattack against the first Obama Justice to come out of the gate even if the person did not match the rhetoric being thrown against her. Obama is a chess player, and conservatives just lost a piece by chasing after pawns.

Sir Bedevere: What makes you think she's a witch?
Peasant 3: Well, she turned me into a newt!
Sir Bedevere: A newt?
Peasant 3: [meekly after a long pause] ... I got better.
Crowd: [shouts] Burn her anyway!
The Witch: I'm not a witch I'm not a witch!
Sir Bedevere: But you are dressed as one
The Witch: *They* dressed me up like this!
Crowd: We didn't! We didn't...

The Witch: And this isn't my nose. It's a false one.
Sir Bedevere: [lifts up her false nose] Well?
Peasant 1: Well, we did do the nose.
Sir Bedevere: The nose?
Peasant 1: And the hat, but she is a witch!
Crowd: Yeah! Burn her! Burn her!
Sir Bedevere: Did you dress her up like this?
Peasant 1: No!
Peasant 3, Peasant 2: No!
Peasant 3: No!
Peasant 1: No!
Peasant 3, Peasant 2: No!
Peasant 1: Yes!
Peasant 2: Yes!
Peasant 1: Yeah a bit.
Peasant 3: A bit!
Peasant 1, Peasant 2: A bit!
Peasant 2: a bit
Peasant 1: But she has got a wart!
Random Person in the crowd: *cough* *cough*
Sir Bedevere: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.
Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us.
Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches?
Peasant 1: Burn them.
Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches?
Peasant 1: More witches.
Peasant 2: Wood.
Sir Bedevere: Good. Now, why do witches burn?
Etcetera

As usual, Obama is playing a longer, deeper game than his opponents. When the day comes for the forces to actually engage, the congressional GOP, like Obama's previous enemies, discovers they've already lost.

Thank you FRP. A little Monty Python goes a long way to explaining the current Republican mindset.
"Are you looking for an argument" comes to mind.
The Iraq mess could be defined by the wedding massacre scene. "Why can't we let bygones be bygones.

Attacking Hispanics is proving a loser for the GOP just as it did last year on the immigration issue. It's as though the Obama team has deliberately given them the rope to hang themselves with.

That a drooling moron like Thune could end up as "Al Qaida No. 4" - which is actually a good gig since it's always "AQ #3" who gets grabbed and waterboarded - says all one needs to know about the state of the gaggle of losers formerly known as the Republican Party.

As usual, the Republican Party's perspective on whether something was successful or not depends primarily on whether it helps or hurts the Republican Party. How it affects the country is not part of the equation.

And second, her moderation would serve to magnify the extremism on the other side, as it has when Gingrich, Limbaugh et al could not resist the temptation to launch their ideological counterattack against the first Obama Justice to come out of the gate even if the person did not match the rhetoric being thrown against her.

And third, if -- if! -- Obama's next appointment is more liberal, the GOP will have already shot its wad by its yammering about Sotomayor. Sure, they'll trot out all their usual "liberal extremist judicial activist" rhetoric, and of course the so-called "liberal media" will give the Republican claims the benefit of the doubt, but they'll fail to gain much traction, because they'll be seen as nothing but a rerun. In our entertainment-obsessed media, the worst sin the Republicans can commit is to be boring.

You don't suppose the recession and loss of trillions in wealth over the past several months might have something to do with it? And especially their supporters among the less affluent (who are the big responders to direct mail) may be feeling the pinch.