GOP Moves to Tone Down Criticism of Sotomayor

Washington Post ^ | Friday, May 29, 2009; 2:31 PM | By Dan Eggen, Shailagh Murray and Paul Kane

[lewisglad]

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are rushing to contain racially tinged rhetoric in the debate over President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, fearing that attacks emanating from some conservatives opposed to appellate court Judge Sonia Sotomayor could damage GOP prospects among women and the rapidly growing Hispanic population.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said today he was "uneasy" over allegations by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and talk-show host Rush Limbaugh that Sotomayor is racist.

Sessions, who lost a 1986 bid for a federal judgeship amid concerns over his own racial sensitivity, said Republicans should focus on Sotomayor's legal record to try to divine what sort of a Supreme Court justice she would make.

"I'm uneasy," Sessions said in a 30-minute interview in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building. "I don't think that's good rhetoric. The question is, has the judge gone too far or not, given the established law of the land?"

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, also condemned the remarks by Gingrich and Limbaugh, noting that "neither one of these men are elected Republican officials."

"I think it's terrible," Cornyn said in an interview late yesterday with NPR's "All Things Considered." "This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent."

"I just don't think it's appropriate," he continued. "I certainly don't endorse it. I think it's wrong."

[Noumenon]

Cowards and scum.

[Hardastarboard]

Sotomayor belongs to La Raza which means “The Race” in Spanish, and the Republicans are the ones who are racists? God, what a bunch of gutless weasels they are.

[bill1952]

could damage GOP prospects among women and the rapidly growing Hispanic population...

LOL! how do you get less than nothing?

Oh and what was it called when the dems never stopped attacking Estrada with everything but the kitchen sink?

[Tarpon]

This bigot is an insult to our Supreme Court. Both in intellect and in deed.

[goodnesswins]

AND....Janice Rogers Brown....an African American? What did the Dems do to her????? HHHMMMMMMMMMMM!

[bboop]

Gutless weasels indeed. Needing a new party — courage of your convictions is the first qualification.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Sessions and Cornyn have lost their manhood.

[lewisglad]

not to mention Clarence Thomas.

[madameguinot]

For starters, what have they got to lose? They are personae non gratae. I guess invitations to cocktail parties is what they’ll lose.

Why is everyone dancing around this? Why is everyone dancing around capitalism? GM? The cushy deal that the unions got? There is so much to hit out of the ballpark.

I am vexed!

[Enoughofthissocialism]

Oh, God help us! Does Republican actually mean COWARD in some language? I am so sick of these POS RINOs!!!!!!!

[DirtyHarryY2K]

The RINO Party Alert.

Just say no to liberals, turncoats, and traitors!

We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended.
We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals of our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the party over to the so-called moderates wouldn't make any sense at all. — President Ronald Wilson Reagan

---

NO! to on-demand abortion. NO! to homosexual marriage. NO! to amnesty for illegals. NO! to gun control. NO! to affirmative action. NO! socialized healthcare.

NO! to more spending. NO! to more taxes. NO! to bailouts and pork. NO!to homosexuals in the military. NO! to carbon credits. NO! to the Socialist agenda.

---

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Please tag all relevant threads with the aforementioned keywords.

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[Viking2002]

Sessions, you p-whipped eunuch, you'd better start worrying less about your media PR image and more about the people (like ME!) who brung ya to the dance. That scatterbrained fleabag isn't qualified to supervise a high school detention hall and you know it. Pull your head out of your gluteal cleft and start shining a light on that fact, or you'll be looking for a new hobby!!!!!

[dalereed]

Since she is a member of La Raza she isn’t fit for any kind of public service!

[HiramQuick]

Not only cowards and scum .. they are to moroninc to understand why nobody will vote for their sorry, wishy washy, spineles behinds. They are all a bunch of Richard Craniums as far as I am concerned.

Lead follow or get out of the way. I’m an old Iowa farmboy. Didn’t take me long to figure out what happens wehn you straddle a barbed wire fence. Your liable to hurt sumething important.

Oh ... oh .......oh ..... just realized sumptin. The jerks have “straddled” for so long that they “lost” their balls.

[TADSLOS]

...and Alito.

[cartoonistx]

[roses of sharon]

Ah shoot....it appears the last good conservative in the Senate has fallen to the enemy MSM.

Sad, the spate of stories (Session is a racist) that ran when Sessions took Specter place on the judiciary committee must have spooked him. As intended.

Our soldiers continue to run off the battlefield, who will be left?

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Tone down Hell, I’ll call it like I see it!

[counterpunch]

R.I.P.G.O.P.

When Republicans decide that combating racism is racist, they cease having any purpose to exist.