Sonia's In!

Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the 111th U.S. Supreme Court Justice in the Senate by a a vote of 68 to 31, with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) absent and nine Republicans voting in favor, many of them - George Voinovich of Ohio, Mel Martinez of Florida, Kit Bond of Missouri - leaving the Senate when their terms expire at the end of next next year. Senator Lindsay Graham was among the Republicans who voted for Sotomayor, which doesn't surprise me - a former military lawyer, Graham is a grown-up when it comes to these things. So are Maine's to Republican female senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Most Republican senators, even those representing states where the Hispanic population is growing by leaps and bounds, voted against her on the grounds that her past liberal rulings and her involvement with ethnic activist groups would influence her decisions. Personal perspectives and the influence of her own ethnic background were somehow considered far more troubling than a Chief Justice who neglected the fact that the deed to his house was illegal because it forbade the sale of his house to blacks and Jews.

Republicans, having already ticked off Hispanics by making Sotomayor sound like some wild-eyed left-wing Latin militant with a bias against whites, have shrugged this off as their most virulent allies go after health care reform by sending thugs to derail the discussion of the issue at congressional town hall meetings. A lot of them are bringing placards depicting President Obama as Hitler and hanging Democratic politicians in effigy, and the Republicans say little if anything against it. Many of these people, already ticked off with the idea of a black President, are apparently ticked off with the idea of a health care plan that could actually help . . . other people!

The far right didn't get into the corridors of power in the last election. Now they're trying to get in by breaking the door down.