Well, it's official. The Republican party line on Sotomayor is being rejected not just by Democrats and independents, but even by high-profile Republicans. We recently learned that Republican Susan Collins of Maine will vote for her. That was no surprise, as she is fairly moderate and, being a woman, not likely to respond well to the sexist attacks against Sotomayor.
But now a defection that's really got to hurt, from a South Carolina conservative. Who saw this coming?
Graham, who sharply questioned Sotomayor at her Senate confirmation hearing last week, said she was a good pick to replace retired Justice David Souter, one of four liberals on the court that often splits 4-5 in favor of conservatives.
"I think that Judge Sotomayor will not be any more liberal than him, and on some issues, quite frankly, may be more balanced," Graham said in a Senate speech. "Time will tell."
"Balanced", of course, in the FOX News sense of "conservative". Now it is true that Sotomayor isn't exactly a flaming liberal, but it's nice to see a Republican actually acknowledge that. Listening to them, you'd think she was a female Dennis Kucinich.
Nonetheless, expect the Republican tirade to continue. They know perfectly well they don't have the votes to stop her confirmation and all they're doing right now is whining about the inevitable, but they feel they have to please their base of conservative White heterosexual Protestant males, and hey, it's a nice delay tactic to tie up the Senate and keep it from enacting more of Obama's agenda. They seriously think, after all, that they're on the cusp of Obama's Waterloo.
Perhaps Graham realizes the damage this is doing to the Republican Party's image among Hispanics and women. Perhaps he has heard from enough South Carolinians who don't buy the smears. Or perhaps, just perhaps, he has seen through his own party's bull, knows Sotomayor will be a very competent and very wise Latina judge, and is following his conscience. In any case, thank you Sen. Graham for doing the right thing!