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Live-ish Blogging: Soto Hearings, Day 2, Part 2
[caption id="attachment_9343" align="alignright" width="343" caption="Boys, boys...break it up. There's plenty of time to attack me. No need to fight."]
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And we're back. And Utah Republican Orrin Hatch is teed up to go after, oh I mean, question Sotomayor.
It's all about the guns for good ole Orrin. The NRA lobby is all up in arms (har har) about Sotomayor because of her ruling in a nunchaks case, Maloney v. Cuomo . The case outlawed use of the martial arts weapon and caused the gun rights lobby to go berserk on her. If she is willing to outlaw two sticks and a rope as a weapon, then guns are next, they argue. She puts that to bed successfully when she says the case was a very narrow ruling on a particular type of weapon and no broader application of her ruling could be made.
Orrin Hatch goes on to complain that liberal groups, like People for the American Way , have been smearing the good name of Frank Ricci (the lead firefighter in the alleged discrimination case) in the lead up to these hearings and how disgusting it is when that kind of stuff (i.e. politics) is entering these proceedings. Oh, but we'll be hearing from Frank Ricci later in the week because that's not politics. Then he graciously noted that Sotomayor had nothing to do with those disgusting attacks against Frank Ricci. How gracious. Orrin finishes up with a complaint that the Republicans' Latino nominee, Miguel Estrada, was never given a fair hearing during the Bush years because of a Democratic filibuster.
Here comes the Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) smack down. It's Ladies Night at the confirmation hearings and those Fallopians need to stick together! Diane corrects the record—why are we talking about Estrada when he was clearly not qualified and wouldn't answer questions before the Senate? It's clear that some Republicans fear their attacks on Sotomayor might be interpreted (by any thinking rational human being) as being anti-Latino and they might further erode a base of support. Hey, remember when we, the Republicans, put forth the first Latino nominee? Problem: We won't remember because we're a little focused on your party calling THIS Latina nominee a racist.
And we break again. Back at 2 pm EST with Republican Senator Grassley.
[/caption]And we're back. And Utah Republican Orrin Hatch is teed up to go after, oh I mean, question Sotomayor.
It's all about the guns for good ole Orrin. The NRA lobby is all up in arms (har har) about Sotomayor because of her ruling in a nunchaks case, Maloney v. Cuomo . The case outlawed use of the martial arts weapon and caused the gun rights lobby to go berserk on her. If she is willing to outlaw two sticks and a rope as a weapon, then guns are next, they argue. She puts that to bed successfully when she says the case was a very narrow ruling on a particular type of weapon and no broader application of her ruling could be made.
Orrin Hatch goes on to complain that liberal groups, like People for the American Way , have been smearing the good name of Frank Ricci (the lead firefighter in the alleged discrimination case) in the lead up to these hearings and how disgusting it is when that kind of stuff (i.e. politics) is entering these proceedings. Oh, but we'll be hearing from Frank Ricci later in the week because that's not politics. Then he graciously noted that Sotomayor had nothing to do with those disgusting attacks against Frank Ricci. How gracious. Orrin finishes up with a complaint that the Republicans' Latino nominee, Miguel Estrada, was never given a fair hearing during the Bush years because of a Democratic filibuster.
Here comes the Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) smack down. It's Ladies Night at the confirmation hearings and those Fallopians need to stick together! Diane corrects the record—why are we talking about Estrada when he was clearly not qualified and wouldn't answer questions before the Senate? It's clear that some Republicans fear their attacks on Sotomayor might be interpreted (by any thinking rational human being) as being anti-Latino and they might further erode a base of support. Hey, remember when we, the Republicans, put forth the first Latino nominee? Problem: We won't remember because we're a little focused on your party calling THIS Latina nominee a racist.
And we break again. Back at 2 pm EST with Republican Senator Grassley.
