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Thursday, May 28, 2009 Make us your homepage
The Read on the news
One thing to keep in mind amid the loud back and forth you will hear this summer over Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court: she will be confirmed, and probably by a large margin.
Republicans don't have the numbers to block her, and at least a few will support her. Moderates like Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine have a hard time opposing someone like Sotomayor, who doesn't have a truly radical record.
And conservatives with substantial Hispanic minorities in their states are on the spot as well.
Take Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison. Are the two Republicans from Texas really going to oppose the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice? They might, but not without peril.
Conservatives groups will raise the alarm about Roe v. Wade. How many times has this worked in the past? Never. Instead, the tactic will achieve other ends: it will galvanize the conservative base for future battles, raise money for conservative groups, and paint President Obama as a liberal who appoints liberals.
So far, Sotomayor has said a couple of stupid things, including a suggestion that Latinas would make better judges than than white men and that appeals courts make policy. Much is already being made of these statements, but it's not nearly enough to sink her.
Unless there's much more - a possibility given that she seems like the type who says what's on her mind - or unless she has some secret crack addiction or begins cursing at senators during her hearing, she's in.
Or perhaps she didn't pay her taxes. We've already learned not to overestimate the Obama vetting team.
Bailey Kotyonok
Cheney may not be such bad news for the GOP
Dick Cheney's emergence as the new spokesman for the Republican Party on national security matters may not be quite the godsend most Democrats think.
Cheney's approval rating is on the rise. True, it had nowhere else to go, but it's risen eight points since he left office to 37 percent.
With the possible exception of Richard Nixon, former leaders tend to become more popular when they leave office. Harry S Truman left the presidency deeply unpopular and today is one of our most revered former presidents.
Before becoming vice president, Cheney was known mainly as an affable politician popular with conservatives and moderates alike. And by just appearing so often, he is shedding one of the main raps against him - that he was a curmudgeon plotting evil designs while holed up in a secret, undisclosed location.
Republicans who say they yearn for Ronald Reagan but who recoil at Cheney may be remembering the avuncular Reagan who left office in 1988 but forgetting the earlier man who sank Jimmy Carter: a tough talking conservative immune to political correctness and willing to advocate strong measures against America's enemies.
Republicans have been carefully posturing carefully for years. If Cheney's popularity begins to take off, watch them all beg for a place on the bandwagon.
Bailey Kotyonok
May 18, 2009
Democrats may be Headed for a Corruption Problem
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had better be right - or at least better not be proven wrong - in her contention that the CIA is lying and did not tell her and other lawmakers in 2002 that they had already begun the "very enhanced" interrogations techniques which she so strenuously objects to today.
She might be able to personally withstand the fallout if she's wrong - one can already imagine the faulty memory plea made so often by politicians - but her error could become just the high-profile Exhibit A Republicans need to begin labeling House Democrats as a corrupt ruling cabal.
The list of senior Democratic targets for Republicans is ample and growing. John Murtha of Pennsylvania is well known for his unorthodox dealings and is currently being scrutinized for contributions he has received.
Murtha is a powerful Defense appropriator linked to firms being investigated by the FBI. He is close to Pelosi, and she nearly succeeded in making him majority leader. The Dems are lucky she failed.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel of New York is under cloud because of tax issues related to his swank living and vacationing arrangements.
Rep. Jane Harman of California was supposedly was taped by the National Security Agency agreeing to try to get some sympathy for two accused Israeli spies in exchange for assistance getting the the helm of the House Intelligence Committee.
And then there's Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois, who may have been improperly overeager to convince disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to put him into President Obama's vacated Senate seat.
If Republicans are able to stitch these together into a fabric of political corruption, with Pelosi at the center, they may have a piece of a winning argument for their return to power. So far, they haven't been able to manufacture many others.
Bailey Kotyonok
