John McCain is just the latest Republican to say he won't vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Now the senator is from a state, Arizona, that is almost 30 percent Latino and maybe he's not interested in winning next time.
Last week, I wrote a blog post about what Republicans stand to lose by alienating Latino voters by voting against Sotomayor.
Juan Andrade, president of the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute based in Chicago, has been circulating an email this week telling Latinos to call and email their senators to tell them their vote matters to the Latino community.
"They're convinced that we as a community do not have the guts to fight for something as historic as confirming Judge Sotomayor. Senators who intend to vote "no" are saying publicly that they are not feeling any heat or pressure from the Latino community, so they are going to vote against the best nominee in 100 years in terms of federal bench experience with impunity," Andrade wrote.
"One more thing, these are the same Senators that will be voting on comprehensive immigration reform. If they don't respect the power of our vote now, they're not going to respect the power of our vote on immigration reform either. Think about that. Remember that."
Andrade is right. The Republicans are dissing the Latino community by voting against Sotomayor. These are some of the same guys that voted for her before with her federal appointments, according to a Politico story. Now they are voting against her.
There is no explaining it even though McCain tried when he read a statement Monday from the Senate floor.
"The American people will be watching this week when the Senate votes
on Judge Sotomayor's nomination. She is a judge who has foresworn
judicial activism in her confirmation hearings, but who has a long
record of it prior to 2009. And should she engage in activist
decisions that overturn the considered constitutional judgments of
millions of Americans, if she uses her lifetime appointment on the
bench as a perch to remake law in her own image of justice, I expect
that Americans will hold us Senators accountable," Mc Cain said.
"Judicial activism demonstrates a lack of respect for the popular will
that is at fundamental odds with our republican system of government.
And, as I stated earlier, regardless of one's success in academics and
in government service, an individual who does not appreciate the common
sense limitations on judicial power in our democratic system of
government ultimately lacks a key qualification for a lifetime
appointment to the bench. For this reason, and no other, I am unable
to support Judge Sotomayor's nomination," McCain concluded.
Well Sen. McCain, I say Sotomayor doesn't need your vote. She's going
to be confirmed by the Democrats and a handful of smart Republicans
anyway. And I look forward to this day with tremendous pride.
It's a good thing you are not my president, Sen. McCain. Pandering
again to the extreme right of the Republican party shows just why you
lost the presidential election.
Now you risk even more.
Filed under: Hispanic, politics, Supreme Court
Tags: John McCain, Latinos, Republicans, Senate, Sonia Sotomayor, voters
So you think Republicans should vote for Sotomayor because of her race, and are accusing them of voting against her because of her race? Do you realize how stupid that sounds? Why are you so concerned with throwing race in the middle of this? Did it ever occur to you that maybe Republicans are going to vote against her because they think she will be too liberal? Just maybe this has to do with politics and not race. The two do not need to mix. Throwing the race card in to try and get your way just makes you sound ignorant. Almost as ignorant as the person who made this statement,
In response to the commenter who called me "ignorant", I don't believe Republicans should vote for Sotomayor because of her ethnicity. Clearly she is more than qualified. The truth is many of these Republicans are voting AGAINST her today because she is Latina and they are fearful she can't be objective in applying the law. This is absurd. And what I'm saying is this vote will be perceived by Latinos as insensitive. Most Republicans don't get it and they won't get Latino votes as a result.
So you are saying that anyone who doesn't vote for her is racist? That's a pretty strong statement, and one that seems pretty absurd. The fact is they voted against her because she was nominated by a liberal president and they fear she will be too liberal. It had nothing to do with her race. So yes, you do sound ignorant on this issue.
In addition, do you think that if Obama had nominated a latina who leaned conservative they still would have voted against her? Of course not. That means it was about politics, not race.