Everybody Let Go, We Can Make a Nomination Process Just Like a Circus

Being the smart MoFo that he is, Barack Obama's nomination for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor was a nomination doubling as a loaded booby trap for a party made up of boobs.  While Republican leaders are being smartly low-key in their opposition, those conservatives who do not actually have to run for anything have taken the bait and exploded that sucker.  Rush Limbaugh called Sotomayor a reverse-racist while Newt Gingrich twittered (!) that she's racist.   She's also been called dumb, her affinity for her ethnicity's ethnic food has been criticized, and one blogger on the comedy site the Corner got his panties in a bunch over Sonia's desire to have her name pronounced as someone who was Puerto Rican would as opposed to how a red-white-and -blue 'Merikan would.  All of these things are given as reasons for which she should withdraw her nomination so Obama can do the proper thing and nominate a white male.

While it's tempting to sit back and do nothing but mock conservatives (and believe me, it is), the whole thing just illuminates how awful the nominating process has become.  Considering how important the role of a Justice of the Supreme Court is, you would think that the nomination would be debated with the utmost seriousness and solemnity that it deserves.  Instead, we get a circus.  Somebody with impeccable credentials (well, except for Clarence Thomas), years of public service (well, except for Clarence Thomas), and unimpeachable integrity (well, except for Clarence Thomas) gets thrown into the maelstrom and gets everything up to and including the kitchen sink thrown at them.  And this just isn't true of Sotomayor-- John Roberts and Sam Alito may be toadies for the rich and powerful but both had long and distinguished legal careers that deserved plaudits instead of slurs. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if somebody from another party nominates somebody whose judicial philosophy doesn't fit your judicial philosophy there are better ways of fighting the nomination than throwing insults around.  Like winning elections.