Remember when I wrote that Republican members of the House and Senate were going to slowly be taken completely away from the wheels and levers of power in Washington? Well, here's the next step: Judge Sotomayor is nominated and in effect re-affirms her belief that empathy rather than law is and ought to be the judicial philosophy of every Supreme Court Justice; at the same time, the Democratic machine starts and continues to turn out "reports", "studies", "learned commentary" and the like warning Republican Senators that opposition to Judge Sotomayor's nomination is racism. So, what exactly are you supposed to ask her, if you're a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee: "How's the weather out there in Puerto Rico, Judge?"? No matter what questions are asked, no matter what subject they address, no matter how politely phrased, each and every question will be greeted with shouts of "Racist!" Even if a Republican senator on the committee asked the very same question as asked by a Democrat, the accusation will echo from that chamber throughout the mainstream media and the other propaganda outlets for the Democratic Party.
What do you do? What questions do you ask? Do you ask any questions at all? If you ask questions you will be labelled and branded, with frequent reminders of your "sin" in addition to a concerted attack on you when your re-election comes up. You think not? Wait for it, it will happen. Do you vote against her confirmation? Do you abstain? Do you vote for her confirmation? What do you recommend to the members of your party who will have to vote on the floor of the Senate ... assuming that the Senate Democratic leadership doesn't think up some parliamentary scheme to prevent you from voting on the nomination as a member of the Senate. Maybe not this time, but soon; count on it. How will you vote on the floor? What do you say to your constituents when they ask you what you were thinking of, in voting for her confirmation? If they ask you ... What do you say to them if they ask you why you voted against her, when there was nothing heard in the committee hearings against her nomination?
My advice -- for what it's worth and whether you care what a former lawyer, former court reporter, retired 24-year Army veteran with service in two wars thinks -- is to ask the same questions you would ask her if she were white, upper-class background, with the same qualifications and issues in her history of speaking about her judicial philosophy. One question you must ask, else you show more condescension and disrespect than do her Democratic supporters: "Judge Sotomayor, we have reports from your doctors about your diabetes and the course it has followed during your life and how it affects you at this time. My question is simply this: What do you - who certainly know more than your doctors about how it affects your work and how it may come to affect your work - do you believe that you can work and function effectively as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for the next 50 years with your diabetes?" And when she says, boiling away the bull, "I believe I can function as well as if I did not suffer from diabetes", then you follow-up by expressing your sincere belief in her ability to do so and thank her for her candor. Then ask her what proper role she believes that empathy, sympathy and pity have in the duties of a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Politely, calmly, without rancor or bitterness. And listen to her answer, think about her answer and what it implies for a sitting Justice and then vote according to your judgement of whether that would be good or bad for the United States. Not either political party, not the sitting president, not any former office-holder, but the United States of America. In other words, do what we elected you to do in these cases. No bull, no self-serving theatrics, none of that. Do what you sincerely genuinely believe to be the best for our nation. As a good friend of mine used to say, when the bullets and mortar shells were whistling around closer than we liked, "Be a mensch, for Christ's sake!"
And when they call you a racist, ask them why they didn't call then-Senator Joe Biden a racist for his questions to then-nominee Judge Clarence Thomas which made reference to racial stereotypes about black male sexuality. Ask them why they didn't call a racist Senator Ted Kennedy for his part in that - and use Justice Thomas' phrase - techno-lynching? Ask them why, when cartoonists, comics and Democratic newspeople were referring to then-Secretary of State Condelezza Rice as a "house slave", they didn't accuse those people of being racists? When they make their usual non-answers, just give them a disbelieving look, as you would to one of your children who was caught with cookies on his face and denies having taken it. And stare them down, then let them stew. Respond in a similar way to everyone to makes that fake accusation to your face; and to everyone who hasn't the guts to say it to your face, but who spews it out in the press or TV. What happens if you don't fight it? Nothing much, except the Democrats will control official Washington for longer than your grandchildren will live, and that will be a disaster for the nation.
Be a mensch, for the country's sake.