GOP Weighs Right Amount of 'No' Votes

[CatWoman]

Pitiful.

Just pitiful.....

WASHINGTON -- Opponents of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court suggested they would consider it a victory if more than half of the Senate's 40 Republicans voted against her in this week's confirmation hearing, as the GOP grapples with how aggressively to challenge the nominee.

Many Republicans said they viewed 23 "no" votes as a benchmark, because that would be one more than Chief Justice John Roberts received in 2005 and would reflect a significant protest vote. Others said that if the Senate GOP were to split roughly in half, that would signal support to conservatives who oppose Judge Sotomayor without angering Hispanic voters with a wholesale dismissal of her nomination.

Republicans have little hope of blocking the confirmation. They are outnumbered on the Judiciary Committee and the full Senate, and nothing damaging in Judge Sotomayor's background has emerged. If confirmed, she would represent one of nine votes on a closely divided court, and at 54 years old, would likely be on the court for decades.

The Judiciary Committee begins hearings on her nomination on Monday, with a full Senate vote expected in early August.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124744293060030141.html

[Merlot]

1. How about each senator votes as they truly believe?

Instead of sending stupid messages with the number of votes. What do they do, decide who votes yes or no? Doesn't that go against democracy when they decide as a group how to vote instead of voting individually?

I don't mind if a senator votes his conscience against the nom, but this "message sending" and deciding to vote one more than roberts is just ridiculous.

[madinmaryland]

4. Do any Republics have a conscience?

That's the reason for the stupid messages.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Nope

You only get considered if you are compromiseable and can be blackmailed. If you meet these qualifications, then you are a considered a GOP candidate for Congress.

[AlinPA]

2. Do we have 60 votes (not just on paper) to stop the filibuster?

[CatWoman]

6. yes

[AlinPA]

9. Hopefully Lieberman would side with her.

[givemebackmycountry]

3. The Party of NO strikes again...

Tallying up the NO votes before this woman has answered a single question.

Keep it up GOP and as always, stay classy.

I smell the stench of death every time they open their filthy mouths.
They got nothing.
They are nothing.
They are ALL Freepers now.

[Mz Pip]

7. A win is a win

60 votes, 51 vote, 80 votes.

20 "NO" votes is not a victory no matter how you slice and dice it. Idiots.

[imdjh]

8. The Republicans don't give their constituents a lot of credit, do they?

If I were a Republican voter, given that Sotomayor is going to be confirmed anyway, I would want every Republican senator to vote for her. Then we could claim to be easy to get along with , bipartisan, feminist, not bigoted, and all that.

[cali]

10. lol. man, they are pathetic. n/t

[SoCalDem]

11. i wish they would just cancel the "committee hearing" completely, and just take it to the floor

What will we possibly "learn"? Nada, zip..zilch.

ALL candidates are carefuuly coached to make sure their answers are as non-descript as possible, and are mostly time-eaters.

The whole dog & pony show is ridiculous.. (regardless of which party has the presidency)

[pdxmom]

12. Pssst. Someone needs to tell the Republicans that if they announce their

strategy to the media, the Hispanic voters will hear about it too and yes, Republicans, Hispanic voters read the WSJ and are smart about what you are doing.

This strategy is so offensive.