5/26: It's Sotomayor

Most conservative bloggers concede that SCOTUS nominee/Second Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor is "very likely to be confirmed." However, that's not stopping them from pushing a negative narrative about her. The primary line of attack in the conservative blogosphere is that Sotomayor is a relatively unimpressive jurist who was only selected because of her ethnicity and gender. Ramesh Ponnuru describes Sotomayor as "Obama's Harriet Miers" while Erick Erickson declares: "Conservatives rejoice. Of all the picks Obama could have picked, he picked the most intellectually shallow." While some righty bloggers are criticizing Sotomayor's judicial philosophy, there isn't (yet) a groundswell of support for a GOP filibuster.

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers love the political implications of the pick, as they believe that GOPers will alienate female voters and Hispanic voters if they attack Sotomayor's qualifications and intellect. John Aravosis calls the nomination "a brilliant move by the Obama people" while Chris Bowers writes: "Not only will they be unable to stop Sotomayor, but they will look terrible trying to stop her. (Let's attack empathy some more! Let's demonize minorities some more!)"

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Liebau, Johnson, Morrissey, Reynolds) are accusing the Obama admin. of not taking the North Korea nuclear program seriously. Liberal bloggers (Dayen, Lemos, Benen) are also offering their thoughts on the North Korea situation.
• Liberal bloggers (Greenwald, Dayen, Llorens, Beutler) are buzzing about the news that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) wrote a letter to Obama criticizing the President's "indefinite detention" plan for suspected terrorists.
• Conservative bloggers (Johnson, Morrissey, Lane) are praising MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) for employing some legislative maneuvering to balance the state's budget.

SOTOMAYOR: Obama's Harriet Miers?

Conservative bloggers are portraying Sotomayor is a relatively unimpressive jurist who was only nominated because of her race and gender:

• Michelle Malkin: "So, it's Sonia Sotomayor. Identity politics triumphs."
• NRO's Ponnuru: "[B]ased on the early signs it appears that President Obama has made the crassest of political picks."
• Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "Barack Obama picked Sonia Sotomayor because she's Hispanic, female, and is willing to put liberal political concerns above the Constitution. That checks a couple of important political boxes for him and gets him a liberal judge on the court."
• The Cato Institute's Ilya Shapiro: "In picking Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama has confirmed that identity politics matter to him more than merit. Judge Sotomayor is not one of the leading lights of the federal judiciary and would not even have been on the shortlist if she were not Hispanic. She has a mixed reputation, with a questionable temperament and no particularly important opinions in over 10 years on the Second Circuit. [...] If this is the kind of 'empathy' the president wants from his judges, we are in for a long summer—and more bitter confirmation battles in the future."
• RedState's Erickson: "Conservatives rejoice. Of all the picks Obama could have picked, he picked the most intellectually shallow. Even The New Republic has been rather scathing about her. It's like Obama decided he wanted a Souter to replace Souter."

SOTOMAYOR II: Another One Of Them Activist Judges!

Other conservative bloggers are criticizing Sotomayor's judicial philosophy:

• Townhall's Matt Lewis: "Make no mistake: Sotomayor is a hard-left nominee who is more liberal than Judge Souter. Her judicial philosophy -- based on her previous comments and decisions -- implies that she believes her personal political agenda is more important than the law."
• Pajamas Media's Roger Kimball: "The more one looks into Sotomayor's recrod, the clearer it is that, as a friend of mine put it, identity politics is her judicial philosophy."
• Townhall's Jillian Bandes: "Why nominate someone so liberal? Why go for the gut punch: someone who actively flaunts the Constitution every chance she gets, someone who is such a minority elitist that she probably lacks 'empathy' for anyone unfortunate enough to be 'white' or 'caucasian.' [...Obama] wanted to wage war. Republicans will inevitably lose that war, but they will hopefully win a few of the battles along the way. It won't be hard to do given her activist, anti-Constitutionalist, minority rights agenda."
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "The reason race and gender shouldn't matter at all is because judges should apply the law, not their 'life experiences' or their 'empathy' for specific outcomes. Sotomayor sounds like Judge Roy Bean, calling the courts a law unto themselves, rather than a thoughtful jurist interested in applying the law created by a representative democracy."

SOTOMAYOR III: Oppose Her At Your Peril, GOP

Liberal bloggers love the political implications of the pick, as they believe that GOPers will alienate Hispanics and women if they attack Sotomayor's qualifications and intellect:

• AMERICAblog's Aravosis: "It's a brilliant move by the Obama people. A very strategic, calculated move. A woman and, more importantly, a Latina."
• Balloon Juice's John Cole: "Politically, this pick is filled with land mines for Republicans, giving them the opportunity to sound like clods to hispanics and female voters, and given their remarkable tone-deafness the last couple of years, I'm sure they can manage to shave a few points off their already historically low popularity. [Senate Judicary Cmte Ranking Member] Jeff Sessions should be a load of fun to watch."
• The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates: "[M]y initial impression is that this is very good fight to engage -- politically and otherwise. [...] I just don't think Jeff Sessions, with his history, really wants it with a Puerto-Rican woman who worked her way up from the projects and went on to be summa cum laude at Princeton, and went on to Yale Law. Not to mention you have the first Latina Supreme Court judge, appointed by the first black president. Just on the crass politics, it ain't a good look."
• Open Left's Bowers: "Overall, I think it is good that Obama went with the nominee who conservatives said they would complain loudest about. Not only will they be unable to stop Sotomayor, but they will look terrible trying to stop her. (Let's attack empathy some more! Let's demonize minorities some more!) Also, generally speaking, whatever option conservatives consider to be the most troubling is probably the best move."

SOTOMAYOR IV: Obama Shows Guts

Several liberal bloggers are praising Obama for nominating the SCOTUS candidate who seemed to generate the most intense opposition:

• Salon's Glenn Greenwald: "It is very encouraging that Obama ignored the ugly, vindictive, and anonymous smear campaign led by The New Republic's Jeffrey Rosen and his secret cast of cowardly Eminent Liberal Legal Scholars of the Respectable Intellectual Center. People like that, engaging in tactics of that sort, have exerted far too much influence on our political culture for far too long, and Obama's selection of one of their most recent targets both reflects and advances the erosion of their odious influence. And Obama's choice is also a repudiation of the Jeffrey-Rosen/Ben-Wittes/Stuart-Taylor grievance on behalf of white males that, as Dahlia Lithwick put it, 'a diverse bench must inevitably be a second-rate bench.' [...] Obama deserves substantial credit for this choice. There were choices available to him that would have been safer among the Respectable Intellectual Center (Diane Wood) and among the Right (Elena Kagan)."
• dday: "[Obama] made his own decision based on his own best belief of who would make the best Justice. He didn't curry favor with anyone, and certainly not the right or the DC establishment. In fact, he really stuck it to the latter. Good for him."
• Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher: "Obama ignored them all. Good for him."

Meanwhile, other liberal bloggers (Benen, Yglesias, BooMan) are impressed by Sotomayor's unusual life story.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Party Like It's 1994

Yglesias doesn't understand why the media gives so much attention to ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich (who was a guest on the 5/24 edition of Meet The Press):

"If I wanted a conservative politician to go up against Dick Durbin (D-IL), the number two Democrat in the United States Senate, my first choice would be Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who's Durbin's opposite number. But of course Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the top GOP dog, would be a great get too. Failing that, there are 37 other Republican Senators you can ask. And there are lots of conservatives in the House leadership who might have an enlightening point of view on whatever it is they're up to. But Meet The Press went with a former House Speaker from Georgia, who last held elected office about ten years ago.

I'd be interested in hearing from a journalist if they seriously think that a reasonable standard is being applied to the newsworthiness of Gingrich's pronouncement. Back on Wednesday, [ex-House Maj. Leader] Dick Gephardt hailed the appointment of Margaret Hamburg to be FDA Commissioner. I don't recall that as having made any headlines or garnered him any cable appearances. But why not? Gephardt's a former House leader, and held the post much more recently than Gingrich. On Thursday, [ex-Senate Maj. Leader] Tom Daschle was in Atlanta and made a strong statement in support of health care reform. That didn't lead Politico. It didn't get him an interview on a network morning show. But why not? What are the rules?"

LEST WE FORGET: In Attempt To Jump-Start Economy, Obama Declares Tuesdays Ladies' Night

From The Onion:

"WASHINGTON -- As part of his administration's continued efforts to stimulate the economy and liven up a slow weeknight, President Obama announced today that, effective immediately, Tuesdays will be half-off for ladies nationwide. 'It is imperative to our economic health that we inject capital wisely and get some blondes in here, preferably hot young ones,' said Obama, who submitted a proposal before Congress to increase tube-top usage by 200 percent. 'We can only escape this recession with the full cooperation of the American people -- so ladies, please, bring your girlfriends. When did this country turn into such a sausage fest?' According to estimates by the Department of the Interior, the first national Ladies' Night will be attended by an estimated 117 million men and one bachelorette party."