May 29, 2009

5/29: Oh, Tancredo

The debate over SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor continues to roil the political blogosphere. Throughout the week, liberal bloggers have been pushing back fiercely against what they perceive to be racially-tinged attacks on Sotomayor. They've been particularly critical of conservative pundits who are calling Sotomayor an "affirmative action" beneficiary (Pat Buchanan, Fred Barnes) or a "racist" (Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich). Now lefty bloggers are blasting ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) for criticizing Sotomayor's affiliation with the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group which Tancredo dubs "a Latino KKK." Jeralyn Merritt declares that "Tom Tancredo has officially lost his marbles" while Dave Meyer calls on Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Mel Martinez (R-FL) to denounce Tancredo's remarks, since both of them have addressed the NCLR in the past. Meanwhile, several conservative bloggers think Tancredo needs to be quiet. Patrick Ruffini writes: "Republicans cannot shy away from legitimate critcisms of Sotomayor's job performance and judicial philosophy [...] At the same time, we will need to ostracize those who would bring ethnicity into the equation."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Liberal bloggers (Bowers, McCarter, Silver) are citing a new Gallup poll indicating that Americans' initial reactions to the Sotomayor nomination "are decidedly more positive than negative." However, conservative bloggers (Emanuel, Erickson, Klein) continue to criticize Sotomayor's 2001 suggestion "that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
• After RedState founder Erick Erickson continued to criticize NRSC Chair John Cornyn for endorsing Gov. Charlie Crist over ex-state House Speaker Marco Rubio in the FL GOP Senate primary, Cornyn wrote a blog post on RedState defending the Crist endorsement.
• Liberal bloggers (Bowers, Benen, Orton) continue to discuss Rep. Joe Sestak's prospects in the PA SEN Dem primary, should he decide to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter. In other SEN news, liberal bloggers (Singiser, Sudbay) are buzzing about the news that MO SEN candidate Roy Blunt (R) owes $6,820 in back taxes on his D.C. home.
• In GOV news, conservative blogger Moe Lane interviews SC GOV candidate Nikki Haley (R), while liberal blogger Jerome Armstrong slams VA GOV candidate Terry McAuliffe (D).
• Liberal bloggers (Benen, McCarter, Dayen, Sudbay) are pleased that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) reversed his position on including a public option in health care reform (Nelson initially called it a "deal-breaker", but he now says that he's "open" to it). Lefty bloggers are attributing Nelson's switch to a $10K ad campaign launched by Change Congress, an advocacy group founded by Stanford prof. Lawrence Lessig and Dem strategist Joe Trippi.

Finally, please check back later today for our interview with Matt Lewis!

TANCREDO: Too Much?

Liberal bloggers are slamming Tancredo for claiming that Sotomayor is a member of "a Latino KKK":

• TPM's Josh Marshall: "[I]t's painfully revealing how conservatives simply cannot helping going hard on the race front with Sotomayor or, as David Kurtz just put it, can't help imagining that everyone else is as racist as many of them are. For those who aren't familiar with it, La Raza is basically a Latino equivalent of B'nai Brith or the NAACP. Garden variety and uncontroversial unless you thinks it's a public safety issue if more than a handful of Mexicans or Puerto Ricans get together in one place at the same time."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "It's like we're watching a test play out in real time -- can the right criticize a Democratic president's Supreme Court nominee on the merits, and steer clear of racism? Just three days into the process, it's a test too many on the right are failing. Badly. I suspect some Republican leaders will distance themselves from Tancredo's madness today, which would be wise. But it obviously throws the GOP off message -- instead of going on the offensive, party leaders will have to spend time keeping one of the their own at arm's length."
• MyDD's Charles Lemos: "It is disturbing to see the criticism of La Raza rear its ugly head. As someone who self-identifies as Hispanic, it concerns me that some of these attacks are little more than an open season on Americans of Hispanic origin."
• TalkLeft's Merritt: "Tom Tancredo has officially lost his marbles."

Other lefty bloggers are calling on Sens. McCain and Martinez to denounce Tancredo's remarks, since both of them have addressed the NCLR in the past.

TANCREDO II: Cool It, Tom

Several conservative bloggers think Tancredo needs to be quiet:

• Hot Air's Allahpundit: "I realize that any concession to electoral reality is disdained by 'true conservatives' as the hallmark of a squishy RINO, but with Republicans nervous about alienating Hispanic voters by confronting Sotomayor, how wise is it for the most vociferous amnesty opponent in America to be doing the rounds on cable news throwing verbal grenades like this? You worked hard in Congress for a long time, Tanc. Take a break. Especially now that the GOP's got a tiny bit of traction in making Democrats squirm over her 'wise Latina' comment."
• The Next Right's Ruffini: "Republicans cannot shy away from legitimate critcisms of Sotomayor's job performance and judicial philosophy, just as we will have to learn to more effectively criticize [Barack] Obama. [...] At the same time, we will need to ostracize those who would bring ethnicity into the equation. If Republicans don't like the tenor of the opposition, we should not be afraid to nuke the bad actors on our side while amping up criticism of Sotomayor's legal record. The trick is not so much being delicate but being rough both with the left and certain people on the right to insulate against charges that our opposition is anything other than policy-based. The ideal messaging to my mind would be as follows: (1.) Tom Tancredo is an idiot. (2.) Sotomayor's decisions, her stated penchant for 'making policy' from the bench, and her high reversal rate among those she aspires to join all render her nomination profoundly troubling. (3.) Tom Tancredo is still an idiot."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Health Care Reform And Entrepreneurship

MIT prof. Jonathan Gruber (h/t Kevin Drum):

"Universal health insurance, far from suppressing entrepreneurship, could be a boon to it. The main reason for this is a phenomenon known as 'job lock,' a term coined during the last round of debate over universal health coverage in the early 1990s. Job lock refers to the fact that workers are often unwilling to leave a current job that provides health insurance for another position that might not, even if they would be more productive in that other position. This is because employer-provided insurance is traditionally the only reliable form of fairly priced private insurance coverage available in the U.S. The alternative is to purchase insurance in the nongroup market, where insurance prices and availability are typically not regulated, so insurance companies can drop individuals when they become ill or charge them exorbitant prices. As a result, individuals feel 'locked' into less productive jobs. [...]

[T]he most convincing research, by Alison Wellington, mirrors the findings of other job mobility studies: Americans who have an alternative source of health insurance, such as a spouse's coverage, are much more likely to be self-employed than those who don't. Wellington estimates that universal health care would therefore likely increase the share of workers who are self-employed (currently about 10 percent of the workforce) by another 2 percent or more. A system that provides universal access to health insurance coverage, then, is far more likely to promote entrepreneurship than one in which would-be innovators remain tied to corporate cubicles for fear of losing their family's access to affordable health care."

LEST WE FORGET: His Private Life Is Irrelevant, Counselor

From Overheard in the Office:

Attorney on conference call: Your honor, opposing counsel is beating a dead whore!

Posted by Ian Faerstein at May 29, 2009 12:24 PM