Ralph Reed has now penned a second memo to addressed to “Republican Leaders and Conservatives” urging wholesale Republican opposition to the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, warning that the vote “is a political Rorschach test” and any failure by the GOP to generate a substantial vote tally against her will embloden the Obama administration and harm the party in future elections:
[I]f the remaining undecided Republican Senators decide to vote for Sotomayer [sic], they could do real and lasting damage to the Republican Party writ large … [H]er views are out of the mainstream and her judicial record and previous statements and writings are those of a judicial activist. Not only does the GOP base and Independents oppose her because of those views, but Hispanic support for her nomination is underwhelming at best. A vote against her confirmation is not a vote against her personally. It is a vote against the imposition of quotas by judicial fiat, the reliance on foreign law by U.S. courts, more liberal protections for unlimited, taxpayer-funded abortion on demand, and the erosion of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Republicans and red-state Democratic Senators who oppose her will strengthen their position. Republicans who support Sotomayor may come to regret having done so, either because a conservative candidate could challenge them in a primary or they generate only lax support from the base in a general election.
For Republicans, the Sotomayor nomination is a political Rorschach test. If they fail it, the consequences in 2010 and beyond could be enormous. If they pass it, combined with Obama’s falling poll numbers, growing queasiness among Blue Dog Democrats, and a weak economy, their fortunes could turn around far quicker than they think.
Personally, I don’t think I’d be taking advice about that is “good for the party” from someone who couldn’t even win his own primary campaign due to his dirty dealings with Jack Abramoff … but that’s just me.
