I can already hear the cries of “liberal media” being spewed in response to polls that say a majority of people in this country don’t have
a problem with the idea of Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court of the United States.
To listen to her critics, she goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for. Decent people wouldn’t want her to get the virtual lifetime appointment that gives a chance to a Puerto Rican from the Bronx to influence the laws of this country.
BUT I HAVE always been of the opinion that the bulk of the people who get worked up over the growing Latino population and somehow perceive it as going counter to this country are a minority – albeit a vocal one.
So while those vocal nativist loudmouths have been coming up with all kinds of rhetoric that they claim proves Sotomayor isn’t “one of us,” the majority of the people (a true “silent majority,” to steal the Nixonian-era term) just want the federal appeals judge from New York to get confirmed.
At least that’s the evidence we could gain from a new poll whose results were published in the Washington Post and broadcast on ABC News.
According to that poll, 62 percent of those surveyed want Sotomayor to be confirmed. They don’t have any professional qualms about her. Another 13 percent have “no opinion,” which leaves only one-quarter of the remaining people as being the ones who have some problem and seriously think the Senate would be acting in a professional manner if they tried to bar her from a post on the high court.
THAT RESULT MATCHES up well with another part of the poll – one that asks people whether Sotomayor is more, or less, liberal on social issues than one would want in a Supreme Court justice.
A majority (55 percent, to be specific) finds her to be “about right.” Only 26 percent find her to be “more” liberal than they would want.
Now I will be the first to admit that a lone poll doesn’t say much. There’s always the chance that the pollsters found a group of people who don’t come close to matching up to the U.S. populace.
But the idea that there is about one-quarter of the population (25 percent and 26 percent) that has a hang-up with the concept of Sotomayor on the high court sounds about right. One out of four of us wants to rant, while the other three of us wonder why those people can’t find something more useful to do with their time – although about one of eight of those people probably wonders why the one-in-four can’t worry about something important, like what killed Michael Jackson.
SERIOUSLY, THAT SAME poll found that 52 percent of those surveyed reject the idea that her ethnicity plays a negative role in her ability to be a judge, while 59 percent don’t believe her gender is a problem.
Basically, a majority of the nation rejects the very premises upon which the social conservatives are trying to build a case for the Supreme Court to reject Sotomayor.
Even though these people are always quick to claim that the United States is basically a center-to-right nation, I have always thought they put way too much focus on the “right” part.
We’re a centrist nation, and while some of us were deluded enough to give George W. Bush two terms to try to impose a “compassionate conservative” stance on our government, the fact is that those days are done for the time being.
IF THEY WEREN’T, the Republican Party would never have nominated John McCain. Nor would the nation have elected Barack Obama in 2008.
A majority of the electorate gave Obama the chance to be president because they liked the general direction suggested by his rhetoric, and he hasn’t managed to offend a majority of the people yet with his actions.
So the idea that a majority of the electorate is going to look favorably upon his choice for a Supreme Court nominee ought to be a given.
There very well was a time in our nation’s past when the idea of Sotomayor getting a place on the Supreme Court would have been a radical concept that would have upset the alleged morals of this nation.
BUT THOSE DAYS are past – and good riddance.
Too many of the people who are bringing up lame excuses for non-issues against Sotomayor (and trying to keep any serious reform of immigration issues from coming before Congress, for that matter) are guilty of trying to keep this country in a version of its history that will do little more than hold us back.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Look at the figures for yourself, a majority of the U.S. populace wants (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_062209.html?sid=ST2009062703004) the Senate to just approve Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and get it over with.
a problem with the idea of Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court of the United States.To listen to her critics, she goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for. Decent people wouldn’t want her to get the virtual lifetime appointment that gives a chance to a Puerto Rican from the Bronx to influence the laws of this country.
BUT I HAVE always been of the opinion that the bulk of the people who get worked up over the growing Latino population and somehow perceive it as going counter to this country are a minority – albeit a vocal one.
So while those vocal nativist loudmouths have been coming up with all kinds of rhetoric that they claim proves Sotomayor isn’t “one of us,” the majority of the people (a true “silent majority,” to steal the Nixonian-era term) just want the federal appeals judge from New York to get confirmed.
At least that’s the evidence we could gain from a new poll whose results were published in the Washington Post and broadcast on ABC News.
According to that poll, 62 percent of those surveyed want Sotomayor to be confirmed. They don’t have any professional qualms about her. Another 13 percent have “no opinion,” which leaves only one-quarter of the remaining people as being the ones who have some problem and seriously think the Senate would be acting in a professional manner if they tried to bar her from a post on the high court.
THAT RESULT MATCHES up well with another part of the poll – one that asks people whether Sotomayor is more, or less, liberal on social issues than one would want in a Supreme Court justice.
A majority (55 percent, to be specific) finds her to be “about right.” Only 26 percent find her to be “more” liberal than they would want.
Now I will be the first to admit that a lone poll doesn’t say much. There’s always the chance that the pollsters found a group of people who don’t come close to matching up to the U.S. populace.
But the idea that there is about one-quarter of the population (25 percent and 26 percent) that has a hang-up with the concept of Sotomayor on the high court sounds about right. One out of four of us wants to rant, while the other three of us wonder why those people can’t find something more useful to do with their time – although about one of eight of those people probably wonders why the one-in-four can’t worry about something important, like what killed Michael Jackson.
SERIOUSLY, THAT SAME poll found that 52 percent of those surveyed reject the idea that her ethnicity plays a negative role in her ability to be a judge, while 59 percent don’t believe her gender is a problem.
Basically, a majority of the nation rejects the very premises upon which the social conservatives are trying to build a case for the Supreme Court to reject Sotomayor.
Even though these people are always quick to claim that the United States is basically a center-to-right nation, I have always thought they put way too much focus on the “right” part.
We’re a centrist nation, and while some of us were deluded enough to give George W. Bush two terms to try to impose a “compassionate conservative” stance on our government, the fact is that those days are done for the time being.
IF THEY WEREN’T, the Republican Party would never have nominated John McCain. Nor would the nation have elected Barack Obama in 2008.
A majority of the electorate gave Obama the chance to be president because they liked the general direction suggested by his rhetoric, and he hasn’t managed to offend a majority of the people yet with his actions.
So the idea that a majority of the electorate is going to look favorably upon his choice for a Supreme Court nominee ought to be a given.
There very well was a time in our nation’s past when the idea of Sotomayor getting a place on the Supreme Court would have been a radical concept that would have upset the alleged morals of this nation.
BUT THOSE DAYS are past – and good riddance.
Too many of the people who are bringing up lame excuses for non-issues against Sotomayor (and trying to keep any serious reform of immigration issues from coming before Congress, for that matter) are guilty of trying to keep this country in a version of its history that will do little more than hold us back.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Look at the figures for yourself, a majority of the U.S. populace wants (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_062209.html?sid=ST2009062703004) the Senate to just approve Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and get it over with.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment