Greg Sargent reports that Michael Steele has gently begun trying to wean the GOP off of attacking Sonia Sotomayor for reasons that have nothing to do with her work as a judge (my emphasis):
In what seemed like an effort to distance the party from claims that Sotomayor is “racist” and an “Affirmative Action” pick, Steele repeatedly said that Republicans should be hailing the historic nature of Obama’s pick.
“I’m excited that a Hispanic woman is in this position,” Steele said. He added that instead of “slammin’ and rammin’” on Sotomayor, Republicans should “acknowledge” the “historic aspect” of the pick and make a “cogent, articulate argument” against her for purely substantive reasons.
I imagine that, if Steele had made this argument like a normal person, someone somewhere might possibly have taken him seriously.
— A. Serwer
