GOP Unsure How Big of a Brawl It Wants

Says she burst into tears when Obama gave her the news

(NEWSER) - Sonia Sotomayor sat by the phone for 12 hours waiting for the call. When it finally rang, “I had my left hand over my chest, trying to calm my beating heart,” she recalls in an interview with C-SPAN. When President Obama offered her the Supreme Court appointment, “I caught my breath and started to cry and said, ‘Thank you, Mr. President.'” More»

Conservative critics think Minority Leader should be fighting administration harder

(NEWSER) - Why haven’t we heard more from Mitch McConnell on health care? The Senate Minority Leader has kept relatively quiet on the administration’s reform efforts, a stance that has irked many conservative activists who feel McConnell is ducking his duties as de facto Republican Party leader, writes Stephanie Mencimer for Mother Jones. McConnell “could single-handedly destroy this bill,” says pro-life firebrand Randall Terry. “But so far he has not displayed the backbone." More»

(NEWSER) - GOP senators may have pooh-poohed Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment, but wise Latinas everywhere are wearing the phrase like a badge of honor, the New York Times reports. From t-shirts to blogs, women of Hispanic heritage have warmed to the phrase much like other minority groups appropriate slurs, a linguist says. “‘Wise Latina’ is not just sticking your chin up. It’s a fist in the air.” More»

'I feel this is the right vote for me, and quite frankly, for the country,' Graham said

(NEWSER) - Lindsey Graham intends to vote for Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, Talking Points Memo reports. "I believe she is well qualified,” said the senator, one of her more aggressive questioners. "She's definitely more liberal than a Republican would have chosen, but I do believe elections have consequences." President Obama "deserves some deference on my part," Graham said. More»

She's shown 'judicial temperament': statement

(NEWSER) - Richard Lugar said today he’ll back Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court bid, making him the first GOP senator to do so, the Washington Post reports. Mel Martinez of Florida, the chamber's sole Republican Latino, quickly followed suit. “Judge Sotomayor has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination hearing,” Lugar, an ally of President Obama's from his days in the Senate, said in a statement. Later in the day, Olympia Snowe of Maine climbed aboard. More»