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US Republicans divided on tone of Sotomayor debate

Republicans are divided over how aggressively to go after federal judge Sonia Sotomayor, as the party feuds about the tone of the coming debate over confirming the US Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice.

A growing chorus of Republican lawmakers and conservative strategists are expressing misgivings about the strident rhetoric some prominent Republicans have used to describe Sotomayor. Some are denouncing right-wing groups for swiftly launching negative advertisements against her.

The spat reflects a vexing question facing the minority party as it confronts US President Barack Obama’s first high court nominee: They cannot defeat Sotomayor or block a final vote to seat her on the court, so what should they do instead?

The answer, according to high-profile Republicans such as radio host Rush Limbaugh and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, is to criticize Sotomayor harshly. They both branded the federal judge, daughter of Puerto Rican parents who was born and reared in New York, a “racist” this week for past remarks about how her ethnicity affected her judge’s role. On Friday, Limbaugh likened picking Sotomayor to nominating former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke for the job. The KKK is a racist white supremacist group.

Other leading Republicans, cognizant of the political risks for their party of opposing the first Hispanic woman to be named to the court, are struggling to change the terms of the debate. Republican Representative John Cornyn, the head of his party’s Senate campaign committee, lashed out on Thursday at Limbaugh and Gingrich.

“I think it’s terrible. This is not the kind of tone that any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent,” Cornyn told National Public Radio. “Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials. I just don’t think it’s appropriate. I certainly don’t endorse it. I think it’s wrong.”

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Republican strategist Peggy Noonan urged her party to “play grown-up” and dismissed as “idiots” conservatives who were out to attack or brand Sotomayor.

Some conservatives are quietly expressing dismay at the tactics of outside interest groups that are engaged in a public-relations offensive against Sotomayor.

A leading organization on the right, the Judicial Confirmation Network, launched an ad campaign the day Obama named Sotomayor that bashes her record and says “America deserves better.”

“These things just taint the debate because it causes [people] to become callous toward our message. It becomes a ‘cry wolf’ situation,” said Manuel Miranda, chairman of the Third Branch Conference, a conservative group, and a former senior Senate Republican aide. “They’re just out to bash the nominee. This isn’t about bashing the nominee, it’s about engaging on issues.”

Also See: SUNDAY PROFILE: New York judge rises from the projects to the Supreme Court
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