That Crazy Beeyotch
by digby
Just in case anyone's still wondering if that TNR article had in any influence:
At the Heritage Foundation, Manny Miranda floated the theory that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor could sink her own nomination by being overly firey and combative, like President Ronald Reagan’s defeated nominee Robert Bork.
Sam Alito — soft-spoken. John Roberts — affable and soft-spoken. Sanda Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, all of them, soft-spoken. This nominee’s more like Judge Bork. She has a temper. She has an attitude. She could come across as hubristic in the hearings, as arrogant. And so she could Bork herself. It’s very possible.
I asked Miranda about the basis of this theory after the luncheon. “I’ve read Jeff Rosen’s piece ["The Case Against Sotomayor"],” he said, “and that’s what I’m going on. I haven’t met the lady.” He added this to “what I’ve heard from practitioners on the second circuit, and they don’t like her” and wondered if the coming American Bar Association survey of lawyers’ opinions of Sotomayor could reflect all of this negative feedback.
“When that survey comes out, if it reflects Jeff Rosen’s article, it could be pretty explosive. I think she might want to take the committee on, to engage, in a Bork-like fashion. The more recent two [nominees] have been very disciplined, more controlled.”
(God help the committee if she's having hot flashes!)
Setting aside that cartoon sexism, does a Supreme Court justice's personality really matter very much? John Roberts is, by all accounts, a very nice man, thoughtful and kind, ande yet he exclusively rules in favor of wealthy powerful interests. Scalia is a creep from the bench and in his opinions but is evidently quite fond of Ruth bader Ginsberg with whom he socializes frequently. The great liberal lion William O Douglas was known to be a real jerk. Other than their clerks, who might have to put up with a martinet or a slob, I just don't think that this sort of thing is even relevant to a job which is deeply philosophical in nature and whose philosophy isn't always reflected in the personality of the person who holds it.
This Miranda stuff is just more gossipy, sexist trash talk that has nothing to with anything. They don't care if Sotomayor's a bitch. If she were their kind of bitch, like Scalia, they'd love her for it. They're afraid she's going to be a bitch toward the "rightful owners of America." Them.
Oh, and here's more evidence of the good cop bad cop strategy of the Republicans. They just want to trash her and weaken her so that if something turns up they can use, they'll be able to pressure the Dems into withdrawing her nomination. They don't have enough to destroy her but they are building the narrative just in case.
It's not like they have to play scorched earth. The balance of the court won't change and Obama's not likely to nominate anyone more conservative. They're basically just doing it to placate their crazies and amuse themselves. Lovely people.
.