What exactly does the GOP gain by fighting Sotomayor?

[IDemo]

Everything I have read seems to indicate that her eventual approval by the Senate is almost a slam dunk.

Do they view this as simply a bully's pulpit from which to trumpet their anti-abortion nonsense?

Does it represent a "win" against Obama if they are successful in making an ugly public spectacle out of the process (something they are very good at) even if they know they'll lose in the end?

Do they feel they can swat down Sotomayor hard enough, along with any other nominees Obama comes up with, to make him relent and nominate another Scalia??

Besides making sure the public knows they haven't backed down from their general assholier than thou methods, what do repukes gain with calling her a racist, unintelligent, and unqualified?

[saltpoint]

1. They threw people like Howard Baker over the cliff long ago and now

no one is in place to remind them that they're behaving badly.

Limbaugh, Liddy, and Tom Tancredo have defined the Republican Party this week. That is truly pathetic.

[rosesaylavee]

2. They have no strategy.

They are acting as individuals without any leadership and doing just what comes naturally. The party is done. They have no collective vision, no policies, no hope for revival. No one will save them from themselves.

Stick a fork in them.

[Marr]

30. Agreed completely- it's like they're all acting on a Pavlovian response.

For decades, their little media echo chamber has fed them "outrage" in soundbite format, and that's just how they think now. Democrat bad, brown skin bad, etc., etc. It's very strange watching them flail like this. It's like some violent beast having a spasm. It' just flopping around randomly, pounding it's fists with the same old ferocity, but without any coordination.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. A guaranteed one-way trip to oblivion

Good for them.

Fools.

[msongs]

4. raking in $$$$$$$$$$ from their followers, mostly. like raising $$$$$$ from gaybashing nt

[lapfog_1]

6. Yup, this is all about fund raising from the wingnut base.

Hence the outright racism and wingnuttery. They figure to "reach out" to conservative Hispanics and women closer to elections.

[AllentownJake]

5. Money

She'll be used as a fund raising tool by the conservative PACs.

[sandnsea]

24. I agree with that

I'm really starting to think the fundraising angle is a lot more of what's been going on than I ever gave credit. They ALL will use it as a fundraising tool.

[AllentownJake]

25. The conservative groups will get the most of the money

The RNC will benefit a little bit but not as much as places like the Club for Growth.

This means one thing, conservative candidates will be much better financed in the primary elections in 2010.

[EFerrari]

35. That's right!

[JerseygirlCT]

7. I think they've gone from

an absence of strategic thinking in place of tactical thinking (McCain campaign, for example) to absolute absence of even tactical planning.

They're drowning, and grasping at anything they can find. They've replaced thought with just striking out at anything that moves. What's almost amusing is how "canned" the attacks are. I'm sure they created them as boilerplate, and it's just been fill in the blanks since. That's about how far ahead they're thinking these days though. That probably took one of their tactical geniuses to figure out.

[IDemo]

15. "They've replaced thought with just striking out at anything that moves." Agreed.

[saltpoint]

8. They gain less support. Which makes for smaller, more manageable conventions.

At this rate, they can probably hold their 2012 convention in Little Rock. The couple dozen or so delegates can bring brown-bag lunches.

[babylonsister]

9. They think by attacking her they will fill their campaign coffers.

Most GOPers aren't showing their cards (except Pat Roberts/KS so far), but the talking heads of the gop are full 'bore'.

[Posteritatis]

10. Madness. They're collecting all possible type of it (nt)

[begin_within]

11. Their plan is to throw anything at anyone they don't like, and hope that something eventually sticks

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. Larger and larger majorities...

...in states and congressional districts they already carry anyways.

Which is why I'm so confused.

[Arkana]

13. It pleases Boss Limbaugh.

They must do this, and also give Boss Limbaugh's nuts a tongue bath each day or he gets cranky.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Yes, I've heard they're into teabagging.

"give Boss Limbaugh's nuts a tongue bath"

[Arkana]

21. Haha, I forgot about that.

Honestly, how stupid are they? Clearly some of them knew what "teabagging" meant, but they didn't try to even change the name. They just went right ahead with that whole thing.

Fucking idiots. Every last one of them.

[Kahuna]

31. DING DING DING DING DING DING!

:thumbsup:

[riderinthestorm]

14. Continued solidification (putrification?) of the RNC around this "great cause".

It's being played, imho, as a unifier for the rabid base. The crazy 22%'ers who are brain-dead and need people to tell them what to think. The rest of the Rethug party is probably getting pretty slammed by the true believers when they go all squishy (as defined by the rabid frothing knuckledraggers).

It wouldn't make any difference what the issue is, and a SCOTUS nomination is as good as any - the rhetoric is designed to service the crazies.

22% is a pretty large block of voters. The RNC can't afford to shrug them off. They courted them, paid obeisance to them, now they are stuck with the fucking dittoheads of the world. Frankly, I'm glad that this wretched rump of crazies is giving decent Rethugs heartburn. They deserve it for allowing this group free rein for so long at the expense of so many other social/cultural/political constituencies.

[riderinthestorm]

16. Delete. Dupe dammit. Damn dialup fucking things up. nt

[omega minimo]

17. Time

[MikeH]

18. There is another post which answers this question

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5750705">George Lakoff: Empathy, Sotomayor, and Democracy

The Sotomayor nomination has given radical conservatives new life. They have launched an attack that is nominally aimed at Judge Sotomayor. But it is really a coordinated stealth attack — on President Obama’s central vision, on progressive thought itself, and on Republicans who might stray from the conservative hard line.

There are several fronts: Empathy, feelings, racism, activist judges. Each one has a hidden dimension. And if progressives think conservative attacks are just about Sotomayor, they may wind up helping conservatives regroup.

Conservatives believe that Sotomayor will be confirmed, and so their attacks may seem irrational to Democrats, a last gasp, a grasping at straws, a sign that the party is breaking up.

Actually, something sneakier and possibly dangerous is going on.

more

[IDemo]

22. Thanks, I missed that one

Difficult to believe the radical cons think they can breathe new life into the stinking decay of their ideology, but flat-Earthers are still around as well.

[tulsakatz]

20. if they stand to lose in the end, they're not really gaining anything..........

there was an article in the NY Times a few days ago that said if they fight Sotomayor over racism, they stand to lose a LOT of support from hispanics! The article also said that is big voting bloc to turn their backs on. If they lose a large number of hispanics, it may be many, many years before they're able to win any elections again.......

It would be stupid to do that to themselves......

[ColbertWatcher]

23. Photo-ops? n/t

[Stellabella]

26. They're playing to their racist base.

That's all they have left.

[DonCoquixote]

27. Warning

It is tempting to see GOP folly as a sign of decline, but do keep in mind, stupid people, who always compromise the majority in every group, love consistency. There is a core audience of Neo-Confederate bigots who know what the protest is really about, and they will not only like it, but reward it handsomely. It is why someone with a last name like "tancredo" is one of the biggest bigots around!

[MADem]

28. It gives them a focus for their anger at losing, and serves to unify them.

The shit they were tossing at Obama didn't stick. He has more teflon than Ronnie.

They're hoping they can beat up on the "little brown woman" and get away with it, to riff on Tancredo's remarks.

The "No Foreigners" crowd (who don't seem to realize that her family have been US citizens since the Spanish American War) will bond with one another, and be heartened...so they hope.

[leftofthedial]

29. they are trying desperately to rally what little is left of their base.

you can hear the panic in Boss Hog Limbaugh's voice.

[RB TexLa]

32. Fundraising. They get to put they are fighting, abortion, special rights, gays, flag burning, you

name it, into fundraising letters.

[rustydog]

33. They gain the respect of swastika wearing haters

Bigots who still believe in the cadillac-driving welfare queens...You know, idiots.

[pnwmom]

34. They're trying to shore up the votes of the white guys

who are afraid of losing their jobs and their women to the dark hordes.