Which Republican Senators will vote for Sotomayor?

[angus]

Last night I got a pre-recorded call on my mobile phone about this.  It started out with the long pause, the way recorded messages calls often do, and I was about to hang up because I don't need any more offers to have a longer, harder, more enduring erection.  Then a voice came on and said, "Hi, I'm Burpleboob Spinmeister (I forgot the guy's real name) with Some Organization (forgot that too) and I'm calling to inform you that the senate is considering confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as Supreme Court justice.  Your constitutional right to keep and bear arms will be jeopardized if she is confirmed.  Please call Senator Grassley and let him know that this concerns you..."  It went on to tell me exactly how my right to keep and bear arms would be jeopardized, but I was getting bored, or maybe tired, or maybe hungry (I forget), but I do remember this much:  they wanted me to call Chuck and ask him not to vote for Sotomayor.

I didn't do it.  Honestly, I think it'll be okay if she's confirmed.  I don't think it'll be the end of the world.  I watched quite a bit of the hearings, and mostly I heard Democrats pontificating and Republicans pontificating, but what I didn't hear was Sotomayor acting stupid or unqualified.  And I also don't think Chuck's vote will make a difference anyway.  If he called me himself, I'd probably say, "Chuck, seriously, I have other shit to do.  This is what I hired you for.  Think about it and do what you think is best.  Okay.  You know she's qualified.  You know she'll get confirmed.  You know you probably don't always agree with her, but she's the one Obama picked.  Hearings?  All I'm hearing is a bunch of US Senators who like hearing the sound of their own voices.  Democrats talking up their agenda up and Republicans talking up their agenda.  What I'm not hearing much is Sotomayor's voice.  And that's okay because if she was a complete moron, or if she was unfit or unethical, Obama wouldn't have nominated her in the first place.  She's a fair judge whose decisions get overturned less than the average appellate judge.  About 25% less than the average, in fact, during the Rehnquist/Roberts era.  So just tell your buddies to stop wasting all this time pontificating and have a vote on her confirmation, so you can get on to important business.  We cool, Chuck?  Now get off the fucking phone and do what you can to stop congress from passing any more damaging legislation."

If he was nearby, I might also ask him to come over for a drink or two.  I'd say, "Chuck, I got a bottle of bourbon with your name on it.  Why not stop over for a spirited discussion about the current crises, both real and manufactured?"  And we could discuss health care, and how the current bill offered by congressional Democrats will only make things worse.  And we could talk about the Cap-and-trade con game.  And the "stimulus" bill.  And this hideous wall that some folks want to build between the US and Mexico that's supposed to solve all our immigration problems.  And some other pet peeves.  And maybe I could get him to get his caucus to stop worrying about Sonia and start worrying about the state of the nation's economy and the huge debt with which he and his colleagues are straddling the American public.  Or we might just play with Legos and tell off-color jokes.  Either way, we'd do something more constructive than fret over Sonia Sotomayor's appointment.