Perhaps one of the networks will decide to package all the back-and-forth about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and create a new reality show. Call it "Judging Sonia."
The White House on Wednesday continued its multi-day unveiling of President Obama's Supreme Court pick by hosting a conference call with six legal experts and continually pumping up the 54-year-old jurist's personal story and her legal and academic bona fides.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Sotomayor had made courtesy phone calls to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as well as to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. Face-to-face meetings will take place as soon as the Senate returns to work on June 1, Gibbs said.
Administration officials acknowledge the need to control the narrative of Sotomayor's life story, in order to muffle fusillades from conservative talk-radio hosts and bloggers that portray the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals judge as a closet racist and a judicial activist intent on making policy from the bench.
The administration's strategy focuses on showcasing flattering assessments of Sotomayor's tenure from a variety of legal experts, as well as past endorsements from Republicans such as former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., who supported her nomination to a U.S. District court seat in 1991.
On Wednesday afternoon, the White House released 18 quotes from academics, politicians and commentators lumped into three categories: Praise for Sotomayor's Qualifications, Praise for Sotomayor's Pragmatism and Praise for Sotomayor's Non-Ideological Approach to the Law.
The encomia are intended to apply subtle pressure to the seven sitting Republican senators who voted for Sotomayor's nomination to the appeals court in 1998: Robert F. Bennett of Utah, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine.
But the campaign will go silent soon after the Senate returns, to allow the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals judge to meet privately with Judiciary Committee members and other senators. Sotomayor will be shepherded through many of these meetings by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., her home-state senator and a Judiciary Committee member. Other handlers are Cynthia Hogan and Ron Klain, chief counsel and chief of staff, respectively, to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and both veterans of past Supreme Court confirmation battles.
Gibbs, who usually accompanies Obama on out-of-town trips, skipped the president's appearances in Nevada and Los Angeles on Wednesday to give an afternoon briefing and bat away suggestions that Sotomayor harbored secret agendas. One such assertion came from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., who twittered a reference to Sotomayor's 2001 statement that a judge's sex and ethnicity "may and will make a difference in our judging."
"Imagine a judicial nominee said 'My experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman.' New racism is no better than old racism," Gingrich wrote.
Radio host Rush Limbaugh also took up the race card, accusing Sotomayor of being a "reverse racist."
Gibbs pointed to Sotomayor's "richness of experience" during 17 years on federal district and appealate courts and said any reasoned person who examines the opinions she authored will conclude she's qualified. And in case the media and others aren't sure, Gibbs is ready to provide character witnesses.
"We'll probably find a way to help you find legal experts and colleagues who share the president's enthusiasm for the pick," Gibbs said
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