...but still, I find it rather disheartening (emphasis mine -- ed.):
Many Republicans point to Sotomayor's stance on gun rights as a key reason they're voting against her. They complain that she refused to weigh in during her confirmation hearings on whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies to states as well as the federal government, a question on which the high court has yet to rule. Sotomayor was part of an appeals court panel that said this year that the amendment doesn't restrict state laws, citing previous Supreme Court precedent.
The National Rifle Association, which was slow to announce its opposition to Sotomayor and initially hung back from threatening senators against voting for her, announced last week that it would "score" her confirmation vote, calling her "hostile" to the Second Amendment. That means the NRA will include the vote on Sotomayor in its annual candidate ratings, which heavily influence voters in key battleground states.
Republicans and Democrats from conservative-leaning states generally fear bucking the NRA, and strategists speculate that the group's opposition has tipped the balance for some GOP senators who might otherwise have considered supporting Sotomayor. No Democrat has announced plans to vote no.
A group of Hispanic House Democrats wrote to NRA leaders Monday urging the group to reconsider its stance, saying it was putting some senators in an untenable position by forcing them to choose between defying the gun lobby and infuriating Hispanic constituents.
Wow. The NRA is actually going to grade senators this time around based on their votes for an anti-gun Supreme Court pick, and these Hispanic House Dems are asking them not to do that -- not based on her actual position, but on her race. And you know that's exactly the reason for this when you cut through the crap. Sotomayor shouldn't get a pass on her positions any more than a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male would, and these Hispanic lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves for basically telling the NRA that she should. It just goes to show, I guess, that certain members of other racial groups don't really mind discrimination if it works for them as opposed to against them. Like I say, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it's still rather disgusting.
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