# Would it look or be good for Obama to withdraw Sotomayor's nomination? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 28, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913 "2009-05-28T09:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/41 "2009-05-28T17:30:31Z")
> [@furlibusea](#): > > At this point he could nominate Newt Gingritch and we would being hearing screams that he was somewhere to the left of Che Geuvara. They have yelled wolf too many times, and it reeks of intellectual dishonesty. It is old and tired and driving more people away from the party daily. The problem is that the Democrats have done pretty much the same thing over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/42 "2009-05-28T17:40:25Z")
> [@furlibusea](#): > > I was particularly angry this morning when NPR had someone on who opposed her, in the name of fairness. I am tired of this idea of fair being to let any opposing view, no matter what far out wacked view it is, being presented with equal weight. It’s perfectly OK for someone to oppose her nomination, I don’t see anything to suggest that she is a SuperJudge and is unquestionably the best possible candidate for the SC. The Senate is supposed to be critical, they’re supposed to run these candidates through the ringer, and decide for themselves if the person is right for the job. Knee jerk support is just as bad as knee jerk opposition. Both sides SHOULD get their opportunity in the spotlight, if only to highlight whether or not their position is logically supportable. If the opposition has nothing but crap arguments, let them defend those arguments under the hot lights of the media, instead of slinking off in the shadows. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/43 "2009-05-28T17:46:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Certain comments and decisions Sotomayor has made give her a decided anti-male, anti-Anglo cast. This is not the thread for discussing those comments or decisions. But the two things are inextricably linked. Whether it looks good or bad depends totally on what she said and what decisions she made. If she said “The latinos should rise up an massacre their anglo overlords”, then yes better to get the hell out of it before more damage is done. But somehow I don’t think that’s what she said. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/44 "2009-05-28T17:52:35Z")
Withdrawing Sotomeyer at this point would be a particularly bad idea. It would resonate with Obama’s earlier difficulties finding nominees who paid their taxes, a process Obama himself says that he screwed up. If he can’t find a good Supreme Court candidate with a nearly veto-proof majority in the Senate, he is essentially conceding that he cannot find anyone under near-ideal conditions, and therefore can’t do one of the important roles of a President. Doesn’t anyone remember Zoe Baird and Kimba Woods? And whoever is was the dope-smoking judge? Obama pulling his first candidate is a sign of weakness. He opposed the Republican nominees pretty much reflexively - why is he surprised if he gets it back now? > [@Leo X](#): > > God has given us the papacy - let us enjoy it. Obama got’s the power, right now. If Sotomeyer is really unqualified, why the fuck didn’t he figure that out before he nominated her? If she is, why withdraw her now? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/45 "2009-05-28T18:13:41Z")
There is no possibility at all that BO withdraws her unless something new and unexpected happens. As it stands not, I wouldn’t be surprised if SS gets 90+ votes. > [@mswas](#): > > Nitpick: I don’t think Bush came out poorly at all. Harriet Miers was a tactical red herring who he never intended to actually hold that position. When everyone was fatigued from the debacle, he got Alito through quite smoothly. It was one of the most deft political maneuvers I’ve ever witnessed. Only if you call making yourself look like an incompetant idiot a “deft political maneuver”. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/46 "2009-05-28T18:42:39Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The Conservatives do not have a problem with the President nominating Sotomayor, they have a problem with the President nominating _anybody_. The anti-nomination machine will run with any candidate he picks-they just have to plug in the already chosen buzzphrases: > Too liberal > Not experienced enough > Bigot > Picked because she/he is a particular sex > Picked because she/he is a particular race > Picked because she/he is a particular religion > All of the above(which seems to be the case here-desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.) (studies card)… nope… check… check… nope… check… nope… check-- BINGO! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/47 "2009-05-28T18:44:31Z")
> [@furlibusea](#): > > I was particularly angry this morning when NPR had someone on who opposed her, in the name of fairness. I am tired of this idea of fair being to let any opposing view, no matter what far out wacked view it is, being presented with equal weight. [Teach The Controversy](http://controversy.wearscience.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/48 "2009-05-28T19:49:12Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The problem is that the Democrats have done pretty much the same thing over the years. Are you suggesting that Roberts and Alito are not, in fact, somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun? :dubious: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/49 "2009-05-28T20:13:31Z")
Alito I think is a lost cause. I still have hope for Roberts, as an old (liberal/centrist) law professor of mine worked with him closely and said she found him to have intellectual integrity and an open mind. I think he might surprise people, though probably not to the extent that Kennedy has started to. He’ll always be right of center, but I don’t think he is going to be anywhere near as bad as Alito. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/50 "2009-05-28T22:36:46Z")
One of the traits of a good leader is to know when the leader himself is wrong. If he changes his mind, which I think he should, I see no issue with it. This lady has got to go. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/51 "2009-05-28T22:57:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I don’t know how it could be considered good for Obama to react to the idiotic natterings of any right wing moron. That’s not leadership. I hope you’re not suggesting anyone here is a right-wing moron. Regardless, he should only be reacting to Sotomayor’s own statements and decisions, not statements from the right wing.. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/52 "2009-05-28T23:07:03Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > One of the traits of a good leader is to know when the leader himself is wrong. If he changes his mind, which I think he should, I see no issue with it. This lady has got to go. Ridiculous. She has two comments (“Hispanic woman making better decision than white man” and “making policy”), taken out of context, that are similar to things said by Scalia and Alito in the past. She has one ruling (the fire-fighter case) where she refused to deviate from established precedent (which makes her non-activist?). She has national favorable ratings between where Roberts and Alito were. Oh, and Orrin Hatch came out today saying that unless something new comes up she will be confirmed. Limbaugh, Newt, Tancredo (?!) and company are calling the Brooklyn-born Puerto-Rican woman a sexist and a racist. How is this a winning situation for Republicans? Can you give me one good reason, other than that _you_ don’t like her politics, that Obama would withdraw a nominee that is guaranteed to be confirmed? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/53 "2009-05-28T23:12:28Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Obama pulling his first candidate is a sign of weakness. He opposed the Republican nominees pretty much reflexively - why is he surprised if he gets it back now? Obama got’s the power, right now. If Sotomeyer is really unqualified, why the fuck didn’t he figure that out before he nominated her? If she is, why withdraw her now? > Regards, > Shodan I doubt he’s surprised. In fact his choice makes the reflexive opposition, if it is serious, relatively painful to the Hispanic bloc, a group they need. The Times article on the decision making process today said she was his first choice, and the nomination was hers to lose. If you were running Republican strategy rather than the losers doing it today, I’d be more worried. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/54 "2009-05-28T23:14:00Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I hope you’re not suggesting anyone here is a right-wing moron. > > Regardless, he should only be reacting to Sotomayor’s own statements and decisions, not statements from the right wing.. Nope - I was referring to Rush and that crowd. The level of discourse here is universally much higher. I’ve seen concerns, misplaced in my opinion, but no frothing at the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/55 "2009-05-29T01:22:18Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Alito I think is a lost cause. I still have hope for Roberts, as an old (liberal/centrist) law professor of mine worked with him closely and said she found him to have intellectual integrity and an open mind. I think he might surprise people, though probably not to the extent that Kennedy has started to. He’ll always be right of center, but I don’t think he is going to be anywhere near as bad as Alito. [I’m not holding my breath](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/25/090525fa_fact_toobin): > [@](#): > > His jurisprudence as Chief Justice, Roberts said, would be characterized by “modesty and humility.” After four years on the Court, however, Roberts’s record is not that of a humble moderate but, rather, that of a doctrinaire conservative. The kind of humility that Roberts favors reflects a view that the Court should almost always defer to the existing power relationships in society. In every major case since he became the nation’s seventeenth Chief Justice, Roberts has sided with the prosecution over the defendant, the state over the condemned, the executive branch over the legislative, and the corporate defendant over the individual plaintiff. Even more than Scalia, who has embodied judicial conservatism during a generation of service on the Supreme Court, Roberts has served the interests, and reflected the values, of the contemporary Republican Party. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/56 "2009-05-29T01:51:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I doubt he’s surprised. In fact his choice makes the reflexive opposition, if it is serious, relatively painful to the Hispanic bloc, a group they need. > > The Times article on the decision making process today said she was his first choice, and the nomination was hers to lose. > If you were running Republican strategy rather than the losers doing it today, I’d be more worried. Yep. I think the savvy Republican response would be to say, “She’s not ideal for us. We object to her for reasons X, Y, and Z. But we understand we’re out of power, and she’s probably the best we can get for now, so we’ll vote for her confirmation, unanimously.” Then, if Obama puts forth someone more objectionable later on, they can say, “Oh, hell no. Now you’re being unreasonable. We cooperated when you were being reasonable, but this is ridiculous.” Then they could get some real mileage out of it. She seems to me (the white male) like a perfect candidate for encouraging the Republican party to dig its hole ever deeper. I look forward to the spectacle. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/57 "2009-05-29T01:52:15Z")
So what did she say that was so bad? She said that an Hispanic woman might have insights that a white guy might not. That one is as plain as the nose on ones face. The other one about “making policy?” As much as our more conservative lawyers here may claim that the role of the SC is to tell us what the law says, with no interpretation, were it that easy a decision it would never have made it to the SC. Strict Construction be damned, we (theoretically) put our VERY best and VERY brightest on the Supreme Court SO THAT they can be the final judges of how the many laws are to be viewed, combined, and, ultimately, INTERPRETED. Which can be seen as “making policy,” but that’s the job we gave them. The complaints about Sotomayor are piffle, and, if I were a Goldwater or Reagan Republican, I’d see that some of her decisions indicated more than just a sympathy for my beliefs. Were I a Rush Republican, I’d see anything from her as completely horrifying, but I’m not insane. As it is, I’m uncomfortable with some of her decisions, which is, by the Goldilocks Test, just right. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/58 "2009-05-29T02:03:32Z")
The day that President Obama starts listening to the perpetual whinings of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh is the day that I lose all hope in America’s future. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/59 "2009-05-29T02:06:46Z")
The accusations of the OP are completely baseless and asinine, and the OP’s childish, spineless attempt to preempt any rebuttal of them should be properly ignored. Obama would be a chump to cave into that kind of shallow demagoguery. He doesn’t need to and he won’t. The kind of wingnut twaddle being parakeeted by the OP does not represent either an accurate characterization of the nominee, nor any kind of significant public opinion. It’s just normal, backbiting political carping from a bitter, impotent and increasingly irrelevant political faction. > [@Quartz](#): > > I hope you’re not suggesting anyone here is a right-wing moron. Says the guy who starts off his thread by screaming “racist.” ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913/60 "2009-05-29T02:31:51Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > She seems to me (the white male) like a perfect candidate for encouraging the Republican party to dig its hole ever deeper. I look forward to the spectacle. Well, [here’s Tom Tancredo calling La Raza a “Latino KKK”](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/trancredo-sotomayor-is-member-of-latino-kkk.php) for your viewing pleasure. Somewhere, sane Republican strategists are contemplating the effects of losing the hispanic vote as badly as they’ve lost the black vote, and wondering how to keep these guys off TV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-it-look-or-be-good-for-obama-to-withdraw-sotomayors-nomination/497913.md?page=4)