Replies to post #64190 on Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

Fox News' Shep Smith probably ruffled a few feathers at his network by reminding the viewing audience, shortly after the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, of the DHS report that warned of potentially violent radicals. Smith probably ruffled a few more when he started talking about the emails he's seen from Fox News viewers.

"I read a lot of email around here," Smith said. "And the email to me has become more and more frightening. It's not a new thing; it's been happening over the past few months. It's been happening, you know, to some degree, since the election process went along."

He added, "There are people now, who are way out there on a limb. And I think they're just out there on a limb with the email they send us. Because I read it, and they are out there. I mean, out there in a scary place.... I could read a hundred of them like this.... I mean from today. People who are so amped up and so angry for reasons that are absolutely wrong, ridiculous, preposterous."

Smith, with good reason, seemed genuinely concerned about the severity of the right-wing rage. Just as important, he seemed to realize that these increasingly agitated conservatives are incensed, not because of justified concerns, but because of "ridiculous" developments that have been cooked up in the far-right imagination.

But here's the kicker: soon after Smith had signed off for the day, his Fox News colleague, Glenn Beck told his national television audience "the Germans" during Hitler's rise "were an awful lot like we are now."

The reason the emails to Fox News have become "more and more frightening," the reason so much of Fox News' audience is "out there ... on a limb," the reason they've ended up "in a scary place," is because of deranged demagogues like Beck telling confused conservatives they have reason to be enraged, reality notwithstanding.

[teapeebubbles]

Usually, when Republicans on the Hill get worked up about something, there's an electoral angle. They raise a fuss in the hopes of scoring some points, cheap or otherwise, with voters.

Whining about confirmation hearing schedules, though, seems like a loser.

The top Senate Republican accused Democrats Wednesday of moving too hastily on Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, warning that their decision would have unspecified "consequences."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized Democrats for scheduling mid-July hearings for the federal appeals judge.



McConnell went on to describe the kickoff of hearings in July as "arbitrary" and a "ticket to disaster."

President Obama nominated Sotomayor on May 26, and the hearings are set to begin on July 13. That's 48 days -- hardly unusual for modern Supreme Court nominees. When John Roberts was nominated, the Judiciary Committee not only had to review his judicial record, but also track down thousands of pages dating from Roberts' work as a lawyer in the Reagan and Bush I administrations. His first hearing came 51 days after he was introduced.

Given that conservatives started oppo research on Sotomayor before she was nominated, plus the fact that the Senate has twice considered her background, compounded by the fact that Republicans have no expectations of actually defeating the judge's nomination, threatening "consequences" for a 48-day review process before confirmation hearings begin seems more than a little excessive.

But the silliness continues anyway. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was on Fox News yesterday, talking about steps Republicans may take to delay the process, and there's at least some discussion about GOP members of the Judiciary Committee boycotting the confirmation hearings in protest.

As a substantive matter, these complaints are largely baseless. But as a political matter, the strategy seems entirely pointless. Why raise a fuss about an issue that no one outside the Senate cloakroom cares anything about? It's possible this is just another stunt to gin up excitement from the party's activist base, but is a 48-day review process really the kind of thing that'll make Republican donors reach for their checkbook?