Hilarity Ensues

So the GOP line will be that Sonia Sotomayor will rule with emotion rather than reason. Unlike, say, the vein-popping Justice Antonin Scalia. There's also hints that the Republicans will play the soft-on-terror lie, maybe tie that fear meme into the fear of female emotion theme, like she's just a blubbery chick who cries over terrorists and lets them go free.

Except that Sotomayor isn't weak, she's from New York City. You know, attacked on 9/11/01?

So the cartoon hilarity continues, with the Randy the Ram of the Republican Party:

Newt Gingrich, who has twitually accused Sonia Sotomayor of racism, just as he twitually accused the President of being soft on pirates a few hours before the President got very hard on pirates a few weeks ago. Clearly, this is another case of Newt twitting before reading...or thinking.

Then there's the man and grandmother Nate Silver headlines as, Grandmother of World's 23rd Best Economist Posthumously Offended by Sonia Sotomayor's Spending Habits; Will Obama Withdraw Nomination?

I once wrote a short paper called The Savers-Spenders Theory of Fiscal Policy based on the premise that there are two types of people: Some save and intertemporally optimize their consumption plans, while others live paycheck to paycheck, spending their entire income as soon as it's received.[...]

Apparently, the new Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is an example of the latter. The Washington Post reports that the 54-year-old Sotomayer has a $179,500 yearly salary but

On her financial disclosure report for 2007, she said her only financial holdings were a Citibank checking and savings account, worth $50,000 to $115,000 combined. During the previous four years, the money in the accounts at some points was listed as low as $30,000.

My grandmother would have been shocked and appalled to see someone who makes so much save so little.

To which Nate responds,

...Perhaps Mankiw's grandmother would find her more virtuous if she were saving up for a Lexus or a summer home in the Hamptons, but that doesn't seem to be her cup of tea. Her one real indulgence is the apartment she keeps in the West Village. Although virtually anywhere that would be a reasonable commute from her courtroom in Lower Manhattan would be relatively expensive, she could save a bit by living in the Financial District or perhaps in Brooklyn. But Mankiw, who lives in a zip code where the median price of a house is 1.65 million dollars, should not exactly be throwing stones from his undoubtedly very charming, New England Colonial home.

It's all Kabuki Theater writ partisan, but just when you think the coyote can't get more slapstick, he does. For foodies:

Sotomayor also claimed: “For me, a very special part of my being Latina is the mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir — rice, beans and pork — that I have eaten at countless family holidays and special events.”

This has prompted some Republicans to muse privately about whether Sotomayor is suggesting that distinctive Puerto Rican cuisine such as patitas de cerdo con garbanzo — pigs’ feet with chickpeas — would somehow, in some small way influence her verdicts from the bench.

Curt Levey, the executive director of the Committee for Justice, a conservative-leaning advocacy group, said he wasn’t certain whether Sotomayor had claimed her palate would color her view of legal facts but he said that President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee clearly touts her subjective approach to the law.

“It’s pretty disturbing,” said Levey. “It’s one thing to say that occasionally a judge will despite his or her best efforts to be impartial ... allow occasional biases to cloud impartiality. "But it’s almost like she’s proud that her biases and personal experiences will cloud her impartiality.”

And let's not forget those Jewish Justices with their gefilte fish, that Italian Justice with his manicotti, or the Protestant Justice with his cucumber sandwiches.

As for the empathy issue, it turns out conservative favorite, Justice Samuel Alito, used it to his benefit in his confirmation hearings.

Now for the grown ups amongst us who want to know the whole behind the scenes story of how the President and his White House staff handled the selection process that started and eventually ended with Sotomayor, it's dazzling.