In the coming days, the Senate will debate the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, culminating in a vote later this week. It appears that a majority of Republicans will oppose her nomination, but in doing so, they must have a consistent message explaining why. Interestingly, they need look no further than John McCain.

Yesterday, in announcing his intention to vote against the confirmation of Judge Sotomayor, the Senator outlined - as clearly and succinctly as anyone has - the conservative rationale for opposing her. His entire statement can be found here, but it is summed up nicely in his closing paragraph:

“Judicial activism demonstrates a lack of respect for the popular will that is at fundamental odds with our republican system of government. And, as I stated earlier, regardless of one’s success in academics and in government service, an individual who does not appreciate the common sense limitations on judicial power in our democratic system of government ultimately lacks a key qualification for a lifetime appointment to the bench. For this reason, and no other, I am unable to support Judge Sotomayor’s nomination.”

THAT is the argument. Her openly activist views do, in fact, disqualify her for the Court. It is not, as some have wrongly stated, enough that she is “qualified” in the academic sense. And it is critical that Republicans echo these sentiments loudly and clearly - because doing so will both beat back false accusations of anti-hispanic bias, and begin to clarify the Republican threshold for Judicial nominees.

It is also critical that the remaining uncommitted Republicans stay on the team. Currently, 27 Republicans are committed no-votes. 6 Republicans (Alexander, Collins, Graham, Lugar, Martinez, and Snowe) have already displayed their disrespect for the Constitution by announcing their support for Judge Sotomayor. That leaves 7 uncommitted members. They are: Barasso, Bond, Ensign, Enzi, Gregg, Murkowski, and Voinovich.

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Promoted from the diaries by James Richardson

The first presidential candidate I ever voted for was John McCain, and I’m willing to admit that, at the time, I definitely had some doubts about whether it was the right decision. This is partially because, having been born in New York and having witnessed the tail-end of his gentrification efforts, I was a Giuliani fan until he dropped out of the race (and therefore considered McCain an inferior pick for the Republican ticket), but also largely due to having lived on a college campus for a year and a half preceding the election. As a philosophy major, I’d wager that around 90% of my friends are liberal, and most of them are rather far-left by my reckoning. While I certainly still consider myself a conservative, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t wind up doing a lot of thinking about whether my political views were truly what I believed.

Even as I cast my vote, I wasn’t so much worried about Obama winning in general — I had a feeling at the time that an Obama presidency was inevitable. What I was worried about was that Obama would get elected, and it would turn out that he was an excellent president, as so many of my friends seemed convinced that he would be. What if he got elected and fixed all of our problems: stopped the financial meltdown in its tracks, managed to stabilize the Middle East and facilitate a bloodless retreat of our armed forces — what if it wound up being a Democratic president who managed to get it all done?

Now, though, it’s safe to say that my vote of opposition was worth it, because by my reckoning, Barack Obama’s presidency has been disastrous up to this point. Joe Biden is as hilariously loose-lipped as I knew he would be as soon as Obama picked him, Gitmo remains open (which I don’t have a problem with, but whatever), we’re still in Iraq, don’t-ask-don’t-tell is still in effect, the economy is even worse (just how bad does it have to get before it gets better, Mr. President?)… I could go on and on, but if you read RedState regularly, these policy and moral failings and more have already been listed in detail for you.

So, thanks, President Obama. It’s been a bumpy ride, but you’ve helped remind me why I am what I am — a conservative Republican, and a very proud one to boot.

That’s one good thing your presidency has brought me, anyway.

I’m jealous of this line from the Sundries Shack (H/T The Other McCain):

Today, the administration wheeled out a new option to add to its Repertoire of Incompetence: 5) Act Like John McCain.

It’s in response to Christina Romer’s reversal of administration economic rhetoric from the far-off days of last week. Back then, the economy was fundamentally weak; now it’s fundamentally sound. As the AP summed it up (somewhat devastatingly):

The economy is fundamentally sound despite the temporary “mess” it’s in, the White House said Sunday in the kind of upbeat assessment that Barack Obama had mocked as a presidential candidate.

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As we’ve made pretty clear here at RS, The O’s actions thus far have been anything but “a new kind of politics.”  And, as expected, the Dems have now embarked on a mission to perpetrate the biggest snow job since winter started - attempting to convince the electorate that the so-called “stimulus” somehow gained “bipartisan” support.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” White House spokesdrone Robert Gibbs initiated the snow storm.

Gibbs:

“We’re happy that Congress, in a bipartisan way, took steps to make whatever happens in this recession easier to take for the American people.”

Whatever he’s smoking - I want me some.

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The final vote on the amendment - which would give 25 billion for supposed infrastructure renovations, while not defunding, say, a $30 million public parking garage in Auburn WA that’s going to benefit private transport providers - got shot down 58-39-02. This was a party-line vote: we picked up Landrieu, they got Bond and Specter, and Kennedy and Gregg sat it out (Kennedy is of course gravely ill these days, and Gregg’s the logical choice to sit out the vote in response). They needed 60.

Please note that Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), John McCain (R-AZ), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) all voted with the rest of the Republican caucus. This is no guarantee that they will continue to do so, of course, although the bill is highly unpopular as-is. But it should be noted that so far they have been voting against spending more of your money.

They also voted to strip out the provision giving Hollywood some of your money, too. Although that one was bipartisan… which is to say, something like 14 Democrats scrambled to vote with us on that one and Vitter unaccountably voted for it. Maybe his finger slipped.

Crossposted at Moe Lane.