The conservative assault has already sowed doubts about Sotomayor among much of the public. An ABC News/Washington Post poll in mid June found that the overwhelming majority of respondents backed her confirmation. A CNN poll at the end of the month found that the number of those who supported her had plunged to less than fifty percent; forty percent now opposed her confirmation.
A slip or a too confrontational pose by her during the hearings will instantly be pounced on and held up by conservative attackers as proof that Sotomayor doesn't have the right stuff to be a fair and impartial judge.
She'll be under tremendous pressure to assure Senators that she'll play it strictly by the moderate and conservative playbook on any and all decisions that even remotely touch on race and class issues on the bench, as well as abortion and other issues that are traditional conservative causes.
Sotomayor understands what's at stake, and that her every word will be taken by conservatives as a virtual etching on the Ten Commandment stone. She's already been through the wringer enough to know not to give her conservative hit attackers any more ammunition to take lethal pot shots at her. Hopefully, she'll do that without sacrificing any of her legal and personal beliefs in the process.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard on weekly in Los Angeles on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and nationally on blogtalkradio.com
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