Sotomayor and history...

When Sonia Sotomayor officially became the first Hispanic woman on the U.S. Supreme Court this week, it was a great historical moment for America.

Sotomayor is the 111th Supreme Court justice. She is the third woman appointed to the court, following Sandra Day O'Connor (1981) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993). There have been only two black justices: Thurgood Marshall (1967) and Clarence Thomas (1991).

I am amazed that the majority of Republican senators chose to vote against Sotomayor's confirmation. Wouldn't you think that they would look at the moment historically and want to be a supportive part of it? Wouldn't you think that they would want to tell their grandchildren and thus allow their grandchildren to tell even their grandchildren that their grandparent and ancestor voted for the first Hispanic woman to the U.S. Supreme Court? Instead, they let the moment of history escaped them. They were truly foolish and short-sighted.

It seems to me that the Republicans have put Obama in a great position for his next Supreme Court nominee. If I were him, I would nominate the most liberal and progressive Hispanic male judge I could find. The Republicans, of course, would go into convultions, but so what? What ultimately would they do?...Vote again against another Hispanic nominee? What would the Hispanic population, the largest growing minority group in America, think about that?

As it is, the pup tent of the Republican Party continues to shrink. Can a political party sustain itself with the composition mainly of grumpy, old, rich, white men, like Rush Limbaugh? Eventually, I would think it has to either find an honest respect for diversity or pull up the stakes.