Judge Sotomayor Is Either Tough Or Soft On Crime (Part 1)
Republicans have a long and successful history of demonizing Democrats as "soft on crime" -- or at least they did until Bill Clinton taught Democrats to be even tougher on crime than Republicans. Instilling fear of criminals and of the "liberal" politicians and judges who supposedly coddle them was such a successful strategy that conservatives adapted it after 9/11 to promote fear of terrorists while claiming that Democrats lacked the resolve to battle them. With the meek acquiescence (and often the eager support) of Democrats who feared Election Day more than crime or terror, conservative efforts to protect the nation by enacting "tough" legislation and appointing "tough" judges have been tough on the Constitution.
For the moment, the public's fear of criminal violence has been supplanted by fears of job loss and Republican misgovernance. Lacking fresh ideas to add to their thin playbook, conservatives with time on their hands are nonetheless giving the politics of fear another try by attacking Judge Sotomayor as a soft-hearted liberal who will "favor criminals and hinder law enforcement." Instead of responding that the conservative judges appointed by Republicans have too often favored unchecked police and executive power while hindering civil rights, the predictable but disheartening White House response is a public relations campaign (complete with law enforcement endorsements) to convince the public that Sotomayor's record as a crime-fighting prosecutor, a tough sentencing judge, and a police-friendly appellate judge proves that she is no softy liberal. How long will it be before the White House begins to talk up the similar career paths that Judge Sotomayor and Justice Alito have followed? (Shudder.)
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