With all the reality-free nonsense being peddled by Republican luminaries these days, I figured a “History Flashback” would be a good feature to introduce to the site.

Today: Republicans are going around half-cocked on the Judge Sotomayor nomination, including jabs at the concept of empathy, her hard-to-pronounce name and the funny-sounding ethnic foods she likes to eat. Their high dudgeon has metastasized into loud accusations that Judge Sotomayor is a “bigot” and a “racist“. They’ve dismissed her out of hand as a “dumb” “affirmative action” pick.

Yesteryear: President Bush nominated Miguel Estrada to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals back in 2003. Democrats filibustered the nomination, which drove the GOP ballistic and resulted in accusations that Democrats were prejudiced against Hispanics. Here’s what some of them said:

Trent Lott — Trent Lott! — said of Democrats, “They don’t want Miguel Estrada because he’s Hispanic.”

When Florida Sen. Bob Graham (D) voted against Estrada, none other than Rush Limbaugh ran a statement on his website with a headline that read, “Bob Graham’s Crusade Against Hispanic Judges.”

In 2003, a variety of Republicans argued that Democratic opposition to a Hispanic judicial nominee was necessarily evidence of Democratic racism. Now that conservatives are worked up over Sonia Sotomayor, I wonder whether Republicans are prepared to be held to the same standard.

Republican Sen. Jon Kyl Said “I See This, Really, As A Slap At Hispanics.” As reported by the Washington Times: “Republicans have seized on Mr. Estrada’s stalled nomination to drive a wedge between the Democratic Party and Hispanic voters, whose ranks are growing faster than any other minority group in America. ‘I see this, really, as a slap at Hispanics,’ Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, said Wednesday.” [Washington Times, 3/14/03; emphasis added] …

Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla Said Opposition To Estrada Was “The Biggest Anti-Hispanic Crusade This City Has Ever Seen.” As reported by the Washington Times: “Senate Democrats yesterday again blocked the nomination of lawyer Miguel A. Estrada to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The vote sustained for the second time a Democratic filibuster of the Estrada nomination. His supporters responded with accusations of racism and President Bush declared that ‘the judicial confirmation process is broken.’ ‘It’s a sad day,’ Rep. Henry Bonilla, Texas Republican, said after the vote. ‘This is the biggest anti-Hispanic crusade this city has ever seen.’” [Washington Times, 3/14/03; emphasis added]

Even Ann Coulter’s argument that liberals and Democrats are being selectively concerned over race because they rejected Bush nominee Miguel Estrada is built on dishonest comparisons. While Republicans compare Harriet Miers to judge Sotomayor — whose only commonality that I could find is that they are both women, making the argument predictably sexist — it becomes immediately obvious that Miers and Estrada are actually the apples-and-apples comparison that we ought to be having.

Ignoring for now the fact that conservatives disapproved of Miers as much, if not more, than liberals did, Miers was rejected for the bench because she didn’t appear qualified for the job. As a law student she did not distinguish herself from her class in any way, and never once served as a judge at any level either for a state or the federal judiciary. Miguel Estrada compares very favorably to the “not qualified” crowd, again never having served as a judge in any capacity whatsoever.

While Estrada was nominated for an appellate position and not the Supreme Court as was Miers , such a lofty position hardly seems befitting of such an unaccomplished attorney. There was also the refusal of the Office of the Solicitor General to release any of Estrada’s writings while having worked there, which alone ought to disqualify anyone from the bench. It should also be noted that the filibuster of Estrada was made possible by several Republican Senators that joined Democrats in opposing cloture. A filibuster by the Democratic minority would not have been possible without conservative help.