The Republican Response to Sotomayor.

Many in the blogosphere aren't too happy with the response from Senate Minority Leader McConnell when it comes to the Sotomayor nomination. His release said the following:

“Senate Republicans will treat Judge Sotomayor fairly. But we will thoroughly examine her record to ensure she understands that the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, despite their own feelings or personal or political preferences.

“Our Democratic colleagues have often remarked that the Senate is not a ‘rubber stamp.’ Accordingly, we trust they will ensure there is adequate time to prepare for this nomination, and a full and fair opportunity to question the nominee and debate her qualifications.”

The problem these bloggers find is that there is no red meat in the response - no challenge. They want McConnell to go after the nomination from the get go and say this kind of response shows he wasn't ready.

I have to disagree.

While I understand how many wanted the Senator to go off with guns blazing, that is far below the dignity of the office of Minority Leader.

And that doesn't mean Republicans weren't ready.

Right now is the time for surrogates to pound away at Sotomayor's record of ineptitude and blatant racism. These are accusations that while accurate, would come across as far below the standard of someone in McConnell's position.

Public opinion must be shaped and her record must be exposed. But that can be done by conservatives interviewed on CNN, Fox and all over the mainstream media.

If we want to judge whether the Republican establishment was ready for this, we must wait and see their actions over the next 1-2 days.

I know it's hard to be patient these days, but just try...