Even the sturm und drang of the Bork hearings in 1987 and Thomas in 1991 had no clear effect on the politics of the day or the subsequent year’s elections. And there doesn’t look to be much prospect of much drama over Sotomayor. It’s possible, of course, that the Hispanic angle will be politically salient on behalf of Democrats -- though Republicans will be polite in their opposition, so I’m doubtful. It’s also possible, on the other hand, that the appearance of identity politics could hurt the Democrats -- though that seems to me to be unlikely too.
I can't help but think that Mr. Kristol and I differ on what "matters" means.
Republicans have long memories and democrats are not short on distortion, so I disagree with Mr. Kristol's analysis. If Mr. Kristol thinks that these things don't matter because they don't cause people to run into the streets with torches and pitchforks, then he's correct. If, however, Mr. Kristol thinks that people don't remember the importance of Supreme Court and the slender majority conservatives have with respect to important cases such as Heller, he'd be wrong.
The Court has been the battleground for decades and those of us who pay attention to politics know this. It is fear that Republicans will stack the court to overturn Roe v Wade that keeps organizations like NOW and Planned Parenthood flush with donations, and Democratic candidates don't hesitate to pull out the "protect abortion" canard when they're trailing in the polls. On the Right side, we remember Heller and we will remember how Sotomayor decided the case for the fireman denied advancement.
It may be other hot issues that pervade the nightly news during election season, and interest the talking heads, but the rest of us remember these things, and they influence our behavior greatly.
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