On a personal observation - the Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot with their attacks on Sotomayer

I have been watching in amazement and awe how blatantly out-of-touch the right-wing side of the Republican Party have become. Their comments over the last few months have not only inflamed the liberal left - it has also alienated a lot moderate independent American voters.

Now it seems that the unofficial mouthpieces of the GOP such as Rush, Newt and Cheney - now comically referred to as THE RNC on political talk shows - are out to drive the final nails in the coffin of the GOP - by alienating the largest minority group in the US: the Hispanic population.

Gingrich and other conservatives have dominated the public discussion over the past four days with incendiary allegations about Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor - the first Hispanic person ever to be nominated to the Supreme Court - with attacks on her views on race and her qualifications for the bench.

Gingrich, for example, focused on a 2001 speech in which Sotomayor said: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male." [sic]

Gingrich wrote to followers on his Twitter account: "White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."

Limbaugh labeled Sotomayor "a reverse racist" over a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit against a group of white firefighters who sued New Haven, Conn., for alleged discrimination.

Former Bush administration adviser Karl Rove has questioned the intellect of Sotomayor, a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, while Curt Levey of the conservative Committee for Justice argued she was "picked because she's a woman and Hispanic, not because she was the best qualified."

Condemnation on these remarks have come fast and furious from not only the Dems and liberals, but from within the ranks of the GOP themselves. Some moderate members of the GOP - who in recent months have kept quiet on recent comments of those conservative and right wings mouthpieces of the party - are now expressing not only their concern of the impact these remarks have made to the image of the party, but at the alarming rate at which members are leaving the GOP. These moderates and elected GOP officials are now working on damage control by appearing this weekend on the standard political discussion panels on both network and cable television to tone down the rhetoric and rein in the negative comments dominating the newscasts.

I personally witnessed the reaction to these comments as I did laundry at a nearby laundry-mat one evening this week while surrounded by a large number of Hispanic patrons. Not much attention was being made to most of the news items blaring from the TVs in the facility but the minute the topic changed to Judge Sotomayor, most heads turned to listen. There was a lot of clucking and head shaking by the Hispanics as they listened to Brian Williams reporting on the verbal attacks being made by the GOP towards the Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court, the disgust clearly apparent on their face.

At this rate maybe the cynics are right (pun intended) that the Republican Party is quickly headed into the annals of history as a minority party from the south with as much impact and power as a rabbi preaching at a mosque in Tehran.

And while the remaining members of the GOP anxiously wait for a true leader to guide them with a new vision, the faux-leaders seem to want to continue the damage while shooting themselves and the GOP in the foot.

At this rate - they soon won't have ANYTHING left to stand on.