McConnell: ‘Too early’ to predict Sotomayor filibuster

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sent signals Sunday
that the option of a filibuster of Judge Sonia Sotomayor was on the
table, without committing to exercising that option.

McConnell
echoed the measured words of other Republican lawmakers, but said
Senate Democrats had established the precedent of filibustering
judicial nominees during the Bush administration.

{mosads}”I think it’s
entirely too early to tell,” McConnell said of the chances of a
filibuster on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning. “I think the
precedent has been firmly established.”

President Obama’s pick
to join the Supreme Court will need a due amount of time and
consideration to pore over her record, argued McConnell, who also would
not commit to a timeline for Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings.

The
Senate’s top GOP official also refused to wade into incendiary comments that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and former House Speaker
Newt Gingrich have made about Sotomayor’s perspective on race.

“I’ve got better things to do than be the speech police,” McConnell said.

Later
in the interview, McConnell offered the healthcare plan before Congress
backhanded praise, expressing his gladness that the Republicans have a
plan to evaluate before blasting the public option in the plan.

Similarly,
the minority leader lamented General Motors’ expected bankruptcy this
week, adding that the government had only spent money delaying the
inevitable in its assistance for the troubled automaker.