Attacks on nominee won't help GOP

Karl Rove should go back into his cave. Karl Rove is on a mission to discredit Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's nominee to the United States Supreme Court. He used second hand, anonymous comments to brand her in as a "school marm". He also described her as intellectually deficient, though she graduated in the top of her class at Princeton and was editor of the Yale Law Review.

Interesting, coming from a man who dropped out of college. When pressed on her accomplishments, he said that a lot of idiots graduate from Ivy League Schools. (Could he have been referring to his previous boss, George Bush?)

Incredulous observers surmise that Republicans are playing to their base, at last count less than 25 percent of voters.

With his recent comments, Karl Rove has alienated both women and Hispanics. Other Republicans chimed in on the difficulty in pronouncing her name and branding her as a "reverse racist" for saying that a Hispanic would bring a fresh and useful point of view to the Supreme Court.

If it takes such herculean measures to keep their ever shrinking "base," how can Republicans come even close in the next election? Are they counting on a very small voter turnout?

Karen Wagner

Rolling Meadows