Noonan: Time for Republicans to Grow Up

Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings are coming up, and Peggy Noonan has some advice for Republicans: play grown-up. “Some, and they are idiots, look at Judge Sotomayor and say: attack, attack, kill,” she writes in the Wall Street Journal. One told her the fight would excite the base. “Excite the base? How about excite a moderate, or interest an independent?”

That doesn’t mean Republicans have to roll over, just that their opposition must be serious. Don’t call her a racist or radical, just respectfully ask how she feels about affirmative action or judicial activism. “Don’t grill and grandstand,” she advises. “Ask and listen, get the logic, explain where you think it wrong. Fill the airwaves with thoughtful exchanges.” Voters will remember, and respond. “Trust them. They’re grown-ups.” (More Peggy Noonan stories.)