Senate Confirmation: What's the Point?

Forget those claims that Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a "racist," a court-room bully or a "liberal judicial activist." Yesterday, Republican Senators called her "cordial," and "reassuring;" one said, "we do admire you and respect what you've accomplished." But, after a week of heavily covered hearings, liberals are disappointed and conservatives are still suspicious of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. It appears that she nailed down Senate confirmation with an unflappable performance that revealed almost nothing about what she really thinks. But Republican Senators laid out a blueprint for campaigns to come, with sharp questions about abortion, gun rights and same-sex marriage. If they didn't learn much about the US Supreme Court, what did voters, including Latinos, learn about the Republican agenda?