YOUR COMMENTS

So we congratulate Gregg and laugh at the Ed Holdgates. What more can a reasonable person do?
- Ruth, Bedford

Wow Ed is that a personal attack on you? It looks to me like you have a fan club ready to attack you personally rather than your opinions or facts. But such is debate with the rational I guess.
- Deb, Derry

How did Gregg a White Man without Richness of Experiance make a good choice? What I find funny is whena Conservative breaks ranks and makes an independant decision he is hailed as a strong willed Maverick with Integrity. However when a Minority or a Democrat break with their party or their race they are Uncle Toms or Traitors.
- Brian, Wakefield

Sotomayor is a racist who apparently has never read the U.S. Constitution. No surprise Gregg voted for her since he has a habit of letting down the American people when they need him most.
- Jake, Concord, NH

She's going to take away our guns and force every family to only have one baby and make white people illegal AND I hear she hates puppies and kittens and apple pie!!!
- Ken, Manchester

Randy G in Weare are you kidding. Just because you don't like her rulings doesn't mean she is wrong. Just because yo don't like her does not mean she will not be a great justice. You talk about life experiences having no impact on the bench or should have no impact. Are you for real? Sound like hillbilly thinking to me.
- Mike, Manchester

"Real-world experience, real-world judging, an awareness of the real-world consequences of decisions are vital aspects of the law"???????????????????

A Supreme Court Justice is only to rule Constitutional or Un-Constitutional. That's it, nothing else. No life-experience opinion, no "in touch" with the people feelings, is it Constitutional or Un-Constitutional.

Her rulings in the past are truly troubling, and this so-called Judge should be impeached and dis-barred.
- Randy G., Weare

I can't wait until all the now-celebrating white liberals (who bend over backwards to be "color-blind" post-racial "progressives") get to be on the receiving end of some of La Sotomayor's leftist, minority-racist decisions. She does not think in terms of "right" or "left" like you do, but rather in terms of "white/not-white." America as a nation is DYING, and this is just one more nail in its coffin.

Why wait until you are in the same position as the white South Africans, who are non-persons in their own country and upon whom it has been open season for years? Just head to Sotomayor's home turf of the South Bronx this weekend for taste of where our mourned-for country is headed. Then post an account of your experiences here - if you live.

Before you perverse white New England lefties post your predictably smug denunciations of me as an "inbred" or "ignorant," let me point out that I am an ex-New Yorker who lived for decades in a diverse, majority-Puerto Rican, crime-ridden hell hole where it is traditional white, English-speaking AMERICANS who are considered the foreigners - a place where you would not have lasted for five minutes, I assure you. Obama, Axelrod and Sotomayor most decidedly do not like you, your squeals of racially-masochistic delight notwithstanding.

During her kid-glove "grilling," Sotomayor admitted that she did not even know what the Federalist Papers were or who wrote them. So much for understanding the intent of the framers of the constitution. Poor America!
- Jack, Sunapee

Judas Gregg will vote for Sotomayor, that's no surprise once a wimp always a wimp, I can't wait till he is out of office. Now we know why he wanted all those undocumented aliens legalized. Gregg is just as I suspected a do-gooder liberal dressed in conservative ill fitted suit. What a phony.
- Richard L. Fortin, Manchester

So long as these are the voices of the Republican Party I fear we’re doomed to a one party system: ”anti-Second Amendment, anti-Constitutionalists radical Leftist,” “Kiss your Bill of Rights good-bye,” “oblivion of no moral clarity,” “Politics is for women and dumb baby boomers,” and “Sotomayor has had 50% more opinions reversed than upheld.”

Do some understand how misinformed they are? For example, the US Supreme Court only hears cases that are very well understood and likely to be overturned. For this reason, they generally overturn around three quarters of the cases they hear. Sotomayor has fewer cases overturned than average. Also, for those that don’t understand, the vast majority of any Circuit Court’s decisions never make it to the Supreme Court, typically less than one or two out of 100. Therefore, almost always, Circuit Courts’ decisions are never scrutinized by the Supreme Court, and thus are not overturned.

I don’t know whether Judd Gregg made the best decision or not. As we all know from Souter, it takes a few years to know whether a Supreme Court appointment performs as anticipated or not.

What I do know is that if the Republican Party does nothing to thwart ill-informed ranting from representing the Party, then they’re doomed to failure. As a fiscal conservative this trend toward complacency and often encouragement of ill-informed GOP members by the party scares me.
- Peter Sorrentino, Manchester

All the republicans show their true colors in their partisanship antics. Judd Gregg is looking at the qualifications of a nominee and is voting based on qualification while the rest of the people here only want him to vote the party line.

Here is a news flash to the angry republicans who clearly show why the republican party is hurting so bad: Get over it. Obama won the election.

The republican party shows exactly how elitest they really are. It is no wonder why the party is failing so miserably.
- Mike, Manchester

Sorry excuse for a 'conservative'. Party hack trying to be less so, on his way out the door. I hope he retires to Massachusetts.
- Phil, Concord

'Republican' Lincoln shed the blood of 500,000 in order to get the government to treat all men equally. Lady justice wears a blindfold and holds a scale. Will justice be blind under Sotomayor?

The northern states have lost all moral authority on the subject of race, from New England to Pennsylvania to Ohio to Michigan. The 'New South' now sets the tone for the whole nation.

New Hampshire is not a flinty, insular, racist group that would rather mate with the same sex instead of intermingling. Or is it? This decision is out of step with mainstream America. And so is Senator Gregg.
- Steve, Manch

Such a hypocritical double standard. It is ok for the Democrats to engage in blackball voting-block politics of competent judicial candidates for partisan and idealogical reasons but it is not justified nor statesman-like for Republicans to counter with the same level of force under the same conditions? I am tired of these "I am an independent voice/statesmen excuses!" Whoever gives this as an excuse for failing to do their part in what is a TEAM effort does not deserve good will. They break the trust of those who voted for them. Lest we gloss over what is really at stake here. It is the lives of millions of babies! Unless you know that Sotomayor will promote a "pro-life judicial agenda" and is wearing a pro-abortion disguise, innocent blood is on the hands of any senator that votes for her confirmation.
- Mike Gagnon, Nashua NH

I wonder if Kelly Ayotte who is wholly produced by Judd Gregg Inc. would support her confirmation as well?

Its too bad she won't tell any of us little people in NH her position on anything. I am sure if we were a Washington Lobbyist and asked she would.
- Nathan Heck, Merrimack

Well said Senator Gregg Most Americans are not on the extreme right or left. The Senator speaks for the silent majority. I don't agree with her ruling against the more qualified firefighters but overall she too is very qualified for this position.
- Mike, Hudson

I've tried to tell you people R's and D's are one and the same...hopefully some Tuesday in some November, you'll listen.
- DM, Hampton

Funny how all the people who never voted for Gregg, and never would if he were to run again, are heaping praise on him. Those of us who have voted for him have been betrayed. Politicians who remain in office too long get exceedingly arrogant, they forget the principles for which they were elected, and think they can embrace the opposition and not lose their friends, 'cause after all, where can their friends go? This type of thinking cost George H.W. Bush (#41) a second term, as I read his lips, but wish I could have read his mind. Gregg, of course, says he is retiring, so he doesn't need the unwashed peasants like myself, who put him in the Senate. Arlen Specter (Republocrat of Pa.) has made the same choice, and I predict he will either be defeated by Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary, or by Pat Toomey in the general election. Nobody likes a traitor, the people you betrayed are angry and they new friends you embraced don't really trust you, just ask Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President, who, after the Civil War, was reviled in the South perhaps more than the North, and died a broken, penniless man. It's always a good policy to "dance with the one who brung ya".
- MO, DERRY

To the victor go the spoils.

The right gave us Thomas and now the left gives us Sotomayor.
Seems like they balance each other out from my perspective... just like the Constitution intended.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in some of the upcoming backroom deliberations!
- Angelo M, Manchester, NH

Given the cyclical nature of the Presidency, the Senate's role would ideally be to advise (through the hearings) and consent (through their approval) to just about all a President's nominees. Only in the most extreme cases (Harriet Myers), when a nominee is clearly underqualified or so far left/right that they represent the prevailing wisdom of a miniscule slice of the citizenry should a nominee be rejected.

Could Thurgood Marshall make it through the process now? Probably not--what a sad statement. To those on the right whining about Sotomayor's politics; have you read anything by Justice Scalia lately? No one but a fool would say that Scalia is not a brilliant legal mind, nor would they say he's not a strong conservative voice. But doesn't the court benefit from having Scalia and his political opposite Ginsburg on the bench? They agree on just about nothing, but the debate makes the process work.

What we ought to be worried about is the win/lose mentality of DC, and its impact on the federal bench. There are still dozens of empty seats there. Congrats to Senator Gregg for being what we in NH have come to expect from him--an independent voice, not a knee-jerk follower of the "say no to anyone even remotely left/right of center" crowd. She's qualified, and she deserves his vote; as did Alito and Roberts before her.
- Fred, Hopkinton

Tom Labrie,

can you name one ruling (just one, really) where sotomayor has sided with the bill of rights or consistent with any of the 27 constitutional amendments?

She like every single member of obama's cabinet and staff is anti-gun. yes, every single one of them is. Again, you can't name one who isn't.

sotomayor is the product of affirmative action or racism for the good good of the people. She turned around and used her free education to throw out the hard earned promotion of a white firefighter. She is among the ruling elite in la raza, a powerful anti-American, pro-illegal alien group. Its matters not as neither of our senators represent the best interests of the state. Sotomayor will be confirmed, and continue to interpret the constitution as a well qualified latino woman. Thank god we don't have a white impartial male.
- Michael Layon, Derry

So long as these are the voices of the Republican Party I fear we’re doomed to a one party system: ”anti-Second Amendment, anti-Constitutionalists radical Leftist,” “Kiss your Bill of Rights good-bye,” “oblivion of no moral clarity,” “Politics is for women and dumb baby boomers,” and “Sotomayor has had 50% more opinions reversed than upheld.”

Do some understand how misinformed they are? For example, the US Supreme Court only hears cases that are very well understood and likely to be overturned. For this reason, they generally overturn around three quarters of the cases they hear. Sotomayor has fewer cases overturned than average. Also, for those that don’t understand, the vast majority of any Circuit Court’s decisions never make it to the Supreme Court, typically less than one or two out of 100. Therefore, almost always, Circuit Courts’ decisions are never scrutinized by the Supreme Court, and thus are not overturned.

I don’t know whether Judd Gregg made the best decision or not. As we all know from Souter, it takes a few years to know whether a Supreme Court appointment performs as anticipated or not.

What I do know is that if the Republican Party does nothing to thwart ill-informed ranting from representing the Party, then they’re doomed to failure. As a fiscal conservative this trend toward complacency and often encouragement of ill-informed GOP members by the party scares me.
- Peter Sorrentino, Manchester

The Congress and their sock-puppet in the White House enjoy a one-party government and now want to turn the US into a socialist country. Judge Sotomayor will be of great assistance to their cause.
- Bill Howard, Exeter

She's be disqualified to be a jurist for the racist comments she's made much less be qualified to be a judge!
- Bob, Derry

Tom Labrie,

You crack me up! You make it sound as if "right" news is lacking all sorts of fact and common sense.

Yet most of the crap that comes out of Hollywood and the liberal media is made up and can be easily proven so.

I don't think any one on here living in glass houses should be throwing stones...what you accuse the right of, you do the same. You're just playing on a different team. Get over yourself!
- Tom, Derry

I thought the point of voting for people in politics was because you agree or disagree with them...therefore you vote in whom would help best represent your view?

He doesn't agree with her views but doesn't think she's unqualified?

Who gives a crap if she's qualified...there are monkey's who are just as qualified..but if they disagree with what my heart thinks is right and should be pushed, then why on earth would you crumble and vote for them?!

What a disappointment.
- Louise, Derry

Yes, she is a real piece of work. We are in serious trouble with her on the bench. I think Judd Gregg needs to move to Mass with the rest of you Liberals who only care about your agenda instead of what is best for the US.
- Steve, Amherst

Ruth,

Anyone who calls Lindsey Graham a "super conservative" is clueless, for example the immagration refore bill, moving on.

The reason many conservatives call Sotomayor racist and so on is because based on her rulings from the bench one could only conclude that is the case. Everyone has heard of the ruling in CT where a white fireman who scored nearly perfect on the state exam was not given the job/promotion because a minority with a lower score was award the position for the sake of diversity. My question for you Ruth and other clueless individuals that think she is great is this,

If you were stuck in a burning building would you want the comfort of knowing the most qualified individual was coming to save you? Or would you prefer the warmness in your heart knowing that someone of a different ethnicity (who is not as qualified as the first person) is trying to break down racail barriers and save you?

Clearly anyone would want the most qualified person in these emergency service positions. Sotomayor ruling against that shows how incompetant she is and how she cannot make clear rational decisions without injecting a manufactured race element that actually takes away the rights of others.

This is a pattern with her, not an isolated circumstance. Then she get to the confirmation hearings (that you probably didn't see much of) and lied about who she is and what she believes. Of course everything she has ever said over her career is "taken out of context" and she "mispoke about her beliefs", sure I believe it.

Its not "name calling" its not "super conservative" its just rational.
- Steve, Manchester

Of course you will Mr. Gregg.

Spineless Republicans destroying their own party from within. We can all see the great reaching out of the left complete with name calling that is claimed as bipartisan politics. Let our borders be demolished and our constitution raped. We are not America but the North American Union.

Thanks for nothing.
- Deb, Derry

Ever notice how when politicians run for office they push that they're an "independant voice"? We all want to vote for someone who's independent, so we say. But if they break from the party, they're RINOs and DINOs. "May as well put a D in back of their name".

Do you complainers actually read about the issues, or do you get all your info from Rush Limbaugh (or whoever is his equivalent on the Dem side)? Do fill in that lazy little "straight ticket" box, either Dem or Rep, when you vote?

Some people need to get their heads out of the partisan editorial columns and find some balanced news to read. At least I know Judd Gregg does. Let's hope Ms. Ayotte also does.
- Marc, Derry

Senator...
I am glad I will never be faced with the choice between voting for you or a democrat again. You have made a serious error here. Review her statements and see that she is a radical force that should not be on the bench. Just focusing on her disdain for our second amendment rights that we here in NH hold so close should be enough for you to vote no. I am very disappointed in you.
- John, Milford

Ruth in Bedford: If you think that Lindsey Graham of SC is "super conservative," then you don't really know what conservative is. Lindsey Graham is a moderate Republican and has been his entire career.

NO ONE should be surprised that Judd Gregg is voting for Sotomayor's confirmation. He's never been a conservative, either. (Let's not forget that he was going to take a position in the Obama Administration.) Judd Gregg has always done what's politically advantageous for Judd Gregg and not what's best for the people of New Hampshire.

I can't wait until this embarrassment is gone from the United States Senate.
- William Smith, Manchester, NH

Lindsey Graham "super conservative"?
- Chris, Merrimack

Voting against the will of the people is what got Dick Sweat voted out of office. You'd think Gregg would be smart enought to learn from others mistakes.

Time for a change in washington. Vote out every member of congress and start over.
- Dave, Manchester

Scan the posts. There are many thoughtful congratulations as one would expect, even the super conservative Lindsay Graham of S Carolina supports the nominee.

Then there are multiple wild and wacky cheap shots barking inappropriate names like leftist etc, so far off the mark as to be laughable. Just obvious cheap shots with little thought behind them.

So we congratulate Gregg and laugh at the Ed Holdgates. What more can a reasonable person do?
- Ruth, Bedford

Good riddance, let's try to get a real conservative back in the Senate for NH. This is just one more example of how the power and money in Washington can distort one's political mores and corrupt their decisions.

He's got his pension, great health care and a number of buildings and bridges named after him. In the meantime he is one of the many down there who helped to bankrupt this country.

He might as well put a D after his name.
- PF, Keene

Is this Sen Gregg or Arlen Specter?

Its becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between the two Senators based upon their voting records.
- JP, Warner

Given that Sotomayor has had 50% more opinions reversed than upheld, I wonder how bad she'd have to be as a judge to be found less than qualified.
- Kevin, Lancaster

Republican uselessness like this is why I left the Republican party. Never to vote again, for anyone for that matter. Politics is for women and dumb baby boomers now, get used to it. Oh yeah, and I hope you ALL enjoy paying higher taxes, fun isn't it!
- Kevin, Portsmouth, NH

Thank you, Senator Gregg, for putting the country ahead of partisan politics. All indications are that Judge Sotomayor will be an excellent Supreme Court justice. Justice Souter will no doubt be please with your decision.
- LJC, Manchester

Senator Gregg is making an informed decision, one that I greatly respect, to support Sotomayer's appointment to the Supreme Court. His remarks about not agreeing with her political or personal views, yet recognizing her hard work and suitability for the position, separate him from the typical politician. I whole-heartedly agree with him that the justices should not be chosen based on their political views, but should instead be chosen for their ability and history of impartially interpreting the laws of the land. I am proud to have had a man of his calibur and dedication to represent our beautiful state. My greatest hope is that he has imparted some of his wisdom upon his fellow politicians.
- Amber Emerson, Manchester

do any of you realize that no politician gives a crap about any of us?

example: our government over the past 20 years!
- Scott, chichester

I am very proud of Senator Judd Gregg for making this statement. He is one of the best senators to have serve our state. His expertise will be greatly missed.
- Gordon, Laconia

This misguided action by Judd Gregg caps his long, downward spiral into the oblivion of no moral clarity at all.

There was a time, back when he was NH Guv, when I considered Judd Gregg a great fiscal and social conservative leader for us in the Republican Wing of the Republican Party (whom Tom Labrie always ad hominemizes as "KoolAid drinkers"). Back then, Judd was not perfect, but he was really great. For example, three times Judd Greg Version 1.0 vetoed the revocation of the pro-life laws on the NH books since 1848.

It has been downhill ever since and he has betrayed his GOP roots over and over to the point he almost worked for Obama in the Cabinet. Now this Sotomayor endorsement reminds me of, "with friends like these, who needs enemies?" Whoosh, down the slippery slope Judd Gregg 2.0 goes, chattering rationalizations for his betrayal. Please end the farce, Judd, and finish the hideous morph like Arlen Specter before you leave the office.
- Ed Holdgate, Sandown, NH

Another Republican running against his parties platform.

From the 2008 GOP Platform;
"We oppose stealth nominations
to the federal bench, and especially to the Supreme Court, whose lack of a clear
and distinguished record leaves doubt about their respect for the Constitution or
their intellectual fortitude. Nominees must have a record of fidelity to the U.S. Constitution and the rule
of law."

Gregg did support Sotomayor for the Appeals court in 1997. So he is consistent in his position, consistently wrong. He was reelected twice since 1997, so why would he care about what people in NH think about his votes for activist judges. At least the balance of the court doesn't change.
- Chris, Merrimack

So some in the GOP oppose Sotomayor and they're racist but the Democrats filibustered the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the Circuit court and they're not racist.

Just more of the do as I say and not as I do leadership brought to you by today's Democrat party.
- Dana, Candia, NH

Wow the koolaid is flowing in Newmarket and Plaistow! I'm glad you two aren't making any decisions that matter to the rest of us.

It is obvious to anyone who's mature and fair minded, Sotomayor is perfectly qualified, actually showing the promise to distinguish herself as one of the top judges of her time, by ENFORCING the Bill of Rights.

If you live on koolaid and baloney you likely think otherwise. As we see in the news all the time, facts don't matter to the crazy right fringe who redefine words as they toss their mud.

Good work Judd Gregg!
- Tom Labrie, Rochester

I'd better call the paramedics. I must be about to have some sort of attack because I just read a Gregg statement and, with the exception of the zinger he couldn't resist at the end of the second to last paragraph, I agree with everything he said. Maybe I should lie down.
- Nashuan, Nashua

Yup, that's right Mae & Mac. The sky is falling. Run for the hills. Spread the fear. Judge Sotomayor is going to over turn the Bill of Rights. That's her game plan. The whole world should know you called it here first. I mean really, what a watershed moment, the supreme court is going to be sooo much different than it was before. everything is going to change....
really guys, where do you come up with this stuff???? find another battle to pick, you are just embarrassing yourselves now...
- mike, hampstead, nh

Another example of why he is leaving the current GOP. He has too much sense of history. He is too honest and not vindictive enough. He is too normal. The GOP won't miss you, but the Senate will.
- Steve B, Derry

Thank you for setting aside partisan politics to vote in support of a well qualified nominee for the US Supreme Court
- terry, goffstown

Kiss your Bill of Rights good-bye.
- Mae, Plaistow

Gregg with never get my support for voting for an anti-Second Amendment, anti-Constitutionalists radical Leftist for the Supreme Court.

I'm glad this RINO is not running for reelection.
- Mac Wade, Newmarket