As we round the corner into day four of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, even the Republicans on the committee are beginning to admit that they’ve got nothing.

We’ve reached a point, here on Day 4 of the Sonia Sotomayor hearings, where some Republicans have acknowledged that when they sift through the federal judge’s 17-year record on the district and appeals courts, they don’t see much to quibble about.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) said as much this morning. Cornyn said Sotomayor’s record falls “in the mainstream.” Most independent analyses have reached a similar conclusion.

And this is exactly the point I’ve been making in these threads. There’s nothing in Sotomayor’s record that indicates she has ever tried to legislate from the bench, and her decisions fall squarely in the center, politically; leaning left on some things, right on others. The GOP has shot itself in the foot yet again, by focusing on single sentences taken out of context in a foolish attempt to paint her as a “racist” or an “extremist.”

Senate Video

UPDATE at 7/16/09 8:46:50 am:

Meanwhile, the Senators are out-talking Sotomayor 2 to 1.

According to an unofficial word count, these guys are out-talking the nominee. Better than two senatorial words for each one of hers after only two days. And that was before Arlen Specter opened his mouth for questions.

As of Wednesday morning, the senators had spouted 50,082 words. In response Judge Sotomayor had been able to utter barely 20,000 words (20,728, to be exact).

Monday was the worst day: senators 23,175, Sotomayor 942.

Some “hearing.” Maybe they ought to call it a “talking.”