Parker does as good a job as anyone I've seen in calling out the Republican Senators in her own party not only for their blatant racism but also for the blatant sexism they had on display for the whole world to see during Sotomayor's confirmation hearing:

Questions posed to Sotomayor about her temperament -- is she a bully? -- probably wouldn't be posed to a similarly qualified man. Judicial temperament is a legitimate concern, of course. But watching Sotomayor take questions about her moods from the nearly all-male Senate Judiciary Committee, one couldn't help wondering how those same fellows would hold up under similar scrutiny while a roomful of women took aim at their . . . fortitude. Obviously, we're talking about Republican chaps.

Based on the Sotomayor hearings, it is certainly easy to see why the GOP has a serious gender problem. The Republican Senators in the Committee room appeared to not have a clue how they came across to most women, or to any man who has even an inkling of sensitivity about gender fairness and equity. Parker tries to give them a clue:

Here's what women hear when men ask a female candidate about her temperament: "Are you really the bitch everybody says you are?" Men can be temperamental and still be great; women are merely impossible to deal with. Why is that? While Sotomayor is pondering some of the Deep Thoughts suggested by her interrogators, perhaps those same wise blancos might give that question some reflection.

Parker also calls out her party for the embarrassing, unforgiveable racism the Republican Senators spewed forth with a renewed sense of relish and vigor during the hearings.

Senators also hammered Sotomayor about her ethnic identification and whether she could rule fairly without undue influence from her gender or political preferences. Wait, let me guess, you're white guys! Are we to infer that men of European descent are never unduly influenced by their own ethnicity, gender or political preferences? Can anyone affirm this assertion with a straight face? When your party looks like a Wonder Bread convention during flu season, picking on ethnic identity and sex seems like an un-brilliant way to proceed. Yet, these same gentlemen don't understand how Sotomayor could have expressed the thought that she, as a Latina, might be able to reach a wiser decision than a white man?

After watching the GOP self-destruct at the Sotomayor hearings, GOPer Parker is as concerned as many here on dkos that her party is cementing its minority party status for years to come, denying our country a vigorous two-party democracy. It appears that at least a few Republicans joined me in scratching their heads, trying to figure out exactly what the party was thinking when it mapped out its game plan for the hearing.

It's hard to figure what Republicans could have been thinking. It's nearly a foregone conclusion that Sotomayor will be confirmed. Essentially attacking her personality is, at minimum, bad political strategy. The first Latina to rise to the highest bench with a record of accomplishment few can match isn't the best person for target practice when Hispanic voters are the golden means to a political future.... It concerns me that the Democratic Party may not have enough worthy adversaries in coming years to save us from the tyranny of sustained one-party rule. If confirmed, Sotomayor soon will blend into the folds of black robes as all the others have, and few will remember what the fuss was about. Something about a wise Latina. Did she wink? But those who picked the wrong battles during her confirmation, reminding Americans that they are blind to their own biases and attitudes, may find themselves increasingly lonely in that great big tent.

I doubt that Republican leaders are going to listen to the words of a "relatively" reasonable conservative like Parker; it just doesn't jive with the "Palin crowd" mentality that seems to dominate the party right now. In fact, I'm starting to believe more and more that what we witnessed at the Sotomayor hearings were the beginnings of a deliberate attempt by the GOP leadership to reposition itself for the future as the party of "white male resentment," as voiced by Pat Buchanan's recent lunatic rantings. And that's an even scarier thought, that this was all part of a master GOP plan rather than just evidence of a party flailing in disarray.

Either way, we need to prepare ourselves for a lot more ugly as we witness the last gasps of an increasingly irrelevant Republican Party.