Of course, we saw the same sort of thing with Justice Thomas and Sarah Palin.
As I noted in a Townhall column last summer:
Justice Thomas, Governor Palin and Joe the Plumber have one thing in common: Their lives make a mockery of the Democrat Party’s raison d’etre – its foundational assertion that minorities, women and “regular guys” can get a “fair shake” in America only through government action. What’s more, all three of them have made it clear that they don’t want the government’s “help.” For that apostasy, and for their sheer ingratitude – after all, aren’t the Democrats the ones who “care” about blacks, women and “working men”? – the left has tried to destroy them.
Given the left's record on this point, it's remarkable that the White House is "warning" critics against criticizing Sotomayor. We're not the party of race- (or gender-) based attacks on qualified nominees, thank you.