Vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor -- even though she falls short of the standard set by Barack Obama for confirming justices to the Supreme Court. Indeed, after recounting how Barack Obama refused to support highly qualified judges based upon partisan and ideological reasons, the Post argues that there is an obligation not to apply such standards to his first nominee.

Senators don't owe presidents favorable votes on their nominees. But they do owe the president, the nominee and the American people a vote based on an honest assessment of the nominee's qualities and qualifications.

Let me address the editorial board of the Washington Post for a moment.

You make the argument that senators "owe the president, the nominee and the American people a vote based on an honest assessment of the nominee's qualities and qualifications." And yet despite this, you still endorsed Barack Obama for president, despite his clear failure to uphold this obligation. You gave your support to a man who you knew to be dishonest and duplicitous in fulfilling his constitutional obligation. Why should the judgments of the editorial board of the Washington Post be trusted, given your clear failure to weigh the qualities and qualifications of Barack Obama to be president.

Indeed, you make a compelling case for the rejection of ALL Obama judicial nominees, because it cannot be presumed that he has honestly assessed the qualities and qualifications of his nominees in making these nominations in the first place.

After all, elections have consequences -- and one consequence of this election is the ratification of the Obama standard for judging judicial nominees, at least for the duration of Obama's presidency.

Of course, the current configuration of the Senate is such that the GOP is unlikely to be able to stop the Sotomayor nomination. As such, I encourage the GOP Senators to fight like hell against Sonia Sotomayor -- and then follow simply vote Present when the nomination comes to the floor, just as Obama did so many times throughout his legislative career.