Here is a quotation for your consideration:
"Senator, I tried to- in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point...Because when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long a go when they were in that position.
When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."
Sonia Sotomayor? Nope, you are forgetting that the hearings have not started yet for her. Sorry, It's Samuel Alito from his hearings back in the Bush the Younger administration. So, Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Gingrich, since you are calling for the Senate to refuse to confirm Sotomayor because she is a racist and because she relies too much on her subjective life experiences, seems to me you need to call for the resignation of Justice Alito.
Rush? Newt? I'm waiting.
I wonder why we all seem to think that the life experiences and family histories which molded our hearts and minds are inevitably going to inform our decisions. Maybe because it is true? Maybe because it is not always a bad thing? In other Sotomayor news:
(CNN) - A top Senate Republican is taking aim at recent statements from conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich suggesting Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a "racist."
"I think it's terrible," Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told NPR on Thursday. "This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent."
The battle for the Republican heart and mind continues.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 17
She wont make it because of her beliefs that the 2nd Amendment is not a fundamental right. Plus other small things like state rights through the 9th and 10th Amendment.
~M
Too bad neither are on Gather to respond.
Viva La Raza!
I do believe it's the sum of our past experiences to date that shape how we percieve and feel about issues and interactions day to day. One person I know says I can't let my experiences influence current interactions. I argue that if I didn't, I would be taken advantage of again and again instead of heading the warning signs that a person may be acting wrongly towards me.
I'm fine with Sotomayer. We need more women on the Supreme Court. We need more people who didn't grow up with all the opportunities on the Supreme Court. It's all about interpretation and point of view there and we're not a nation of old white guys.
You see, Chris, this is the problem with the entire approach to public debate of issues on the part of the fright wing. They don't want to debate the merit of issues or ideas or people, they want to play "gotcha". So they comb through the history of their opponents looking for some phrase or snippet they can use to embarrass or denigrate or otherwise impugn the person they are attacking. The context of the snippet is inconsequential to them, because they will deliberately use the snippet out of context (which allows them to create their own, imaginary context).
Where they often shoot themselves in the foot is, as you have pointed out, that the same aspersions can easily be cast against those they support, using their own words. Furthermore, those who disagree with them often need only dig up the same quote and reveal the actual context of it to deflate the entire effort.
Lame.
I can't believe the Right Wing is isolating themselves further from Hispanics and Women by their attacks on this brilliant nominee. She is the most inspiring Supreme Court nominee I've seen ever. I love her story. I admire her Mother. I've been to the Bronx. I know how difficult it is to rise to this level.
Rush and Newt only wish they had a similar resume. They are shameless. They act as if they are the Majority Party. They don't even understand that their behavior and policies have contributed to the Republicans loosing the House, Senate and White House.
Good grief!!! You would think they've learned something from their current irrelevance, but as usual, they dig in and long for the days of failed policies.
Keep calling Sonia Sotomayor a bigot and a racist. Keep isolating the fastest voting block in the United States. Keep making qualified women out to be unqualified.
The offending section of the speech is this: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." This passage inspired Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives and potential 2012 presidential candidate, to call Judge Sotomayor "a Latina racist."
It ends with this humble observation:
"Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional Latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion. I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives and ensuring that to the extent that my limited abilities and capabilities permit me, that I re-evaluate them and change as circumstances and cases before me requires. I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences, but I accept my limitations. I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience and heritage but attempt, as the Supreme Court suggests, continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate."
It's entirely appropriate to question Judge Sotomayor about this speech at her confirmation hearings. She is evidently more than capable of explaining in compelling, clear language what precisely she wanted to convey in this speech. But Judge Sotomayor is not a racist.
She's extremely qualified and very intelligent. She'll answer for her self just fine at the confirmation hearings and to the dismay of real racists she'll find easy confirmation.
Take my word on it. This is a Slam Dunk confirmation. She'll be an asset to the Supreme Court. Our new voice of reason, Judge Sotomayor.
"More Change We Can Believe In"
Well that's another ethnic group that the Republican Party will have to try to get off the voter rolls.
No way Republicans can keep her from being confirmed. What they will do is stir up more unrest and negativity in our country.
it is worth noting that Republicans seem to be starting the process of dividing into the Sotomayor okay/Sotomayor NO camps. Gingrich and Limbaugh obviously in the NO camp. But you are going to get a number of Republican Senate votes for her.
I disagree with all of the above commenters. I wonder if any of you are Hispanic, or why you think that is important here. What is truly here is whether judge Sotomayer will make rulings objectively and fairly, without regard to race or sex.
In her past, she has shown that she does not do that. In the Ricci vs, DeStefano case, she showed herself as partial against white males (yes, I'd call that racist & sexist both) by not addressing the constitutional issues of the case, and purposely letting it fall. Hopefully, the Supreme Court (currently reviewing the case) will reverse her racist and improper decision, and show her to be not qualified on grounds of overt, subjective partisanship.
Adding to this is Sotomayer's membership in the brown Supremacist group La Raza (translated to Engish : "the Race"), which sure doesn't help.
"Well that's another ethnic group that the Republican Party will have to try to get off the voter rolls."
So you're saying that in order to win the votes of Hispanics, one must be prepared to discriminate against whites, and that Hispanics want that ? As a Hispanic (50%) myself, I find that offensive. Hispanics, like most everyone else believe in fairness, not affirmative action discrimination, Incidentally, one of the plaintiff victims, who Sotomayer ruled against, in the Ricci vs. DeStefano case, is a Hispanic.
Michael Steele, RNC Chairman:
While guest hosting the Bill Bennett radio show on Friday morning, Steele said he was "excited" to see a Hispanic woman in this position.
"The trap here for the GOP I think is enormous," Steele said. "And I know that a lot of folks want to do the knee jerk you know let's start slammin' and rammin', but I think we really need to take a step back from this and deal with two things, one, the historic aspect of it, acknowledge it, but then move on to the substance of the conversation about what this woman believes."
Limbaugh does not care if Republicans get elected; it's not in his job description. He is a talking head. So is Gingrich. Steele, however, gets paid to care about that thing.
Michael Steele has to have one of the most thankless jobs in the world right now. Trying to be the titular leader of a party that is marching off to la la land following the beat of a bunch of different drummers (Limbaugh, Cheney, Coulter) all of whom are electoral poison.
Would be easier to herd feral cats.
I don't think that advocating affirmative action (AKA racial discrimination) is going to get anyone much popularity in America. Sotomayer may have some popularity right NOW (while the public hasn't heard much about Ricci vs. DeStefano). After the SCOTUS rules on the case (most scholars say Sotomayer's decision will be overruled), and people become more informed (especially about the corrupt/heinous way Ricci and the white and Hispanic firefighters were victimized) the "electoral poison" may well be for Senators to confirm Sotomayer.
Great discussion you've started here, Chris. Really interesting. Now that the final hearings before the Judiciary Committee are taking place, I've posted a discussion about that, and I'd love your input into that discussion. Here's a link if you get a chance and would like to comment. I really appreciate it! Thanks so much.