Monday, June 1, 2009

White Male Rage Over Sotomayor

Here's the entire comment, in context, that Sonia Sotomayor made during a lecture at UC Berkeley that has White Male NeoCon Right Wingnuts rolling around on the floor and foaming at the mouth over:

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, 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

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown. -Sonia Sotomayor

When read in context, it is clear that Sotomayor's comment is about the reality that different people have different life experiences. Diversity of opinion is good for the court. A judge's background can make a difference. In fact, her comment is the opposite of racism. She is saying that she hopes a Latina would make wise decisions, just like the previous white males did.

Drug addicted gas bag Rush Limbaugh has labeled her a "reverse racist." He says "He(Obama) just wants one of his own on the court to do his dirty work, from the highest court in the land, and she fits the bill." "Obama is the greatest example of a reverse racist, and now he has appointed one."
Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Glenn Beck, Michael Steele, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, have all expressed their outrage over the Sotomayor comment. And at this blog in my previous post, I received numerous vile comments, some that we published, most that we rejected, from foaming at the mouth hysterical anonymous commenters gone bonkers. G. Gordon Liddy has said "let's hope the key conferences aren't when she is menstruating or something, or just before she is going to menstruate." Ex Congressman Tom Tancredo has referred to Sotomayor as the ring leader of the Latino's version of the KKK.

FACT: All but four of the 110 Supreme Court justices in our nation’s history have been white men.

Twist and shout all you want, connected white guys, your privileged days of exclusive and unchallenged power are over.

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