Second Thoughts on Opposition to Sotomayor

Last week I counseled Republicans to be very careful about opposing the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

I’m having second thoughts about that.

Of course, I don’t think Republicans should be reckless or nasty in opposing her, especially when the “mainstream” news media is so eager to lie twist the words of those in opposition.

But it has become clear that, even if she is not a racist as Rush Limbaugh has proclaimed or a sexist, her own words make it clear she cannot and should not be trusted to be fair in matters where race or gender crops up.

She said what she meant, and she meant what she said: "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."
No white nominee could get away with that statement's corollary in which a wise white man comes to better conclusions that a Latina. Nor should he.


And that fact is already resonating to the point where Obama has felt compelled to spin it. People don’t like racism no matter where it comes from, and Obama knows it.

I am also alarmed by her membership in La Raza. That’s Spanish for “The Race”, people. And, yes, that organization is as racist as it sounds. What if a white nominee belonged to a white power group called “The Race”?

So here we have the irony of a Black president appointing a Supreme Court justice based on race and gender. And that Latina nominee has shown the disposition to be racially biased and strengthen the racial spoils racket just after the election of said President has blown away the need for it.

The irony of that is already sinking in and Republicans should run with that. Obama’s nomination is brazen and certainly not “post-racial”, and, although he will succeed in getting her on the court, it should be opposed, and Obama should be made to pay a political price.

And, thanks to Sotomayor’s own words and choices, Obama can be made to pay a political price.