President Barack Obama has done a symbolically extraordinary thing by nominating for the first time in U.S. history a person of Latino descent to the Supreme Court. The President has stayed true to the theme of his long campaign when he adopted “Si Se Puede” from the legendary Latina leader, Dolores Huerta. Right-wing talk show hosts have been bludgeoning Judge Sotomayor, (first appointed to the federal bench by a Republican president), as if she were a kingpin in a Mexican drug cartel. This toxic soil has been well fertilized by the anti-immigrant rants of CNN’s Lou Dobbs, by the high-profile “border patrol” work of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and by the paramilitary activities of the “Minutemen.” Add to this context the unwarranted venom of the hate-radio crowd and we can see that President Obama, like his Philadelphia speech on race during the 2008 campaign, has given the nation yet another teaching moment.
Glen Beck calls Judge Sotomayor “Hispanic chick lady”; G. Gordon Liddy says she speaks a language called “Illegal Alien” and frets about her “menstruating” in office; Newt Gingrich and Tom Tancredo label her a “racist,” (Tancredo even called La Raza a “Latino KKK”); Karl Rove calls her “not distinguished,” “emotional,” and claims Sotomayor is “combative, opinionated, argumentative”; Rush Limbaugh compares her to the Ku Klux Klansman David Duke and calls her every other coded and not-so-coded anti-Latino slur in the book. Others have piled on calling her a “bigot” and a “radical” and an “activist” and a “socialist” and a “Marxist” and an “anti-constitutionalist” and an “affirmative action” nominee. They say “empathy” is a “liberal code word” for an “activist judge.” They call her “not too bright” and “an angry woman.” Mark Krikorian of the National Review even took issue with the pronunciation of her name, writing, “it sticks in my craw.” Politico’s Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin reported that Sotomayor was “a Latina single mother” despite the fact she has no children. Sean Hannity said that President Obama has “turned his back on Mainstream America” by nominating “the most divisive nominee possible.” And so on, and on, and on.
One thing is clear: President Obama’s choice of a Latina woman has sparked the ugliest reaction from the Republican Right we’ve seen in years.
These right-wing white men who are right now unleashing their inner racists all over the public airwaves are happy to see a 54-year-old Latina woman changing the sheets of their beds in their luxury hotel suites, or cleaning the bathrooms of their offices at night inside their high-rises, or washing the dishes in the kitchens of the fancy restaurants they frequent, but a Latina woman on the Supreme Court — the first ever — has really gotten under their alabaster skins. I can’t help but think of Stephen Colbert, who says he “doesn’t see race,” when I hear these multimillionaire white men screaming “racism” at Sonia Sotomayor. Is this a joke? Is this satire?
Lost in the din is Sotomayor’s own compelling Horatio Alger story. Her accomplishments rising from a disadvantaged background are every bit as impressive as Clarence Thomas’s or Alberto Gonzalez’s. When he testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee Attorney General Gonzalez, trying to save his job, fell back on his compelling life story: immigrant parents who knew the virtues of backbreaking agricultural labor. But what we’ve learned with the whole Sotomayor saga is that the only “compelling” personal stories of public officials that matter are those who belong to conservative Republicans — liberal Democrats need not apply — they’re all just “affirmative action” cases.
What President Obama has exposed with his choice of Judge Sotomayor is the seamy underbelly of latent American racism and misogyny. These hate-filled white men are on TV whining about Sotomayor’s “racism.” The whole sordid set of talking points the Right is pushing in hope of derailing her confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice shows that no matter what Sotomayor’s accomplishments — second in her class at Princeton, editor of the Yale Law Review, a decade as a federal judge — the Right judges her solely on her race and on her gender. Obama, once again, has forced America to look at its ugly side and the predictably vicious response of the Right has driven home the message with its astonishing hatred.
There was a time when George W. Bush pandered to Latino voters on the campaign trail by mouthing a few sentences in Spanish. Well, no amount of pandering to Latinos is ever going to help the Republicans win another election if they insist on keeping this deeply offensive burlesque going against Judge Sotomayor.
I acquired very good data from a web site
I couldn’t resist commenting
he weblog was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Many thanks
Saved like a favourite, I actually like your weblog!
Thanx for your work, sustain the nice perform Excellent perform, I’m gonna start off a modest Weblog Engine training course operate making use of your internet site I really hope you get pleasure from running a blog with all the well-liked BlogEngine.internet.Thethoughts you express are actually great. Desire you’ll correct some a lot more posts.
Everything is quite open and quite clear explanation of concerns. was truly info. Your site is really useful. Many thanks for sharing.
I’d need to take a look at with you right here. That’s not something I normally do! I just take satisfaction in looking at a submit that will make individuals feel. In addition, many thanks for permitting me to comment!
he website was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Many thanks
Following all, what a terrific web site and beneficial posts, I’ll upload inbound hyperlink – bookmark this website web site? Regards, Reader.
Your design is so exclusive in comparison with a lot of others. Thanks for publishing once you possess the possibility,Guess I’ll just make this bookmarked.two
Fantastic wordpress weblog right here.. It is difficult to locate high quality producing like yours nowadays. I genuinely recognize men and women like you! get treatment
People are yours alright! . We a minimum of should get these men and women stealing photographs to start out running a blog! They most likely just did a picture investigation and grabbed them. They appear great however!
I really like your website.. really good shades & theme. Did you create this web site yourself? Plz reply again as I’m looking to create my own weblog and would like to know wheere u received this from. many thanks
Right after all, what a terrific web site and educational posts, I’ll upload inbound website link – bookmark this internet website? Regards, Reader.
This page had a lot of interesting information on it. You know I have been to this site over and over now, off and on. I have yet to make a comment, so I thought I’d drop you a line
I really appreciate the work you do on here… always providing great content! This one’s going to facebook!
I really like your weblog.. really good hues & theme. Did you create this web site yourself? Plz reply again as I’m looking to create my own web site and would like to know wheere u obtained this from. many thanks
This page had a lot of interesting information on it. You know I have been to this site over and over now, off and on. I have yet to make a comment, so I thought I’d drop you a line
I really appreciate the work you do on here… always providing great content! This one’s going to facebook!
This page had a lot of interesting information on it. You know I have been to this site over and over now, off and on. I have yet to make a comment, so I thought I’d drop you a line
I really appreciate the work you do on here… always providing great content! This one’s going to facebook! HCG diet plan
I’ve found myself here quite a few times before while trying to find various things. I appreciate the detailed articles you write, and in some instances this is the ONLY place I can even find them. Cheers
I¡¯ve learn a few good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how much effort you place to make this kind of great informative website.
I have been searching for information on this topic for awhile now. So, really appreciate you taking the time to write about it. Truly was difficult to find, so I wanted to post my first comment out of gratitude
Thanks for any other great post. The place else may just anybody get that kind of information in such an ideal means of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am at the look for such info.
My brother suggested I might like this blog. He used to be totally right. This publish truly made my day. You can not believe simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
Excellent blog here! Also your site lots up very fast! What web host are you using? Can I am getting your affiliate hyperlink to your host? I desire my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol
Heya i am for the primary time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I am hoping to provide one thing again and aid others like you helped me.
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation however I to find this topic to be really one thing that I feel I’d by no means understand. It seems too complex and very huge for me. I’m taking a look forward for your subsequent submit, I will attempt to get the dangle of it!