Sotomayor Pick Sparks Race Divide In GOP

The attacks on Judge Sonia Sotomayor are growing more vicious by the day, sparking a racial divide within the Republican Party over how best to approach the Supreme Court nominee.

African-American and Hispanic conservatives who have questioned her judicial philosophy also note the historic nature of the appointment and praise her triumph over economic hardship. White conservatives, on the other hand, have been far more personal and aggressive in their attacks on Sotomayor's record, repeatedly accusing her of "reverse racism" and questioning her intelligence.

"I'm excited that a Hispanic woman is in this position," said Michael Steele on Bill Bennett's radio show Friday. He added that instead of "slammin' and rammin'" on Sotomayor, Republicans should "acknowledge" the "historic aspect" of the selection and stick to a "cogent, articulate argument" against her.

Steele argued that the GOP should not "get painted as a party that's against the first Hispanic woman" picked for the Supreme Court.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales echoed these views recently, telling CNN, "I have no questions in my mind about her qualifications in terms of education, experience. A president is not required to nominate the most qualified person to the court. I think he's obliged to nominate someone who is well-qualified, and I think by any measures, she is well-qualified. I think there are legitimate questions about her judicial philosophy."

White male conservatives, despite polling showing both the public and GOP insiders disagree, are maintaining that Sotomayor is an unqualified bigot.

Pat Buchanan described Sotomayor in a column Friday as an "anti-white liberal judicial activist" as well as a "lightweight" who "covers up her intellectual inadequacy by bullying from the bench."

John Derbyshire, at National Review Online, took admiration for Sotomayor's life story as an intentional insult to him and all other white people:

I get mighty annoyed by the unspoken implication in a lot of commentary that anyone not a member of a Protected Minority must have grown up in a twelve-bedroom lakeside mansion and been chauffered [sic] off to prep school with a silver spoon in his mouth. Judge Sotomayor was raised in public housing? So was I. Her mother was a nurse working late shifts? So was mine. When did white working poor people disappear off the face of the earth? Where are the eager listeners to their "compelling stories"?

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On Bill Bennett's radio show Thursday, the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes suggested that Sotomayor got into Princeton through affirmative action, and went on to suggest that most students probably get "some kind of Cum Laude."

BARNES: I think you can make the case that she's one of those who has benefited from affirmative action over the years tremendously.

BENNETT: Yeah, well, maybe so. Did she get into Princeton on affirmative action, one wonders.

BARNES: One wonders.

BENNETT: Summa Cum Laude, I don't think you get on affirmative action. I don't know what her major was, but Summa Cum Laude's a pretty big deal.

BARNES: I guess it is, but you know, there's some schools and maybe Princeton's not one of them, where if you don't get Summa Cum Laude then or some kind of Cum Laude, you then, you're a D+ student.

Bill O'Reilly claimed Thursday night that "the left sees white men as a problem" and putting women and minorities in power is the solution.

And Rush Limbaugh recently described the GOP as the true "oppressed minority."

Conservatives have also suggested that Sotomayor's fondness for Puerto Rican food will somehow "influence her verdicts from the bench."

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Comments

[Wiseup2Day]

The Cheney's are true intellectuals ..his wife and his daughters..They are an impressive family..regardless of what you might think of ideology.

[lysettes2]

The United States Supreme court should be a jury of America's peers.
Not a jury of the Bill's, Rush's, Pat's and oh yea Dick's peers...

[ObservantDem]

this is a prime example of Obama's brilliance, by picking her, he's keeping the court relatively intact in it's current configuration. more importantly he's forcing the GOP into a lose-lose situation, if they oppose her, they'll severely alienate the Latino population for years, however if they vote for her then they'll draw the ire of closeted racists in the party who still think 1 race is superior above all others and thus will move their support to candidates who share that belief. it's really the perfect political quagmire.

Well done Obama:)

[usma84]

This made me chuckle:

"Steele argued that the GOP should not "get painted as a party that's against the first Hispanic woman" picked for the Supreme Court."

Of course the GOP is the party that is against the first Hispanic woman picked for the Supreme Court. Is there anyone dumb enough outside the GOP to think otherwise?

I often wonder, is there any low left for these people to sink to?

[nippyfan]

Trying to make a motivational speech in a country where brown people are viewed as less (I don't care what any of you say) and have to work triple hard to prove their worth beyond any doubt to even get a chance is not racist. Trying to keep a race uneducated and employed as servants on the other hand is racist. Has everyone forgotten how segregated America was (is), just because Obama is the President, doesn't make the sick racist, separate but equal crimes and their effects on America disappear. This culture remains alive and well, handed down generation to generation, just unable to flex the issue on a legal plane.

[FreelanceMinion]

Interesting spin on the Fox News "some say" technique. Since you don't find anyone saying she got into school on affirmative action you just say a person "could" wonder if she got in due to AA, then people start claiming she did.

[brandnewstuff]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=240Ia0ucXrA

I just love the song-

anyhow- Judge S.S. will runaway with the Race to the Supreme Court! I am happy with that

[edsel]

It was an absolute stroke of genius for the Obama administration to nominate Sotomayor for the supremecourt. The repiglicans are showing their tru colors.

[Zrae]

Perfect example of how the cable news, party line blogs and ex elected officials (if at all) are trying to manipulate by parsing. For all to many its an unconscionable bid for the dollar.

[TheBoohoo]

Race War! Race War! Its on now! Oh sh*! is that the NAACP?
Seriously though, if this is a race war, its a one sided one. The basis of the Republicans "Sotomayor is racist" argument, well, it doesn't exist. I mean really? In 2009 the first black president nominates the first latina judge and the only thing the GOP can think of is to throw hollow accusations of racism? So Sotomayor is racist, but Tom Tancredo is an upstanding example of a human being. Yee gods, I'm glad the GOP dropped the reins and all, but this whole thing is kinda hard to watch. You almost feel bad for them. Almost

[thefirehorse]

Divide and Conquer. Split the country along racial lines and you have a better chance of winning in the future.

[AnnfromCA]

Her remark WAS racist. That's not a personal attack. Goodness know, the left is fond of labeling someone that with virtually little evidence.

I think both sides are awful about doing this.

[jonmonbuckeye]

How is what she said racist? Please, explain. I am a middle-aged white male, and I have no problem understanding what she wrote. So, am I being a traitor to my "race"?

[Tommygun264]

Read the entire statement, not just parsed excerpts, then we can have a reasoned debate. Your willful ignorance and unending parroting of already debunked whining points only makes you look more ridiculous and unhinged.

[obama20082012]

Aren't those 2 requirements to be a Republican these days?

[bannorhill]

She said "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.”

If Justice Scalia had said "a wise White man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn’t lived that life.” Would you allow the statement to go unchallenged or would he be branded a racist?

[ersf]

Didn't the GOP win mostly the South in the last presidential election, except Florida. Consider their base in this case. It is shameful that they must appeal to the lowest levels of racism and hatred to try to maintain their ever dwindling base of support. The party of Lincoln sounds much more like the party of Jefferson Davis or George Wallace: Lincoln has left the GOP already it seems.

[worldview47]

check thisHey, did anyone see this?
YOUTH FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION CO-FOUNDER FACES SENTENCING ON HATE CRIME ASSAULT IN JULYAuthor
One People's Project
Date Created
27 May 2009

WASHINGTON, DC--Marcus Epstein, the young executive director of an organization chaired by Pat and Bay Buchanan, the reputed co-founder of a new racist college organization and a regular staple in paleoconservative circles, is to be sentenced for an assault on an African-American woman in Georgetown, DC that has been classified as a hate crime, court records show.


He was briefly detained by the woman's husband, but was able to escape, only to be arrested minutes later by a Secret Service officer who witnessed the attack. According to the officer's statement, a friend of Epstein's informed him that he had been drinking.

Epstein is also the executive director of The American Cause, the research foundation chaired by Pat Buchanan and Bay Buchanan that promotes an America First policy in trade, immigration, and foreign policy, and Team America PAC, a committee founded by former congressman Tom Tancredo and chaired by Bay Buchanan that supports an extremely restrictive immigration policy.
Fox News correspondent Jim Pinkerton saw controversy for its call to the Republican Party to abandon reaching out to Hispanics and nonwhites and focus only on its white voting base.
.

For an online scan of Marcus Epstein's court documents:


www.onepeoplesproject.com/images/Epstein/img073.jpg

out//

[Ohioan730]

I don't have a problem with white men. I'm in a relationship with a center-right leaning white ethnic man and I'm a liberal black woman so my tolerance and racial sympathy has stood the test. However, I do not feel sorry for rich, white bigots no matter how much they cry "new racism" or whatever. They have worked tirelessly throughout the ages to supress the advancement of women and every minority you can name (that includes the white ethnic non-anglo white people as well). I laugh in their general direction and remind my bf everyday that he's not one of them no matter how he cancels out my vote supporting a party that is effectively working against us and probably doesn't want us to be together.

[kjstjohn]

And the rich white guys stoke up resentment against female minorities to brainwash the economical­ly-margina­l white guys into handing the country over to the rich white guys.

Remember Reagan's "welfare queen"? It's starting all over with Sonia.

[ObservantDem]

very good points, i'm surprised, although frankly i shouldn't be by the fact that these bigots continue to say what they do on camera and with a mike nearby and yet they almost seem to think that we're not going to call them on their BS. i'm a staunchly liberal white guy and yet if i were in their shoes and i thought something like what they do, i would make dead sure that i said it away from any recording device. I don't know what's the worse, that they said it or that they were stupid enough to be recorded saying it.

[redsongia]

Seems like the GOP is all religious fundementalist and fellons these days. It's an ironic marriage, but it seems to work for them, somehow.

[lazercat2008]

Not to mention Liddy. The biggest criminal of them all.

On 30th January, 1973, Liddy, Frank Sturgis, E. Howard Hunt, Virgilio Gonzalez, Eugenio Martinez, Bernard L. Barker, and James W. McCord were convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping. Liddy was sentenced to 20 years in prison but served only four years before President Jimmy Carter ordered his release.