So, Rush Limbaugh is hopping mad about Sonia Sotomayor! I know, I know, dog bites man and all, but he's got some specific grievances. Seems that Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment is so much more terrible than that time Virginia Senator George Allen called Indian-American Jim Webb volunteer S. R. Sidarth "macaca." Let's put the two statements side by side, to hold them in judgment!
SONIA SOTOMAYOR: 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.
GEORGE ALLEN: This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great. We're going to places all over Virginia, and he's having it on film and it's great to have you here and you show it to your opponent because he's never been there and probably will never come. [...] Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.
Why can't anyone give George Allen any credit for his moving Oration On "Uhm...I Meant 'Mohawk' Didn't I? Didn't That Kid Have A Funny Haircut Or Something? Macaca? That Doesn't Sound Like Something I Would Say."
Anyway, Rush is all agog and aghast:
LIMBAUGH: So Russ Feingold: A couple of words that Sonia Sotomayor said taken out of context. You mean, like, macaca? George Allen saying macaca -- we heard about that for weeks and months as the Washington Post and the Democrats sought to destroy Allen; he'd been a congressman, a governor, and a senator.
Sotomayor's comments are much worse than macaca; and they're frequent, and they are long-held. You see how this race thing works, folks. If you're a liberal, nothing you say can be held against you.
[LISTEN]
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