In an article from the online web site/blog "Think Progress " there is a description of the attacks on president Obama's recent selection of Judge Sonya Sotomayor as his choice to replace the retiring justice David Souter on the supreme court. Supreme Court Justice David Souters April 30,2009 announcement of his retirement opened a door of multiple possibilities as to who would replace him on the court, political pundits of all sorts weighed in with their opinions as to whom the president would choose and it is Judge Sonya Sotomayor who is the first Latina to be nominated for highest judiciary in the land.
>Think Progress on line refers to Judge Sotomayer as possessing a brilliant legal career after being raised in a South Bronx public housing project by parents who moved from Puerto Rico. Sotomayor graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude, edited the Yale Law Journal, then served as a "fearless and effective" New York City prosecutor and corporate lawyer before being appointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1992. "Since joining the Second Circuit in 1998, Sotomayor has authored over 150 opinions," only three of which have been overturned by the Supreme Court's conservative majority. During her time as an appeals judge, "her influence has grown significantly." Public reaction to the nomination of the first Latina and third woman to the nation's highest court is "decidedly more positive than negative." Former Bush adviser Mark McKinnon remarked, "If Republicans make a big deal of opposing Sotomayor, we will be hurling ourselves off a cliff." However, "the same right-wing extremists who drove the country into the ground," Salon's Glenn Greenwald writes, "continue to attack Sonia Sotomayor with blatant and ugly stereotypes." Right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan called Sotomayor an "affirmative action candidate," and Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes claimed she "has benefited from affirmative action over the years tremendously." As hate-radio extremist Glenn Beck described the nomination: "Hey, Hispanic chick lady! You're empathetic ... you're in!"Think Progress by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Brad Johnson
What Would Rush Do ?
"If you tell a lie long enough , someone will eventually believe you"
Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, have all called Judge Sotomayor a racist, some have made an attempt to use language such as troubling,or concerned about her stance on particular issues, will she be a an activist judge ...these are buzz words for her race being an issue.
As stated earlier George H. W. Bush in 1992 appointed Sotomayor to the District Court for the Southern District of New York. Bill Clinton appointed her to the 2nd Circuit in 1998.
It does not come as a surprise that she is being called a bigot and reversed racist by those who are themselves a mouth piece for some of the most racially insensitive comments and statements ever made in recent times by a politician , pundit, or talk show host. As reported by the Huffington Post Website and blog.. five current Republican Senators voted in favor of her nomination then: Sens. Collins, Gregg, Hatch, Lugar, Snowe. Among the no votes were current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, current Minority Whip John Kyl and Sen. Jeff Sessions, currently the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
Keep it on the Down Low
According to the Web Site " The Hill" in a post titled "Gun-shy Gop urges attacks on nominee by Alexander Bolton, In public, Senate Republicans have kept their distance from conservative attacks on Sonia Sotomayor — but behind the scenes, they have encouraged activists to keep their crosshairs trained on the Supreme Court nominee.
Bolton's article continues the description how conservatives have blasted Sotomayor for a range of statements and rulings, such as her off-hand remark that the “Court of Appeals is where policy is made” and a speech suggesting that a “wise Latina” has better judgment than a “white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Some have claimed that President Obama nominated her primarily because she is a Hispanic woman and others said she would be biased against the wealthy. The question that must be explored is if Sonia Sotomayor had been a white male with the same back ground would he have been labled a racist or a bigot or would he have just been called a socialist.
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/pr20090529
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gun-shy-gop-urges-attacks-on-nominee-2009-06-03.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/26/sonia-sotomayor-10-things_n_207724.html
