Posted by
Bill Crawford on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:28:11 PM
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the riches of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." -Sonia Sotomayor
What can I say? If Sam Alito had said something like that- even into an open cell phone at a family barbeque, he would not be on the Supreme Court today. Judge Sotomayor, however, will joining Alito this October. Is there any clearer evidence of a double standard in our society today?
This is not to say that she does not belong there. While I categorically disagree with her approach to law and especially the interpretation of our Constitution, the path to the Supreme Court for her has been greased by the decisions made by the voters in the last two national election cycles, and this is as it should be. She is Obama's nomination, and he has the votes to bring her.
That doesn't mean that the great culture war and it's aspect of competing views on the law should go away. I have a view of jurisprudence that can be labeled as "originalist" and if my compatriots don't speak their piece this summer, democcracy is not served well.
As far as alienating Hispanics, how much more damage can be done? If they want to hide her behind her racial roots, I'm too stupid to shy away from throwing ideological darts anyway. From a political perspective, rolling over for the likes of her will not serve to pick up any votes in 2010- that has to be done CD by CD on the campaign trail.
This is another reason why I didn't cry over the loss of Arlen Specter. He would be intimidated by this. I am a color blind conservative. In ten years, the Repblican party will be dominated from top to bottom by color blinds, and we will try our level best to show this racial warfare to be the crass stupidity it is. When enough people point out that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are clowns, the racial divide will begin to close.
Not until then.