Wednesday, May 27, 2009
News Newt's at it again
Posted by Mara Shalhoup on Wed, May 27, 2009 at 9:20 PM
Newt's bringing his unique brand of sanctimony to the Twit-o-sphere.
Via AJCer Jim Galloway's Political Insider blog:
Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich just twittered the following to his closest 344,357 friends about five minutes ago, never mentioning U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor by name:"White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw." ...
The aide said the “tweets” are genuine, which makes Gingrich the most prominent Republican yet to take a hard line against Obama’s nominee for the high court.
Newt Gingrich, defender of "white man racists" and traditional marriages. We Georgians should be proud.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Comments (10)
Showing 1-10 of 10
He has correctly identified the racism inherent in Sotomayor's comment. It seriously impunes her ability to judge without racist bias
like
dislikeHave you read the entire speech with the supposed offending comment? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html
The only thing that offends me about the comment in question is that it is patently illogical. Sotomayor challenges the idea that "a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases" by contrasting "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences" with a generic "white male" whom she does not likewise describe as "wise." The point she apparently wanted to make is that perspective colors one's decisions and that "wisdom" cannot be separated from the underlying experiences that made the attainment of that attribute possible - a very valid point. But what she actually said when you boil it down is that white men don't have rich lives and therefore they can never really attain anything resembling "wisdom" relative to women of color. Not good. Nevertheless I think it's silly for Newt to label Sotomayor a "racist" because of such poor wording in a single speech written for a left-leaning audience. I suppose it can be argued that the passage indicates underlying racism on her part, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Of course Alito has said that his ethnic heritage colored his thoughts/opinions, and yet no wingnuts jumped up and screamed about that?
"Of course Alito has said that his ethnic heritage colored his thoughts/opinions, and yet no wingnuts jumped up and screamed about that?" Because Alito was just stating the obvious. Did Alito also suggest that his ethnic heritage gave him superior decision-making skills? Again, I think Sotomayor['s law clerk at the time] just used poor wording to express genuine pride in her own ethnicity and background. It's a minor gaffe and nothing more. She'll have better writers in the future who will know better how to express the idea that - all other things being equal - a variety of perspectives enhances collective wisdom. Having said that, I definitely agree that the wingnuts need to let this go. Sotomayor will no doubt have the opportunity to clarify her statement from that speech at some point. She'll do so deftly and that will be that.
Dash - I recommend you read the entire speech I linked above. If you're in a hurry, just read the two paragraphs bracketing the so-called offensive quotation. It's very clear she's not touting the genius of wisdoms of Latinas over white men. She's referring specifically to how perspective colors judgement in race and sex discrimination court cases.
I read it. I suggest you read what I wrote again. You're repeating what I just said. I get exactly what she is trying to say. I even spelled it out so that there can be no doubt. You're saying that the badly worded passage needs to be viewed in context. I'm saying that when viewed in context the badly worded passage is logically flawed and needed a rewrite, but is otherwise no smoking gun. I'm a pedant. Sue me.
impugns If you're going to use a fancy word, Jim, please at least spell it correctly.
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