Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor

[OSUsushichic]

Originally Posted by BigWoof31

Gator - clearly you have more knowledge on legal matters/precedent than almost all BP'ers, but this is a volcanic claim.

I'm gonna politely request some linkage to back the bolded language.

He was rejected by the very same committee twenty years ago for 'racially insensitive' statements asserting that he thought that the Klan was OK until he found out they smoked 'dope' and calling white civil rights lawyers 'race traitors.'

Senator Jeff Sessions, hypocritical racist moonbat - Boing Boing

[BigWoof31]

Originally Posted by OSUsushichic

Senator Jeff Sessions, hypocritical racist moonbat - Boing Boing

ARE YOU GATORUBET???!!! MIND YOUR OWN BIDNESS!


J/K Sushi - thanks for filling in the holes a bit. Especially from uber-credible sites like Boing Boing. One of my favorite reads.

[Bucklion]

Originally Posted by Gatorubet

It applies to those it applies to, and not to those it doesn't. The fact that it does not apply to you does not mean it does not apply to others.

Again, when the Republicans sold their soul to the Dixiecrats, it came with a price. I intend no insult to my fellow BPers, but I have no reason to withdraw the generality. We ARE becoming more multi-ethnic. We ARE becoming less of a WASP controlled world.

As Bill Murray would say, "That's a fact - Jack!" That bothers many people, for different reasons. Some fear change. Some have genuinely racist views. Some have subconscioulsy racist views of which they are not aware. Some simply mourn the loss of stability that the staus quo brought. Some fear the accomplishements of their father's generation will be undone by the overall change in society, and "change" is certainly reflected dramatically in the racial makeup of previously white male professions and in multi-racial dating and marriages. Some are just fine people who lived a good decent life in a certain environment, have always experienced life a certain way, and think that change for change sake is unwise or at least "scary".

We live in a wave of change, economic, social, etc., and it worries people. Change always does. Always has. We are now experiencing the biggest changes of the last two generations, IMO. Why shouldn't people dred change?

Sessions is a poor poster boy for the right on this one, as he is in fact a stone cold mouth breathing [censored]tard of a racist tool. And an Alabama fan. He was so poor a judicial candiate, and so clulessly racist, that his own Alabama Senator did not vote for his confirmation as a district court judge. He is not the guy to be grilling her. But they are tone deaf on race, so there it is....

My point isn't that it doesn't apply to some people, because of course it does...just that your posts sometimes walk right up to the line of saying "Nevermind them (as in people who don't like where the country is headed)...they're just [censored]ed rich whitey isn't in charge anymore". Which also applies to some people...but by in large, most people are worried about their own lives, and whatever it is that violates them, and the direction they think the country is headed...skin color means little in and of itself. As for your "Sold their souls to the Dixiecrats" contention, there is of course plenty of truth to it...of course I could turn right around and say the Democrats used to be the Dixiecrats, but then sold their souls to the labor unions and inner city poor when they lost the rural vote. Would that be untrue? No. Does it make them better or worse? Not to me. Would it mean most Democrats and liberals are obsessed with bringing down white people? No. Everyone has their base they pander to, and everyone has their true believers and Kool Aid drinkers and racists and bigots and anarchists. But there are a lot of us who could see Jimmy Carter in the White House and Justice Kennedy up for the Supreme Court right now and have the exact same fears, trepidations, frustrations, loathings, and criticizms. I steadfastly refuse to align myself with the people of which you speak with derision...therefore I refuse to have my fears and trepidations, and those of many others, lumped in with them, because they are not borne of, shaped by, or derived from any of the same things.

[Bucklion]

And as for Sessions, I believe he is a racist to the core, for the record.

[Gatorubet]

He was responsible for prosecuting the "Marion Three" in what was universally seen as an attempt to limit the increasing black voter majorities in traditionally black voter repressed counties. Fellow employees of Sessions testified that Sessions said that the voting rights act "forced civil rights down the throats of people" in the south. He called another black lawyer "boy" and told either him or some other black attorney who had chastised a secretary that he "better be careful how he talked to white people."

Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama cast the vote that killed him. I don't know how to stress that having a senator from your own state ( who knows about you and knows the people who know you) vote against you is very, very, unusual.

Really, as Howell was an Alabama Supreme Court Justice before he became Senator, it was a stain on Sessions.

Calling black lawyers "boy" and saying that he thought well of the KKK until he heard they smoked pot is a little more than just joking. Good Lord, "watch how you talk to white people???"

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. Only in Bama could this guy be a Senator.

YouTube - It's a Joke, Son! 1/10 (1947)

Btw, guess where Foghorn Leghorn came from.

[Gatorubet]

Originally Posted by Bucklion

My point isn't that it doesn't apply to some people, because of course it does...just that your posts sometimes walk right up to the line of saying "Nevermind them (as in people who don't like where the country is headed)...they're just [censored]ed rich whitey isn't in charge anymore". Which also applies to some people...but by in large, most people are worried about their own lives, and whatever it is that violates them, and the direction they think the country is headed...skin color means little in and of itself. As for your "Sold their souls to the Dixiecrats" contention, there is of course plenty of truth to it...of course I could turn right around and say the Democrats used to be the Dixiecrats, but then sold their souls to the labor unions and inner city poor when they lost the rural vote. Would that be untrue? No. Does it make them better or worse? Not to me. Would it mean most Democrats and liberals are obsessed with bringing down white people? No. Everyone has their base they pander to, and everyone has their true believers and Kool Aid drinkers and racists and bigots and anarchists. But there are a lot of us who could see Jimmy Carter in the White House and Justice Kennedy up for the Supreme Court right now and have the exact same fears, trepidations, frustrations, loathings, and criticizms. I steadfastly refuse to align myself with the people of which you speak with derision...therefore I refuse to have my fears and trepidations, and those of many others, lumped in with them, because they are not borne of, shaped by, or derived from any of the same things.

To be clear, I was not associating you with any position with those that we both abhor. But I see race in a lot of anti-Obama talk. Lots of racists where I live, both sides, and race as an issue is a constant hovering presence in my world. So as a wise Latina woma..I mean, as a person who lives in a southern town beset with race relations problems, it is on my radar more than yours (the head of the Young Republicans who got in trouble for laughing about the "we got to do something about these mad coons" on her Facebook was from Baton Rouge.) Who knew??

And I don't disagree with your other points at all. And I know how to call people racists. If I thought you were one I'd tell you to your face....well, interweb face anyway. I don't. Haven't. Whatever.

[Bucklion]

Originally Posted by Gatorubet

To be clear, I was not associating you with any position with those that we both abhor. But I see race in a lot of anti-Obama talk. Lots of racists where I live, both sides, and race as an issue is a constant hovering presence in my world. So as a wise Latina woma..I mean, as a person who lives in a southern town beset with race relations problems, it is on my radar more than yours (the head of the Young Republicans who got in trouble for laughing about the "we got to do something about these mad coons" on her Facebook was from Baton Rouge.) Who knew??

And I don't disagree with your other points at all. And I know how to call people racists. If I thought you were one I'd tell you to your face....well, interweb face anyway. I don't. Haven't. Whatever.

Oh I know, I don't consider you bashful. I was mostly responding to you, but I guess some of my general frustration with being labeled is shining through...I know you can relate, given the whole dissent is unpatriotic thing during the Bush years.

[BayBuck]

Originally Posted by Gatorubet

But I see race in a lot of anti-Obama talk.

But couldn't that be a (perhaps inevitable and maybe even intended) corollary to there being race in a lot of pro-Obama talk? I mean, if the positive stories of Obama and Sotomayor and Regina Benjamin are framed by their ethnic/racial backgrounds, isn't that kind of a setup to pull the race card when when they get a negative response?

[AKAKBUCK]

Originally Posted by Gatorubet

To be clear, I was not associating you with any position with those that we both abhor. But I see race in a lot of anti-Obama talk. Lots of racists where I live, both sides, and race as an issue is a constant hovering presence in my world. So as a wise Latina woma..I mean, as a person who lives in a southern town beset with race relations problems, it is on my radar more than yours (the head of the Young Republicans who got in trouble for laughing about the "we got to do something about these mad coons" on her Facebook was from Baton Rouge.) Who knew??

And I don't disagree with your other points at all. And I know how to call people racists. If I thought you were one I'd tell you to your face....well, interweb face anyway. I don't. Haven't. Whatever.

Couple things to keep in mind on this particular topic.

First, there are at least 787 billion reasons to be anti-Obama. Only color that matters there is green.

Second, Sotomayor played the race card here. Not Republicans. She's gonna have to take her lumps I guess.... (Though, there is this fun argument that they are "celebrating differences"-- Yeah, maybe. Obama's comments on her pass that test... hers probably don't. Look how [censored]ing wise and Latina I am.. )

Finally... this whole thing is stupid. She's qualified... she's bright... if there are some lingering internal filter issues, she'll learn her lesson... and... for those of you who are conservative and scared of her, you could do worse than replacing a known liberal justice with a Catholic.

Just saying.

At any rate... this is the wrong fight for the Republicans to pick... it keeps the status quo, at worst (for them)... don't spend energy on it... no point. Go beat up healthcare and carbon caps.

[BayBuck]

Originally Posted by AKAKBUCK

Finally... this whole thing is stupid. She's qualified... she's bright... if there are some lingering internal filter issues, she'll learn her lesson... and... for those of you who are conservative and scared of her, you could do worse than replacing a known liberal justice with a Catholic.

Just saying.

At any rate... this is the wrong fight for the Republicans to pick... it keeps the status quo, at worst (for them)... don't spend energy on it... no point. Go beat up healthcare and carbon caps.

I agree completely: her qualification for the position is indisputable, and like Graham said barring a "meltdown" she's a shoo-in for bipartisan confirmation--but since they're having hearings anyways, they might as well drag out all those questionable sound-bytes and give her a chance to blow it for herself. This is a lifetime appointment, can't make it too easy!

[valentine]

Bashing her for having "empathy" is rather amusing, since Alito basically said his "son of an immigrant" status gave him a better perspective and understanding when it came to cases like that:

"When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account."

Alito and Sotomayor have a number of similarities -- Newsday.com

[CookyPuss]

Ezra Klein - Memories

I imagine that when Sonia Sotomayor is putting together her scrapbook of memories from the time she was nominated for the United States Supreme Court, this will be a page she'll particularly treasure:

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), seeking to discredit Judge Sonia Sotomayor?s judicial philosophy, cited her 2001 ?wise Latina? speech, and contrasted the view that ethnicity and sex influence judging with that of Judge Miriam Cedarbaum, who ?believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices.?

?So I would just say to you, I believe in Judge Cedarbaum?s formulation,? Sessions told Sotomayor.

?My friend Judge Cedarbaum is here,? Sotomayor riposted, to Sessions?s apparent surprise. ?We are good friends, and I believe that we both approach judging in the same way, which is looking at the facts of each individual case and applying the law to those facts.?

Cedarbaum agreed.

?I don?t believe for a minute that there are any differences in our approach to judging, and her personal predilections have no affect on her approach to judging,? she told Washington Wire. ?We?d both like to see more women on the courts,? she added.

I'd love to see the video of this.

Here it is:

YouTube - Sotomayor Surprises Sessions with...

[fourteenandoh]

Originally Posted by AKAKBUCK

Finally... this whole thing is stupid. She's qualified... she's bright... if there are some lingering internal filter issues, she'll learn her lesson... and... for those of you who are conservative and scared of her, you could do worse than replacing a known liberal justice with a Catholic.

Just saying.

At any rate... this is the wrong fight for the Republicans to pick... it keeps the status quo, at worst (for them)... don't spend energy on it... no point. Go beat up healthcare and carbon caps.

hear, hear! i've been over it for a month now. there are bigger fish to fry.

[Gatorubet]

Originally Posted by fourteenandoh

hear, hear! i've been over it for a month now. there are bigger fish to fry.

I agree with you and Ak. Can't figure out why they are wasting capital on her, or why they are letting Sessions be the one to do it. Just dredges up the Sessions quotes.

It's like nobody in the GOP is coordinating the message. The scope of the deficit and the lack of progress gives the GOP a great chance to get right back in the hunt. They need to articulate an easy to understand message on economic recovery and debt reduction. But as they ran the Iraq/Afghanistan dinner bill up themselves, they don't have the backbone to complain about the higher priced Obama dessert, coffee and brandy.

Very odd.

I agree that race is injected by all sorts of different sources, but there are a lot of people who just do not want a black man as President. While it can be overblown, it can also be just as easily and incorrectly discounted. And Bucklion is right on about the labeling thing. I was called unamerican for not being a Bush supporter/Iraq war supporter for years, and it did get me hot under the collar when people labeled that group as "anti-servicemen" or "unpatriotic."

[BigWoof31]

Hot Air ? Blog Archive ? Sotomayor’s so-so reviews thus far


Rightly Blog posts a link dump of lefty journos and their thoughts on Judge Soto's performance thus far

**Does include thoughts from a G-Town Law professor who is apparently very distinguished.