The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The Sotomayor 'Out of Context' Dodge

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The Spectacle Blog

The Sotomayor 'Out of Context' Dodge

By Matthew Vadum on 6.2.09 @ 2:51PM

We keep hearing from liberals that it is unfair to criticize Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for her comments about the supposed superiority of Latina judges because the comments are allegedly being taken out of context.

In a 2001 speech, Sotomayor read from a prepared text: "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."

Thomas Sowell tears apart this desperate rhetorical tactic:

In Washington, the clearer a statement is, the more certain it is to be followed by a "clarification" when people realize what was said. The clearly racist comments made by Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the Berkeley campus in 2001 have forced the spinmasters to resort to their last-ditch excuse, that it was "taken out of context."

If that line is used during Judge Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings, someone should ask her to explain just what those words mean when taken in context.

What could such statements possibly mean-- in any context-- other than the new and fashionable racism of our time, rather than the old-fashioned racism of earlier times? Racism has never done this country any good, and it needs to be fought against, not put under new management for different groups. [...]

View all comments (4) | Leave a comment

Oldefarte| 6.2.09 @ 4:06PM

As a conservative, I'm not going to brand Sotomayor as a racist, which I think is extreme. I do however think that she has expressed a narcissistic, superior attitude; and that possibly exemplifies her personae. I'd suggest of congressional Republicans that they scour her writings, opinions,etc for possibly discovery of other examples of this extreme attitude [which if published by Republicans should not result in a favorable opinion by most normal American voters]!!!!!!!!!

Kevin| 6.2.09 @ 5:19PM

Take it from this black conservative blogger http://theblacksphere.blogspot.com/2009/05/vegas-gives-odds-on-sotomayor.html Sotomayor is a racist, and there is an Obama "angle" to her appointment. This guy is funny and gets it!

Dennis| 6.2.09 @ 6:01PM

I hesistate to label her a "racist", although I have no doubt that Democrats would have done so had the nominee been a Republican. But the GOP cannot afford to back off on tough questioning. The spin about the comments being "taken out of context" does fly period. I still remember how Trent Lott was castigated and tarred and feathered for much less. The Democrats have got to learn how to take what they dish out....

Kaelinda| 6.3.09 @ 4:53PM

Why not post the entire context of her remark? Republicans and closet racists are trying very hard to hold this sentence against Sotomayor, because she didn't say "I would hope that a wise (any race)( any gender) with the richness of his/her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than an (any race)(any gender) who hasn't lived that life." In other words, it's the richness of experience that would make someone a better justice, NOT the race or the gender.