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Sotomayor proof of evolving melting pot
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | 6:29 p.m.
Tim O’Callaghan
The hot days of summer are finally upon us in the relentless Mojave Desert. Even for a native desert rat like myself the 110 degree temperatures can be tough. It seems just a bit hotter since my return from the Pacific Northwest where temperatures are either pleasantly warm or down right cold.
Things are apparently heating up in Washington DC as well with the opening of the Senate confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor and her honor in the hot seat.
It never fails to amaze me how the parties line up for or against the president’s nominee, to the point where their political colors are unmistakable no matter how qualified a nominee may be.
Seriously, don’t you think the small number of Americans that actually follow the confirmation hearings don’t see through the veil of political partisanship? Or are they also stuck on their own political agendas?
The most honest statement made during the opening day of the hearing was from Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, saying to Sotomayor, “Unless you have a complete meltdown, you are going to be confirmed.”
Then Graham followed up with a jab at her “Wise Latina” comment she had used in several speeches. She would say, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion.” And in one speech she added, “than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Not the wisest choice of words, however, it does ring with truth, and I hardly find it to be racist or sexist. I do find it ironic because, until my generation, white males pretty much controlled this country in every sense of the word. And by the way, if you haven’t noticed, the country is still dominated by white men.
However, things are changing in America, the “Melting Pot” of the world. If America is to continue the path set forth in the Declaration of Independence, we must accept it wouldn’t always be “all men are created equal” but it would evolve to be all people are created equal.
Yes, America is evolving in many ways as people pursue their happiness, struggle to keep their unalienable rights and for many to simply grasp those rights.
From the time I type this column to when you read it and to the end of the Senate Confirmation Hearing for Sonia Sotomayor, plenty can happen. However, I’m betting with Sen. Lindsey Graham to say Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed, because a meltdown is not likely to happen with one as strong, confident and qualified as she is.
Judge Sotomayor and I may not share all the same philosophies or the same life experiences, but I’m confident she will be a needed balance in the pursuit of blind justice for all.
Tim O’Callaghan, co-publisher of the News, can be reached at 990-2656 or tim.oc@vegas.com. He writes a regular blog at tocomv.blogspot.com.
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What happened to selecting the best qualified to fill a position? No need to apologize for being a white guy, Tim.
He pretty much said it here... "meltdown is not likely to happen with one as strong, confident and qualified as she is." I hardly believe he is a "White Male" apologist.
Joe
"Strong, confident and qualified." This doesn't describe the person I watched during the hearings. She refused to be herself and show what her beliefs are. Instead she made statements that were sure to please those who might find fault with her positions - or she avoided answering when her answer might call her judgment into question. Strong confident people have no problem being proud of who they are.
she's proof that a Latina can get ahead even if she doesn't look like Carmen Diaz or have a butt like Jennifer Lopez
Read a couple of her opinions. She writes at the level of a fifth grader. Obviously an illiterate quota queen.
"Proof of an evolving melting pot?" You have got to be kidding me! If adding a card carrying racist to the supreme court is evolution, you are a sick man. This woman believes racial discrimination is OK (New Haven firefighters). She makes ethno-centric, racist statements, over and over again, like the wise latina crack. How racist and egotistical to think latinas have a richer experience than anyone else. She brags about how she got where she was by affirmative action, but never acknowledges the person who was discriminated against to give her that spot. She does not know that the constitution and the bill of rights apply to the states. She says the 2nd ammendment does not apply to states. So the first, fourth, fith, and fournteenth don't either? She is either terribly stupid, or she makes up the law as it suits her agenda. A sixth grader knows that the constitution applies to the states. It took her like 8 seconds to answer a yes or no question (is this country currently at war?). Again, not the brightest bulb on the christmas treee. Dozens of questions were danced around or she outright refused to answer them on the basis of, "I might have to rule on something like that one day". No kidding! Sorry we asked. Since when is that an excuse? If that were true you could not ask them any legal question at all. She would have to answer questions if she were taking a job interview at McDonald's or she would not be hired. Why do we have a lower standard for the supreme court? If Tim O'Callahan can't see that Sotomayer is a racist, and unqualified by her lack of basic knowledge of the constitution, I wonder how he manages to feed himself, or cross the street safely. Do you use the blow dryer in the shower too Tim?
When you look carefully at her past writings and decisions, the conclusion is she is not qualified for the job regardless of ethnicity, race or religion.
Sotomayor is proof of the evolving skunkpot. She's capricious, racist and incompetent.
Can't wait for this hypocritical, liberal white boy to be put on the unemployment line by a "wise Latina".