I love Leonard Pitts, and I always make a point of checking out his columns.
This one was great at smacking down Newt, Limbaugh, and Tancredo.
So Newt Gingrich now says Sonia Sotomayor is not a "racist" after all. She must be trembling with relief.
Gingrich's backpedaling came last week in an article on HumanEvents.com. It leaves just two high-profile Republicans, former Rep. Tom Tancredo and radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh, still clinging to that absurd allegation.
I don't write many diaries, but I think Pitts column needs a look.
He calls out the right on their typical misdirection of the issue at hand.
They sullied the word "feminist" so thoroughly even feminists disdain it. They made "liberal" such a vulgarity you'd never know liberals fought to ban child labor, end Jim Crow or win women the right to vote.
We see this crap everyday from the so-called "liberal" media. Labeling those for progress as some sort of evil.
I hope I'm not violating fair use, but one other part of the column that I find compelling.
We are, after all, talking about a man (Tancredo) who once called majority Hispanic Miami "a third world" country, and another man (Limbaugh) who advised a black caller to "take that bone out of your nose."
He slapped them down pretty well.
Please check out the rest of the column. One thing I wish he would've done, but maybe he ran out of space, and that would've included what else she said, and not just what the rightwingers pulled out of context.
I found this here on DailyKos from a diary by Dick Neely and a comment from Diogenes2008 that sums it up.
Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion. I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives and ensuring that to the extent that my limited abilities and capabilities permit me, that I reevaluate them and change as circumstances and cases before me requires. I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, October 27, 2001, Berkeley Law
Thank you for reading. If I broke any rules, please let me know and I'll fix it.
And thank you to Leonard Pitts and the Kossacks who provided previous diaries and comments to help me write this.
Update: Thank you everyone for the recommends. It was a pleasant surprise to wake up this morning and see this on the Recommended List. I would like to take the time to respond to each and every comment, however, I'm heading out for the day. I'll make sure to tip all of you though.
Most importantly, I'm glad I was able to bring this excellent writer to your attention.
Have a great day!