The Daily Strike-5/30/09-Wouldn't Go As Far as THAT Part IV-Sotomayor Edition

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. It's time for our latest edition of "Wouldn't Go As Far as That" after a one week hiatus. The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court gave us ample opportunity to watch conservatives trip over themselves. It was hard to narrow it down to three.

3. The bronze goes to Newt Gingrich, who said that Sotomayor is a "racist" for comments she made saying that her background influences her decisions on the court. In a twitter post, Gingrich said that Sotomayor should withdraw from consideration, because a white man who said something like that would have to withdraw as well. I know we talked about this earlier this week, but I couldn't write an entry without including this silliness. For people like Newt Gingrich who try to find equivalency between what whites and minorities have gone through, I'm reminded of Justice John Paul Stevens quoting Anatole France’s observation's "that the majestic equality of the law forbade rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."

2. The silver goes to G. Gordon Liddy, an aging right-wing radio hack who said of Sotomayor, "Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she's menstruating" and that she "speaks illegal alien." What a great way to expand GOP outreach to women and Latinos.

1. If you can believe it, it gets better than Mr. Liddy. The gold goes to Tom Tancredo, former Rep. from Colorado. This anti-immigrant radical called the Latino activist group La Raza, to which Sotomayor belongs, "the KKK without the hoods or nooses." First of all, Mr. Tancredo incorrectly stated that the organization translate to "the race." My Spanish teachers would be insulted by such a false cognate. It actually means something more along the lines of "the movement." Also, it's an anti-poverty and anti-discrimination non-profit who has never harmed a single life in this country. Does Tancredo not quite understand what the KKK was and what it did? When Tancredo makes an absurd analogy like this, I have to say, I wouldn't go as far as THAT.