[Grovenet] From Politico . . .

Wed Jul 15 23:14:50 PDT 2009

Steve,

Even the phrase "Give me a person that's been through the school of hard knocks over an ignorant one any day", while not containing any racist language can easily be interpreted as demeaning and derogatory.  If Sotomayor would've made that statement in her speech of many years ago no doubt Republican Senators would've grilled her with questions such as "Are you suggesting a person who has not been through the school of hard knocks is ignorant?"

With Sotomayor, as with any Supreme Court nominee, I believe we have to look at the body of their work in the judicial system.  I'm not saying any nominee with a storied body of work should get an automatic pass.  What I'm saying is like with Sotomayor if we burrow in on statements made these oh-so-many years ago, and don't weigh these few remarks against the entire body of judicial work a candidate has done, then every candidate will have problems and we'll end up not selecting a new Court Justice.

Allen Warren

________________________________
From: Steve Jerrett <stevedj at teleport.com>
To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:12:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] From Politico . . .

Katie,

The only way to remove racism from the statement is to remove racial words 
as in "Give me  a person that's
been through the school of hard knocks over an ignorant one any  day." 
Sotomayer chose to add race., which makes it more difficult to determine her 
true intent. I will agree that she was probably trying to negate race by 
pointing out that wisdom is a trait of all races, but she left a lot of room 
for interpretation or misinterpretation.

If she was attempting to convey a hope for true acceptance of all diversity, 
as in the words of Martin Luther King, "I have a dream that my four little 
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the 
color of their skin but by the content of their character," she made a 
misguided, obfuscated attempt. There was no need for her to inject race when 
it needs to be stated so simply and concisely. No blanks needed.

Steve
.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Katie Allnutt" <allnutt at verizon.net>
To: "Forest Grove local interests list" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 5:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] From Politico . . .

> If a southern senator said "Give me a a good ol' white man that's
> been through the school of hard knocks over an ignorant _________ any
> day", I think that everyone would agree with him regardless of how
> you fill in the blank. At least I would.  Ignorant people come in all
> colors and I'd rather have a wise one than a dumb one.
>
> If we as a society are to truly transcend this hypocritical cycle, we
> all must be honest and willing to recognize that wise people come in
> all colors too.  But since a lot of people don't seem to recognize
> that wise people do come in all colors we get stuck trying to put
> meanings to words taken out of context.
>
> Progressives aren't denouncing Sotomayor's statement because it
> wasn't racist in the context of the full speech and it wasn't racist
> given your own example of the ol' white guy vs the ignorant guy.
>
> Katie
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 15, 2009, at 2:46 PM, Steve Jerrett wrote:
>
>> "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,"  was stated by Sandra Sotomayor, 2001.
>>
>> That my be true, but why the racism? It seems that anyone,
>> regardless of
>> race, with a rich life experience would bring more to the table
>> than someone
>> that has led a sheltered life.
>>
>> We all probably know that if the reverse were uttered by a white man,
>> widespread outrage would ensue. Imagine the outrage if a  southern
>> senator
>> stated "give me a good ol' white man that's been through the school
>> of hard
>> knocks over an ignorant Mexican any day."
>>
>> Why aren't "progressives" joining in to denounce Sotomayor's blatantly
>> racist statement? Instead,  such questioning is dismissed  as
>> fractious
>> rhetoric.
>>
>> If we as a society are to truly transcend this hypocritical cycle,
>> we all
>> must be honest and willing to denounce racism from all sources.
>>
>>
>> Steve
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Allen Warren" <osubuckeye59 at yahoo.com>
>> To: "Forest Grove local interests list" <grovenet at rdrop.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 12:37 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] From Politico . . .
>>
>>
>> It really is sad how our Congressional so-called "leaders" put
>> Supreme Court
>> nominees through the wringer. It's bad enough that nominees like
>> Sotomayor
>> have to first run a gauntlet just to reach the point where they can be
>> considered as a nominee, but then each nominee has to sit through
>> pompous,
>> scathing badgering which is mostly show with little substance. And
>> it's not
>> just Sotomayor I'm talking about. It's all of her predecessors in
>> at least
>> the last 30 years.
>>
>> Kudos to Sotomayor for not jumping up to run over and strangle some
>> of the
>> Repulicans. And kudos to her predecessors for not doing the same
>> with the
>> opposition party in past nomination hearings.
>>
>> I firmly believe in and support our government. But these nomination
>> hearings are simply a mechanism for the opposition party to drag on
>> the
>> pre-destined approval process to both badger the nominee and also
>> hope they
>> can somehow, magically find a "smoking gun" that simply isn't there.
>>
>> Allen Warren
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Bob Browning <rab at jurislex.com>
>> To: Grovenet <grovenet at rdrop.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 12:20:23 PM
>> Subject: [Grovenet] From Politico . . .
>>
>>
>> I just heard Sen Coburn using a Dezi Arnas phrase from the Lucy
>> Show. Yet
>> another reference to Sotomayor's latin heritage. These Republicans
>> never
>> stop. If you're wondering what they're doing they're playing to the
>> base.
>> Recall what Limbaugh (the figure head of the conservative movement)
>> remarked
>> early in this process: "Sotomayor is a racist" (paraphrased).
>> That's what
>> they're probing for. They are looking to affirm their
>> "reverse-discrimination" mantra. These guys are intent on making this
>> nomination about race apprently because the latina woman has had
>> her foot on
>> the throat of conservative white male elites for such a long time.
>> It really
>> is an insight into the sociopathology and dogmatic intellect of the
>> conservative mind.
>>
>>
>>
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