by Mark Silva
Now that Newt Gingrich has suggested that "racist'' was too strong a word to apply to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, radio's Rush Limbaugh is standing on a lonely perch.
But Limbaugh's still standing:
"I got a little grief from people for saying that there's no such thing as reverse racism -- just call her a racist,'' Limbaugh says of President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, who is poised to become the first Hispanic on the high court and has suggested that a Latina may have a better perspective on some issues than a white male.
"So, that is a racist thing to say, and it's bigoted,'' Limbaugh tells FOX News Channel's Sean Hannity. "And she would bring, no question about it, racism and bigotry to the court if she is confirmed."
In a two-part interview on FOX's Hannity, the first part airing at 9 pm EDT this evening, Hannity discusses not only his feelings about Sotomayor, but also why he believes Colin Powell supports Obama.
And once again, race is in play.
""I think two things were a factor in his endorsement of Obama, The first one is race, clearly,'' Limbaugh says of the former secretary of state in the second Bush White House and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in the first Bush White House. " Nobody has the guts to say that, but, I mean, what else could it be?... Race is clearly a factor.''
He sees something else behind Powell's support for Obama: "
Colin Powell, I think, is trying to.... re-ingratiate himself with the Washington/New York establishment,'' Limbaugh says. "I know Powell is humiliated over the fact he was sent to the United Nations to make the case for weapons of mass destruction and then none were found. And I think he's profoundly embarrassed about that.
"And his life since has been about rehabilitating himself and his image with the people who hated the Iraq War, who mock Bush on weapons of mass destruction,'' the radio man says on TV tonight. "This is about a legacy. This is about Powell trying to rehab himself with the people that matter most to him, the D.C. establishment. So, those are the two explanations. It's not about issues."
And, as a postcript to that alleged racism business with Sotomayor, Limbaugh also offers this about the president's nominee for the Supreme Court:
"I've been thinking about this, and there's something else going on with Sonia Sotomayor. We don't know what she thinks about Roe versus Wade. She hasn't said. Now, we know that she's Catholic. We know that she's Puerto Rican. Hispanic Catholics, they tend to be devout. She has no record. She hasn't said much about it.
"I'm speaking for me personally -- if I learned, if I can be assured that she is actually a pro-life person, and does think that Roe versus Wade is bad constitutional law, and if she would rule on the right side on the life issue, I might look past this racism and you can deal with that,'' Limbaugh says. "But that's something very, very important to me. And she could be stealth in that regard."









Comments
Rush is eating up all of the attention...it is adding to his girth by the minute...all the while driving to the bank in his suburban attack vehicle (SUV) with fists full of cash. And his "Dittoheads" keep making him richer while they are growing poorer.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | June 3, 2009 5:05 PM
Just how many kids do all his wives expect him to pay his dues for? Or is he an asterisk Republican?
As we all know he's some serious breeding stock in demand in the kiddy bordellos on those islands he flies to.
Guess he doesn't want to run out of stock.
Posted by: Bella | June 3, 2009 5:27 PM
So, let me get this straight. Limbaugh believes Sotomayor is a racist, and will make racist and bigoted decisions from the bench. However if she is pro life, he is willing to overlook her racism and support her. So a racist Supreme Court justice, and tacist and bigoted Surpeme court rulings are acceptable to Rush Limbaugh. What a fascinating insight into how that man thinks.
Posted by: Michael | June 3, 2009 5:34 PM
"President" Gingrich and Boss Limbaugh run the GOP. Gingrich is a hypocrite who is trying to have it both ways (racist and not racist).
As much as elected Republicans may try to hide their bigoted attacks on Sotomayor by letting others fling the mud (Gingrich, Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, Loe Dobbs etc), that distinction isn't going to be made by Latinos watching on the sidelines. They know who pulls the strings in the modern GOP, and the longer they drag this out, and the nastier they behave, the more they'll lose a demographic that is projected to be 30 percent of the American population in 2050.
Without young voters or Latinos, the GOP can't win. They've done a fantastic job of alienating the former with their opposition to equality, and they're about to finish off the latter courtesy of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings.
Considering that the Census Bureau expects the nation to be only 46 percent non-Hispanic, single-race white in 2050, the GOP's continued shoddy treatment of people who don't look like "President" Newt or Boss Limbaugh is only solidifying their journey toward fringe status.
Posted by: ComeAsYouAre | June 3, 2009 5:35 PM
Maybe I'm missing something here. If a white guy had said that white men make better judges than Latina women, we would all agree that this is a racist statement. How is it any less racist if a Latina says it about white men?
Posted by: Just some guy | June 3, 2009 5:41 PM
Rush and Sean are giving the Democrats a twofer on this program! First they'll bash Hispanics with their charge of racism on Sonia Sotomayor; then they'll bash Blacks with their charge that the main reason Colin Powell voted for Obama was because he's black. Thus the GOP can rest assured that neither Hispanics nor Blacks will be voting Republican anytime soon. It kind of gives Democrats an unfair advantage in future elections!
Posted by: Quippy | June 3, 2009 5:49 PM
Let's let the Republican Senators repudiate the CCC and Druggy Rush. I Double dare them. Newt's easy, he's a self serving clown who has no base. But the great fat slob and the CCC? I think not. Rush is still the presumptive head of the GOP until someone can slap him down by name. Coryn did not mention his name, nor were his attacks pointed.
I love watching the big dumb GOP elephant die in it's own dung heap. It's very entertaining and advantageous for the Dems. If I didn't so enjoy seeing the GOP reduced to a pathetic band of losers, I'd empathize for them. But seeing as how the GOP doesn't believe in empathy - I can't do that.
.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=487
Posted by: former Republican | June 3, 2009 6:09 PM
Lou Dobbs is calling someone else racist? That's rich.
Posted by: Wilson | June 3, 2009 6:20 PM
Maybe I'm missing something here. If a white guy had said that white men make better judges than Latina women, we would all agree that this is a racist statement. How is it any less racist if a Latina says it about white men?
Posted by: Just some guy | June 3, 2009 5:41 PM
************
Because you're purposely taking that comment out of context.
But PLEASE keep doing it, I love watching the GOP shrink.
Posted by: just some dude | June 3, 2009 6:25 PM
Colin Powell is obviously code speak for Rush Limbaugh.
Posted by: SnowPatrol | June 3, 2009 7:19 PM
In the space of one week the GOP has claimed the mantle of the "Woman-hating, Latino-smearing, Doctor-murdering" party.
Who can they possibly alienate next?
With President Obama going overseas perhaps they can stir up a new dose of Europe hating, then with the health care debate about to kick in, they can add a dash of "people who might one day get sick or injured", hating.
Oh, there's so much more hating for the GOP to do and so little time to do it.
2009 GOP:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26904941@N05/3484370784/sizes/o/
Posted by: BigCheese | June 3, 2009 8:26 PM
Clearly, when a black man backs a black man, race is a factor-- that is until that black man backs a Latina.
.
He's also mad because she beat him at his own game. Pre-empted that sucker right out of the water.
.
Hey, loser. This is how Pantsuit-In-the-Bag Hillary lost. You'd know it if you weren't so busy trying to put away the feminazi notes, dusting off the Rev. Wright notes in time for the Supreme Court nomination of an obviously black man by a black president.
Posted by: TheTruthWillSetYouFree | June 3, 2009 8:36 PM
Oops, Rush admits the WMD rationale was a lie?
Posted by: C.Morris☭ | June 3, 2009 9:52 PM
Let's see, even the White House said Sotomayer's words weren't good and that if she had to say it again, she would say it differently. The fact is, whatever the context is, her comment was a racist comment. If a white judge said that that man would have to kiss his Supreme Court nomination away.
Limbaugh's comments about Colin Powell is probably right on the cue. Powell supported Reagan and father and son Bush. Yet, he endorsed Obama. Powell says Republicans needs to nominate moderates. McCain was a moderate. But you cannot go from being a Reagan supporter to an Obama supporter. Obama's beliefs are nothing like Reagan's beliefs. So, as Limbaugh said, there has to be two reasons for Powell's support of Obama: color and Powell wanting to make nice with the New York-DC "in" crowd.
But then why am I trying to be rational with a group of people, Lefty Loons, who are the most irrational beings on the planet.
Posted by: John D | June 3, 2009 11:17 PM
Maybe I'm missing something here. If a white guy had said that white men make better judges than Latina women, we would all agree that this is a racist statement. How is it any less racist if a Latina says it about white men?
Posted by: Just some guy | June 3, 2009 5:41 PM
White guys say this stuff all the time. White guys are the victims here sayth Rush and Vanity.
Posted by: anotherwhinywingnut | June 4, 2009 6:46 AM
Wow, is Rush a racist. Noone plays the race card better. And all the "rabid-righties" just lick it up.
So, Sotomayor in essence said, that as a Hispanic, it gives her better perspective on Hispanic issues. That's Racist?!!!
And, now, Rush is also playing the "one issue voter" card.
So, Rush, if a candidate for president was "for universal health care, strict gun control, pro-gay marriage, etc......but, wanted to overturn Roe/Wade, you'd vote for that person?
Keep up the HATE, your only make the dems stronger.
Posted by: syj | June 4, 2009 8:17 AM
I'm sure Rush Limgbaugh supported John McCain only because he was white. Really there is no other reason why he would support a candidate who's views were so different from his own. McCain's views are nothing like Rush's views. It must be race.
Posted by: Joun Dumb | June 4, 2009 9:15 AM
Posted by: John D | June 3, 2009 11:17 PM
Maybe someday you'll actually have an intelligent thought of your own. Instead of just spitting out Rush's venom. But I doubt it.
Rush continues to want to turn the elcections into a contest of ideologies, based on fear and hate. Instead of what they should be, and what the founding fathers' had in mind. That is, the respectable disagreement of "political" ideas. Irregardless of religion, ideoligical or personal beliefs. In the '06 congressional and '08 presidential elections, the people of the United States chose the latter.
If Rush wants to keep spreading hate and fear, go right ahead. But the GOP better jump off Rush's ship soon. They continue to lose ground everyday.
Posted by: syj | June 4, 2009 9:22 AM
syj wrote:
"So, Sotomayor in essence said, that as a Hispanic, it gives her better perspective on Hispanic issues. That's Racist?!!!"
*******************************
I just read that Berkely speech again, and that is not what she said, in "essence" or otherwise. She did not limit her statement to "Hispanic" issues, and I have no idea where you got that. Also, in the same paragraph of the same speech she says she is not sure whether she agrees with a comment most recently attributed to Justice O'Connor that "a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases". I don't know how to interpret these comments other than by their plain meaning, and that is that she believes race and/or gender is somehow a factor in the ability of a judge, and that her particular race and gender are an asset.
Now I wouldn't go so far as to call her a racist, but these comments, which are similar to ones she made in 1994, at least raise an issue for further clarification from her. Even the White House has abandoned the futile attempt at the context argument (which is?) or to try to defend the statements. Rather, Obama says she didn't choose her words well (in 1994 too?), obvioulsy trying to distance her from the comments, as opposed to defending them.
My personal understanding of race/gender Constitutional (Equal Protection) and statutory (Title VII, etc.) protections is that the bedrock principle is that race/gender is an irrelevant factor when it comes to whether you are capable of doing a job, attending a school, voting, etc. I agree with that. But you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't say race is irrelevant when it is used against you, but is relevant when you perceive it as an asset. Your race/gender is either irrelevant or it's not. It is either a factor in your ability to be a judge, or it's not. Anybody with an ounce of intellectual honesty would admit that if Sam Alito would have said "I would hope that a wise white man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Hispanic female who hasn't lived that life", his nomination would have been toast. Notice I only changed around the race/gender portions of Sotomayor's comments. So the question is - why is it OK for her to say that, when it wouldn't be for a white man? This is a question I have often heard, but never seen intelligently answered. Probably because it is not defensible. Even the king of oratory skills, Obama, wouldn't touch this one.
Posted by: Herbie H. | June 4, 2009 4:21 PM
syj,
Give John D a a break. He needs it.
Here's some video of his last wilderness experience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxaTCz96y68
Posted by: C.Morris☭ | June 4, 2009 5:37 PM
Very funny stuff there, C Morris. But, no, never been attacked by an animal. In fact, animals love me. I'm like Dr. Doolittle to them. And they tell me that Lefty Loons are bad, bad people.
Posted by: John D | June 5, 2009 12:24 AM
John D, animals are talking to you????
And you call us loony??
Posted by: gus | June 5, 2009 11:03 AM
You forgot about Crazy Dick. Rush, Bill-o and Crazy Dick are the three amigos of GOP self destruction. Let them blather on. The GOP will go the way of the Bull-Moose party.
Posted by: gibster | June 5, 2009 1:07 PM