An opinion piece by guest author Skyagunsta

In a variation of the Elephant fears the Mouse story,
Pat Buchanan’s White Maleness fears Sonia Sotomayor’s Latin Femaleness

By SKYAGUNSTA

This morning, I listened to Pat Buchanan on National Television rant about how he thinks Sonia Sotomayor is the, “White Man’s” public enemy No 1. Hardly believing what I was listening to, I went back to look for a video clip of Pat’s Buchanan rant this morning and I could not find it, but I did find this clip of Buchanan carrying on during an, “Andrea Mitchell Reports” program last week in which he is basically making the same argument.

According to Buchanan, Sotomayor supports race preferences … “at the expense of the white male to advance people of color”. (discussed here) because her 2008 opinion to throw out the results of a firefighter promotion exam, in favor of the city of New Haven’s Program to uphold what the city wanted: a ruling in favor of Affirmative Action . (Minority Set Asides) , because almost no minorities qualified for promotions, is, in Buchanan’s words, an act of judicial bigotry committed by Sotomayor.

Pat rails and rails against Sotomayor for siding with the city and its Affirmative Action Program: The female Judge, a Hispanic, a Minority herself, siding against the white firefighter.

Pat’s railings against Sotomayor really caused me to stop and think. Did he ever listen to any minority? Did he hear any minority make the case, again and again, and again, that doors in housing, employment, schools, church locations were barred to them just because they are a minority?

Why, Pat Buchanan, are you making it sound as if the Judge stands’ for Affirmative Action Rulings, which you call bigoted rulings are … bigoted? Why are you standing for White Supremacy? Why does it sound so in my ears?

You are calling your stance, a stance in favor of equality? What equality is there in a land where the White Man has reigned supreme for years, and years and years while minorities of every color have been held down, passed over, discounted, made to walk on a different tier?

You want Sotomayor to be honest and say what she thinks, what she really thinks but then, are you really being honest about why you are railing so against her?

Pat Buchanan devalues Sotomayor’s pick for consideration for a place at the bench of the SCOTUS, because, he says, she was picked for it because of affirmative action; because she is a woman, and because she is a Hispanic, and because, he says, Obama believes in Affirmative Action she was elected to be Obama’s nominee; thus, denying in one fell swoop, whatever accomplishments or achievements Sotomayor may have garnered throughout her career as a Judge, or that she was picked precisely because of whatever accomplishments, achievements, discernments, good opinions, Sotomayor accumulated on her C.V.

He goes on to take her down, distorting her words, by saying, “what is it about a Latino Woman that can make a better decision than a white male,” even when, as Bob Shrum points out that, what Sonia Sotomayor said, was:

” I would hope, given my background, that more often than not, I would make a better decision” .

As John Lorenz points out, Sotomayor was refuting an argument made by Sandra Day O’Connor that wise men and women will rule the same way:

  • in context she was answering back and refuting a comment that had been made by Sandra Day O’Connor that ‘wise men and women judges will rule the same way” on court cases. Sotomayor is arguing in the context of this quote that NO, a person’s background and experience often ARE a factor in the conclusions they come to. And when a person of minority background rules on a gender and discrimination case, if it is a woman in this case, she will be influenced differently from white judges by her minority background experience when deciding this kind of cases.  All she was doing was refuting Sandra Day O’Connor’s statement to the effect that judges all rule according to the same instincts no matter what their gender or background.
  • Lorenz, further highlights the point being made by Sotomayor 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”

Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, and many others seeding fear, hatred and antagonism against Sonia Sotomayor in the hopes of taking down her nomination for a spot on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States might as well just be screaming at the top of their lungs .

elephant_mouseA MOUSE, A MOUSE  -  all the time wishing that their antagonistic antics against Sotomayor will cause a stampede against her nomination which will give them, the White Man as they see the White Man, their corporate state, their supremacy, a continued hold on this country, sending, meanwhile, a real chance for equality rolling down a hill to the valley of  Minorities need not apply.

It is my hope that America can see through Buchanan’s and the others’ ploy and give America a chance for the equality which could come from the wise rulings of someone who has met inequality face to face.

Skyagunsta is a fictional name. The real person behind the fictional name is a computer activist. She is a retired mental health clinician. A poet and a freelance writer. Her work has been published on several online publications.