Wanda Sykes Is Funny

Does that joke make her a racist?

Must Reads

Matt Yglesias: Not A Parody

BooMan: They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship: Everyone Should See 'Torturing Democracy'

The Rude Pundit: Sotomayor Drives the GOP Into the Desert

Rachel Maddow: Swing and a Miss

Richard Thompson Ford: Bad Test - Sonia Sotomayor rejected the New Haven firefighters' claim because it threatened to burn down civil rights law.

Charles M. Blow: Rogues, Robes and Racists

President Obama's Weekly Address - May 30, 2009

The Experience of Judge Sotomayor

Music Break! Benny Goodman

This month would have marked Benny Goodman's 100th birthday. I spent last night with my wife at Jazz at Lincoln Center and swung with the Benny Goodman Centennial Jazz Jam.

Enjoy.

Ummmmm...

posted by Armadillo Joe

...this is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever watched and, no, these guys didn't mean it as a joke:

Douche Quote of the Day, Part 4

posted by Armadillo Joe

"I think she'd say that her word choice in 2001 was poor"
- Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary

(sigh)

Why concede any ground at all when the wingnuts were well and truly about to implode into a fine red mist of degenerate racism and reprobate misogyny?

Why?

Washington D.C. is hard-wired for Republican Rule. As Atrios pointed out today, no matter how bad things may be for Republicans at any given moment (and they look pretty bad right now), the GOP will always enjoy a home field advantage in Washington. That's why we bloggers invented the term "Villagers" to describe all those Kewl Kidz who golf-clap their approval whenever some politician displays strength by punching a dirty fucking hippie in the face. Their incomes and class and economic upbringing and social status all make them part of a non-partisan ruling elite who nevertheless distrust an "Other" which usually resides in the Democratic Party. This reflexive distrust of the less monied, the less plugged-in, the less connected, the less powerful, the less glamorous -- frankly, hatred for the riff-raff -- gives them a natural affinity for the policies, procedures, arguments and methods of the Rethugli-goons, whose raison d'tre is to advocate for The Villagers -- not as "Villagers" per se, but simply as the rich, entitled, powerful people who expect special treatment that they are.

I mean, hell, Cheney's speech last week was presented by our MSM opposite Obama's like anything a potentially-indicted private citizen has to say about anything even remotely merits 1/10th the attention as an important speech by the sitting president. And Cheney reinforced that whole misguided notion by growling his way through a pro-torture "answer" to Obama national security speech, strutting and preening like the titular head of a government in exile, which to much of The Village he is.

So, now, the official stance of the White House is that some of the things Sotomayor said casually in a public forum almost ten years ago are out-of-bounds and, like that poorly-trained friend's dog we all know who will take the slightest breath of a hint of attention from a house-guest to jump and slobber and bark, a perpetually-in-search-of-conflict media pounces on the hairline fracture to split it wide-open. Shuster and Fineman nattered away on Hardball today like two old biddies in a sewing circle about the young hussy who just moved in down the street.

As digby said about it today:

Republicans were acting like crazed freaks, alienating Hispanics by the thousands and making women hate them even more, and the whole country was aghast. Why they gave them validation on this, I don't really understand.

[...]

this controversy will make it necessary for Sotomayor to bow and scrape before Jeff Sessions and Orrin Hatch. The wingnuts have been hoping for a chance for some payback for Thomas and maybe they'll get a pound of female flesh this time.

Two steps forward, three steps back.

Douche Quote of the Day, Part 3

"We have made progress in civil rights, but now with this? How do you get promoted in a Barack Obama administration? By hating white people, or even saying you do, or that their not good, or whatever. Make white people the new oppressed minority and they are going right along with it, because their shutting up. They’re moving to the back of the bus. They’re saying I can’t use that drinking fountain, okay. I can’t use that restroom, okay. That’s the modern day Republican Party, the equivalent of the Old South, the new oppressed minority.”

- Rush Limbaugh, May 29, 2009

His very next line was, "Whatever happened to the content of one's character as the basis of judging people?" I don't know, Rush. Why don't you ask the white hating Obama administration? This quote, by the way, was just about a minute before the David Duke comparison.

Un. Hinged.

Douche Quote of the Day, Part 2

Posted by Fraulein

Watergate crook and all-around psycho G. Gordon Liddy, on his radio show yesterday, discussing Sotomayor:

Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate. That would really be bad. Lord knows what we would get then.

Shouldn't this termite be off rotting in jail somewhere instead of poisoning the airwaves with this garbage?

Douche Quote of the Day

How can a president nominate such a candidate? And how can a party get behind such a candidate? That's what would be asked if somebody were foolish enough to nominate David Duke or pick somebody even less offensive.

- Rush Limbaugh on Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Less offensive than David Duke? Wouldn't that be practically anyone except...well, Rush Limbaugh?

Judge Sotomayor's "Racist" Comments

Does context mean anything? FUCK, YES! The GOP bandwagon to attack Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor has boiled down to one sentence made in a speech in her 2001 address at the 'Raising the Bar' symposium at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

The quote: "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."

Not only have the right wing operatives taken that quote out of the context in which it was used, they've even parsed it further, usually omitting the ending, "who hasn't lived that life." Pat Buchanan even goes ahead and argues the plight of the white man.

Pat Buchanan: "...she thinks "Latina women," because of their life experience, make better judicial decisions than white men, that discrimination against white men to advance people of color is what America is all about..."

Oh, the white male has had it hard in these United States, haven't they? The affirmative action claim Buchanan makes is based on his interpretation (or lack of) of Sotomayor's ruling in the New Haven firefighter case which, I'm sure if you asked him, he would categorize as being an "activist" ruling not realizing that the basis for the three judge panel's decision was due to past precedent as well as upholding the District Court's decision.

But no matter. She said "white male" in a speech eight years ago and the white males are crying "RACISM!" while their scrotums shrivel up. After all, she's a "brown woman" according to Tom Tancredo. Lordy, we can't have that on the bench.

Keith Olbermann does a great job here in not only putting the quote into context, but debunking the "racist" poo flinging from the actual racist monkeys on the right, while at the same time employing a scorched earth policy taking on Karl Rove, Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, CNN and Tom Tancredo.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

In that CNN segment, Tancredo also likened the National Council of La Raza to the "KKK without the hoods and the nooses." What the fuck?

From their website:

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) – the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States – works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations (CBOs), NCLR reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. To achieve its mission, NCLR conducts applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy, providing a Latino perspective in five key areas – assets/investments, civil rights/immigration, education, employment and economic status, and health. In addition, it provides capacity-building assistance to its Affiliates who work at the state and local level to advance opportunities for individuals and families.

Founded in 1968, NCLR is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization headquartered in Washington, DC. NCLR serves all Hispanic subgroups in all regions of the country and has operations in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Yeah... sure sounds like a lynch mob to me. Does the KKK have a lobbying firm in Washington, DC? Perhaps the National Rifle Association? I kid, but you get the point. What an insufferable, racist douche, that Tom Tancredo. And you can quote me.

But It's Not About Racism

Dennis Miller hasn't been funny since the mid '90s.

Starting the Day Off with a Laugh

(H/T Osborne Ink)

Stupidest Tweet Ever

Yep, that's Newt Gingrich slapping a "racist" label on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor within 24 hours of visiting the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. It must have made a really big impression on him that he would take the time to spew out the latest GOP talking point.

To quote Newt's tweet, "Everyone should see it and think of the evil which stalks the world today." And I might add, the evil that stalks the talking head shows as well.

(H/T Kos)

A Bullet In The Brain for the Empathy Argument

This is a death blow against the conservative argument that President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court can't be empathetic while respecting the rule of law simultaneously. Anyone who says differently is full of shit.

Daily Kos: ...a moment from Samuel Alito’s confirmation hearings that will either silence Sonia Sotomayor’s conservative critics or expose their hypocrisy for what it is.

In an exchange with Sen. Tom Coburn, who had asked Alito to discuss how his personal experiences shows that "he cared for the little guy," Alito said that his family’s experience as immigrants influenced his outlook on immigration cases.

The Sotomayor Attack: Lacks Intelligence?!

You gotta hand it to the Party of No Clue. The same party that brought you Joe the Plumber, Joe Barton, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Rick Santorum, Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Miers, Sarah Palin and yes, George W. Bush, is attacking President Obama's nomination for Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor because according to them, she's an "intellectual lightweight."

Let's look at her lack of pedigree:

Coming from a housing project in the Bronx, Sotomayor ended up graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton. She also was a co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. Sotomayor then went to Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order.

No journalism major to speak of. No, she didn't attend five schools in six years to achieve her Bachelor's degree. I guess they just hand out summa cum laudes to every Hispanic that walks through their doors (you know, that affirmative action thing). But hey, if the GOP says she's not smart enough, then I suppose we should listen.

Orrin Hatch: 1991 Sotomayor Appointment Was A Moynihan Pick

A "one for one" deal? She was "picked by Senator Moynihan"? I call bullshit. I'm sure that Moynihan made a suggestion, but you can't have it both ways to strengthen your current position. The final decision is the President's and to rewrite history to suggest that George H.W. Bush had no say in his final decision to choose Sotomayor as his nominee in 1991 is too far-fetched to believe. How stupid does he think the public is to believe that Bush 41 could care less who was chosen as long as the ranking Senators on both sides made the decisions? If that's the case, then G.H.W. Bush committed a serious dereliction of his duties as President.

_____________________________________________________________
(*Note - the original title of this post noted the year 1998, when Sotomayor was nominated by Bill Clinton for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. George H.W. Bush nominated her for the US District Court of New York's Southern District.)

Sotomayor - UPDATED

NY Times: President Obama has decided to nominate the federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in Bronx public housing projects to become the nation’s first Hispanic justice, officials said Tuesday.

And wingnuts go apeshit in 5... 4... 3...

UPDATE (2:45pm): Boom! goes the wingnuts' heads!

Charles Krauthammer is already snarling on Fox News, warning viewers of the possible danger that -- as he put it -- Sotomayor's "concern for certain ethnicities override justice." He said that although her confirmation is certain, conservatives should oppose her nomination on principle and highlight that the type of justice Sotomayor allegedly represents -- justice that is unfair to white people in favor of "certain ethnicities" -- is deeply pernicious.

Glenn Beck: "Hey, Hispanic chick lady! You're empathetic ... you're in!"

Happy Memorial Day

Remember.

What A Game!

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the tickets I was given to last night's Mets/Red Sox game in Fenway Park were (wait for it) in the luxury suites! And being in enemy territory, but in the "General's quarters" if you will, we treated each other with mutual respect which made for a good time for an exciting game.

A great pticher's duel between Josh Beckett and Mike Pelfrey along with some amazing defense found the Mets down 2-1 in the 9th inning with one man on and two and Mets catcher Omir Santos at the plate. With out left to win the game, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon grooved a pitch to Santos that he crushed over the green monster in left-centerfield for a 2 run homer that had to be reviewed on video to confirm it indeed went over the designated line at the top of the wall.

The Red Sox made one last effort in the bottom of the 9th but some stellar defensive plays by David Wright, Lius Castillo and a diving stop in the hole by shortstop fill-in Ramon Martinez stopped the threat.

One of the best games I've seen in a while not just because the Mets won, but because of the excellent defense. It's always fun as a baseball fan to watch well played ball on both sides.