Sunday, July 19, 2009

FREAK(S) OF THE WEEK: Republican members of U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

This past week, there was a whole Senate hearing-room full of freakiness as the Judiciary Committee grilled Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. As one pundit put it, these spoiled white guys were treating her as if she were the cleaning lady.

Firstly, when asking Sotomayor – who is currently a circuit court judge – about the so-called New Haven firefighters case, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama took issue with the nominee for not voting the same way as another circuit judge of Puerto Rican descent did.

Sessions said, “Had you voted with Judge [José] Cabranes, himself of Puerto Rican ancestry, had you voted with him, you could’ve changed that case.” What the heck does Cabranes’ ancestry – Puerto Rican or otherwise – have to do with his vote? No, Sen. Sessions, Puerto Ricans don’t all think alike.

Thankfully, not all Southern white guys think alike. Then again …

Not to be outdone, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma invoked a Latino stereotype during the hearing. In a bizarre exchange about Sotomayor hypothetically attacking Coburn, he said she would “have a lot of ’splainin’ to do!” That, of course, is a reference to the “I Love Lucy” character of Ricky Ricardo, a Cuban-American famously played by Desi Arnaz. Given the racial undercurrents of the hearing, why in the world would Coburn say this? Then again, in his mind, is there even a difference between Cubans and Puerto Ricans?

And then for some, Puerto Ricans are like any other “immigrants.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, in stating that he would be voting against Sotomayor’s confirmation, compared her to his wife – former Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao – because she, too, is an immigrant. As a way of excusing his no vote, he said, “I myself am married to an immigrant who came to this country not speaking a word of English and ended up on the president's Cabinet.”

Um, Mr. McConnell, I hate to break this to you, but, um, Sotomayor is not an immigrant! She’s from Puerto Rico – which has been part of the United States since 1898! I know, is it’s only been 111 years, so it’s easy to forget.

The freakiness, sadly, was not limited to the U.S. Senate. Rush Limbaugh made a direct reference to Sotomayor as cleaning lady: "I think I'm going to send Sotomayor, and her club, a bunch of vacuum cleaners to help them clean up after their meetings." What a classy guy that Rush is.

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