Sotomayor's threatening to old white men--who knew?

The right has relentlessly continued its racist and sexist attack on Sotomayor. Surprise surprise. Their arguments and basis for these attacks is weak, at best, having almost no substance. She has been called "dumb" and and "affirmative action case" despite her obvious intelligence and accomplishments. Take a look at her resume. It's clear that these attackers are grasping at straws.

In a post called "The white man is being oppressed" over at Salon, the author points out the origin for most of the "reverse racist" fodder in a 2001 speech Sotomayor gave in which she said she

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.

This, taken out of the context of the speech, is what has the rightwing white men twisting themselves in a knot. They find this speech so threatening to their privileged whiteness that they call her the very thing they're guilty of. This is projection, folks.

The attacks Sotomayor is receiving is indicative of the society in which we live. Not only must she endure sexism (as a woman in a patriarchal society, she must be extra intelligent and hardworking to keep up with her male counterparts) as a Latina she must also face racism from white men who find her threatening to their privilege. It is so simple to write her off as an "affirmative action case"--surely she took away opportunity from an already privileged white man. Women who graduate from Princeton as summa cum laude are certainly stupid, right?

I love how the idiots like Beck and Limbaugh are so quick to lash out at a successful WOC in a move that clearly indicates their own insecurities and projections. Sadly though, there are those eating this shit up.