Republicans struggle with race and Sotomayor

May 31, 6:29 PMPortland Progressive ExaminerMichael Stone

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Rush Limbaugh

Republicans continue to struggle with issues of race and the nomination of Latino Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. Republicans are unable to make their case that Sotomayor is a racist without appearing like a group of white men calling a Latina woman a racist.

Sharp tongued conservatives, like radio host Rush Limbaugh and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have been repeatedly referring to Sotomayor as a racist. Not to be out done, one time presidential candidate, certifiable immigration nut and former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo also called Sotomayor a racist. More than this, Tancredo went so far as to call the respected and venerable Hispanic civil rights organization the National Council of La Raza, "a Latino KKK without the hoods and nooses." Tancredo's remark goes beyond hyperbole to the surreal and delusional. Indeed, there is something profoundly dishonest about labeling Sotomayor a racist.

"She (Sotomayor) brings a form of bigotry or racism to the court," Limbaugh said on his radio program last week. "The real question here that needs to be asked, and nobody on our side, from a columnist to a TV commentator to anybody in our party has the guts to ask: 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."

Limbaugh, Gingrich and Tancredo embarrass themselves and they embarrass the Republican party. Their personal, polarizing attacks continue to drive away the great vast middle of the country. Most anyone with a brain can see that the woman is no racist, and to compare her to the KKK or David Duke is simply silly and incredible.

The sharper critic will recognize the Republican foot in mouth routine as a distraction from the real racism that haunts our country: things like lousy schools in minority neighborhoods, racial inequities in health care, a racist criminal justice system, and a racist war on drugs. But maybe that's the point. The party of "no" seems unable to do anything but block, stall, and look lovingly back at a just and gentle past that exists only as a figment of their imagination.

What lesson might we take from the recent antics of Newt, Rush and Tom? The Republican party and the conservative movement is morally and intellectually bankrupt. They have lost their way. By accusing a latin woman of being a racist they damn themselves as racists. They drive Hispanics away from the Republican party. As such, the Republican party is left a shrinking minority of deluded, racist, southern white men.

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