Conservative Wanderer

“A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.” — Ronald Wilson Reagan

Daily Archives: 5 June 2009

Sotomayor Spin Unravels

Turns out that the comment about the “wise Latina woman” wasn’t just an isolated episode of mis-speaking…

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor delivered multiple speeches between 1994 and 2003 in which she suggested “a wise Latina woman” or “wise woman” judge might “reach a better conclusion” than a male judge.

Those speeches, released Thursday as part of Sotomayor’s responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questionnaire, (to see Sotomayor’s responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee click here and here) suggest her widely quoted 2001 speech in which she indicated a “wise Latina” judge might make a better decision was far from a single isolated instance.

This, of course, raises a very pertinent question… did those who were attempting to claim that Sotomayor simply not know about the multiple earlier references in her speeches, or did they know and deliberately attempt to mislead the public?

In other words, are they clueless or dishonest? Or both?

Bring It On

Democrats want to make Pelosi the face of their party in 2010:

GOP strategists have been signaling that they intend to make the San Francisco liberal an issue in the coming mid-term elections, particularly her claims that the CIA misled her during a 2002 briefing about harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.

But Bruce Braley , D-Iowa, said he believes that rather than lying low, Pelosi should travel to competitive districts to counter GOP attacks.

Pelosi can boost her party by reaching out to swing voters and emphasizing her role as a grandmother and making the most of her outgoing personality, Braley says.

“She has a great capacity to listen and to show empathy for what people are going through. … It’s much different for people to see those caricatures of her on television, and then to be standing next to someone who is real and who has an ability to connect with you,” Braley said of Pelosi, the daughter and sister of former Baltimore mayors and a product of that city’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Bring it on, Braley.

You want to give GOP candidates in states across the Union the chance to run against Pelosi, who’s told so many stories about the CIA briefings on waterboarding that she keeps getting tangled in her conflicting claims?

You want to link your candidates in those states to the Speaker who is stonewalling the PMA Group investigation in the House, to the point that the New York Times feels compelled to tell House Democrats to basically go around her?

I forget who, but a wise man once said, “when your opponent is making a mistake, don’t interrupt him.”

So you go right ahead and make Pelosi the face of the 2010 Democrats, Mr. Braley.