Politico Lies in Headline: "Sonia Sotomayor Explains Her 'Wise Latina' Remark"

Down-page, Drew calls her response a "non sequitur," which it is. It fails to address the comment in any way.

For Politico, of course, this non sequitur is an "explanation" that ends the controversy.

Correction: My page header for this link says "Reuters," but it appears they plucked it from Politico. So they're both pushing the lie, but it's more fair to say it's Politco that's responsible for it.

I await Politico's clarification as to how, precisely, this "explains" or "clarifies" the remark. We now have a multiplicity of "explanations" -- Obama says she didn't mean what she said; she herself says she did; Paul Krugman says it was some kind of a joke, like "Knock knock. Who's there? A wise Latina who is physiologically superior to you in deciding court cases." -- and no one is "explaining" or "clarifying" anything.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor attempted to clarify her controversial remark Tuesday that a "wise Latina woman" could reach a "better" decision than a white male, telling Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy that "ultimately" and "completely" a judge should follow the law.

Leahy, who met privately with Sotomayor on Tuesday, said he usually doesn't discuss what was said in private meetings with Supreme Court nominees.

But given the attacks that have been launched because of her remarks, Sotomayor gave Leahy clearance to give her response to the public.

Sotomayor told Leahy that what she meant is that people have different backgrounds but "there is only one law," and "ultimately and completely" she would follow the law.

This is not an "explanation." It does not address the subject matter of the remark; it instead introduces a new and unrelated (and nicely uncontroversial and well-nigh meaningless) premise that "there is only one law" and that she would follow it.

Wow. Thanks for the reassurance, Sonia!

And as Drew just wrote:

The problem is she said Latina's can reach better decisions than white men, not whether or not there's "one law for one color or another".

Whether there is one law or twelve laws, Sonia Sotomayor remains on record as believing her "physiology" will allow her, more often than not, to come to a superior decision than a white male.

It's pretty amazing that Politico headlines this as an "explanation."

posted by Ace at 04:36 PM

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