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Sotomayor and Palin
John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri
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22 Responses to “Sotomayor and Palin”
haha!
economixt has visual work-up of the Sotomayor hearing from Thursday in wordle.
It's great if you're looking to get a sense of the testimony without having to read the entire transcript.
It's also not just a word cloud, there's a “second pass” that peals off the obvjious layer and does a deeper visualization.
http://www.economixt.com/2009/07/a-visualizatio…
Definitely worth a look -
-sean
Keying off of the headline of this piece – “Sotomayor and Palin” – let’s contemplate the disparity of treatment the two receive.
In Sotomayor’s testimony, she has made numerous grammatical errors that reveal she is less than comfortable with the English language, especially the big words. Here are a few examples with the help of Rush Limbaugh’s transcript:
SOTOMAYOR: “ This first seven who are gonna be hired, only because of the (pause) uh, vagrancies (sic) of the vacancies at that moment.”
She wanted to say “vagaries”.
SOTOMAYOR: “Under New York law, if you are being threatened with eminent (sic) death or very serious injury –“
Imminent is the word that works.
SOTOMAYOR:” — is educate themselves. They build up a story (sic) of knowledge about legal thinking.”
Store of knowledge, Sonia.
SOTOMAYOR: “ All questions of policy are within the providence (sic) of Congress first.”
Province, Ms. Sotomayor. En Ingles, por favor.
Argue, rationalize, excuse or justify these verbal gaffs any way you want. The point of my comment is that if Sarah Palin had made any combination of these mistakes in a speech or interview, the media would be playing them 24/7 as evidence she was too stupid to function in society.
How can liberals be a party to such gross hypocrisy?
jwest: How can liberals be a party to such gross hypocrisy?
Do conservatives remember GW Bush?
Anyway, my wife is Mexican American, and Spanish is her first language. She speaks English fluently, but tortures it up at times in a variety of ways. For that matter, she tortures up Spanish occasionally, too. But the ways she does it are usually predictable on the basis of how the two languages differ in syntax, pronunciation, idioms, etc. When she writes she does well, though.
And yes, I do realize many people criticized Bush for the way he spoke and thought he was a simpleton because of it. But when you point out Bush also outmaneuvered them time after time they tend to go silent. Likewise, Obama is often criticized for all the “er's” and “uh's” and “and's” he injects into his contemporaneous speech. The long and the short of it is that many people have problems with spoken language for a variety of reasons that don't include stupidity.
Ricorun & Dorian,
The gross hypocrisy is the difference between how the press and liberals treat these miscues as acceptable by Sotomayor, as opposed to the crucifixion that would ensue if Palin had said the same thing.
jwest, you are speculating. But in this case I'm inclined to agree with you. But as it is, fractured language in her contemporaneous comments is the least of her worries. She has to work on the content.
Sotomayor's acceptance and Palin's crucifixion when it comes to “miscues” in the English language:
Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born in the Bronx. Her father, Juan Sotomayor, had a third-grade education and did not speak English. Her mother, Celina Báez was from the neighborhood of Santa Rosa in Lajas, a rural area in Puerto Rico.
Sotomayor grew up among Puerto Ricans who settled in the South Bronx and East Bronx.
After her father died of heart problems, when Sotomayor was nine years old, Sotomayor started to become fluent in English—but apparently not fluent enough for some.
When did Palin become fluent in English? And how many other languages does she speak?
The claim that Sotomayor's judicial ascent was because of affirmative action is unqualified and racism. It goes along with the reverse racism accusation that have been levied against her. I blogged about those here:
http://bit.ly/uaid0
Duplicated from the other thread:
Sonia Maria Sotomayor was fortunate enough to be born in an era of affirmative action. As she grew up, every test, every school, every job, every promotion, every word spoken or printed about her would be tilted in her favor by ethnic quotas and liberal self-guilt.
Sarah Palin was unfortunate enough to be just another white girl from a middle class family. While people like Sotomayor were getting into Ivy League colleges with less-than-stellar scores, Palin was working her way through mundane schools. As the public sector competed for minorities to fill their self-imposed quotas, Palin was fighting the most well financed and entrenched political and corporate interests. As Sotomayor was appointed to ever higher office so that the politicians elevating her could take credit for their empathy to minorities, Palin was winning elective office on her own.
And yet, the media paints Sotomayor as a rags to riches, smart, scrappy Latina while deriding Palin at every turn.
There is no justice when liberal write history.
Dorian,
Thank you for not even attempting to argue the point of my comment – the difference in the treatment by the press of Sotomayor, a product of affirmative action, and Sarah Palin, a self-made woman of extraordinary achievement.
You did have a point about Sotomayor knowing two languages, but just as George Bush spoke both Spanish and English, I don’t think Obama is an idiot simply because he’s not bilingual.
Ted,
You can’t be serious.
If you’re trying to claim that Sotomayor’s ascent was not fueled by affirmative action, I believe you are about the only one taking that position – including Sotomayor herself.
And no, it’s not racist to point out facts and say the obvious. It is racist and condescending to try to praise the achievement of people while glossing over the help they received by virtue of their minority status.
Given the climate at the time, Sotomayor was almost certainly helped by affirmative action. Why would liberals complain about admitting that – the whole point was to advance minorities.
“George Bush spoke both Spanish and English”
Admittedly, como un borracho, though that drunken-like turbo-turista-political Spanish actually was smoother than his English.
I believe the _real_ story here was that he was bilingual in 2000, but after 9-11 reverted to English Only.
“Given the climate at the time, Sotomayor was almost certainly helped by affirmative action.”
Well, her ethnicity and affirmative action (and overreach under that name, which people rightly oppose, but are attacked viciously because of it) have always been a ready diversion from the main problem, liberal judicial activism for several decades, as well as a before-the-fact dishonest and slanderous political weapon with which libs and Dems were ready from the beginning to use against any opposition to any liberal choice for a justice, and to mischaracterize the Republicans. (Why, is another illustrative example of the nature of the lib activist crowd, because none of us who would be targeted are so stupid as to believ e such nonsense, while those who believe such nonsense believe it and are demonstrably stupid already.)
To diverge in the interest of quality control of this Web site momentarily to what's really important: While the GOP concern about judicial activism is fully sound, albeit subject to scumbag-attack, and the Dems' defense of it is degenerate though predictable, Sotomayor herself had made disturbing remarks but these can often be defused, and the main point is that she's no big-time judicial-activist threat, for this would have meant she had a record of activist rulings, and were this so, it would have already long been news. There is no such news, no such record (the conservative minority would promptly have reported it with alarm after her selection by Obama was announced, and actually before that, as she was long known to be among the leading candidates for selection, and the liberal media would already have long been at “work” defending her and demonizing any such reporting by conservatives), no big threat, so let's just get on with the vote and put this behind us. (GOP delaying simply to provide an example against the numerous stupid rushes by the Dems on issue after issue is actually counter-productive in this case.)
* * *
Q: “Given the climate at the time, Sotomayor was almost certainly helped by affirmative action. Why would liberals complain about admitting that – the whole point was to advance minorities.”
A: Neurosis or other pathology — and political gain by them (by demonizing the Republicans)
“the treatment by the press of Sotomayor, a product of affirmative action, and Sarah Palin”
Sotoyamor is a Supreme Court Justice nominee of lib Dem Obama and is holy. Sarah Palin is a Republican and a conservative, therefore a demon by definition, as well as a traitor to her sex, not merely an “inauthentic” (not liberal and Democratic enough) woman.
DLS: Sarah Palin is a Republican and a conservative, therefore a demon by definition, as well as a traitor to her sex, not merely an “inauthentic” (not liberal and Democratic enough) woman.
Are you attempting to summate the opinion of Democrats, or fellow Republicans? Or both? Additionally, as you yourself pointed out (as was pointed out by more than one Republican Senator), Sotomayor's opinions themselves were pretty “middle of the road”. The problem with Palin is… her opinions aren't. For that matter, most of them aren't very substantive — or particularly consistent. When trying to make apple-to-apple sorts of comparisons, aren't those things kind of important?
On the other hand I agree that Sotomayor was almost certainly helped by affirmative action. I would go further and say that “almost” is an understatement. By her own admonition she was helped. But at the same time I think it's important to put the “helped” part in perspective. For example, affirmative action has no bearing that I know of on achieving cum laude status. That's all about grades. Isn't it?
With regard to the larger question of whether affirmative action is — or ever was — a good idea… it seems to me that to the extent you acknowledge that racism exists, or ever did exist, your argument becomes much harder. It is especially hard to argue that racism never existed. That goes without saying, right? And it's not just against blacks. Think of the Chinese during the late 19th century. Think of the Japanese during WWII. Think of the Hispanics during the Great Depression (and into WWII). Those go without saying too, right? So really, the question is whether racism still exists.
My experience indicates that there's no question of that, although it is arguably more subtle than it used to be. I know people, small business owners, who to this day won't hire blacks. They think they are lazy and/or dishonest. Forget Muslims, too — or frequenting establishments they own. When my wife (who is Mexican American) and I go into a store it is not uncommon for us to separate (more to the point, she has a habit of just walking off, which was really frustrating until I learned to deal with it, lol!). And sometimes I'll locate her surrepetitiously and just watch as clerks watch her. Too often they won't help her, they'll just watch. Things only change when I join her. Then we're waited on in short order. Go figure. My business partner is Chinese. When we go through customs he almost always gets searched. I hardly ever do.
My livelihood depends on (or is at least enhanced by) my ability to read people, and I've gotten rather good at it. And I have to admit that it's quite possible that my business partner attracts attention for reasons other than his ethnicity. The guy is so high-strung he verily vibrates, lol! My wife, on the other hand, radiates honesty. Seriously. And on the rare occasions when she attempts to be deceptive or surrepetitious she radiates that, too. She's such an easy tell.
It really pisses me off when my wife is treated like that. Assuming one knows what to look for, it's so freakin' obvious that she is as honest as the day is long. But I also know that, generally speaking, store clerks, et. al. don't know what to look for. Consequently, they fall back on indications that are far less relevant. They react to those qualities that make it obvious at a glance that she's Hispanic — then apparently assume at least the possibility of something more sinister for no other reason than that. Now, I'm not saying that the flip side doesn't happen. I've been in those situations, too (i.e., those where the assumption is that I'm just a typical white guy). But the reality is that they don't happen very often, just on the basis of statistics.
Getting back to the larger question of whether affirmative action is — or ever was — a good idea… I've given a few anecdotal examples that indicate that racism still exists. The next question is, does affirmative action do more harm than good in the present tense? That, I would say, is a difficult question. My answer is… in some ways yes and in some ways no. More specifically, for those programs that primarily affect older individuals I'm in favor of keeping them in place, at least to a certain extent. For those programs that primarily affect younger individuals I'm more in favor of basing them on economic considerations more than ethnic/racial ones.
Thank you for bringing up affirmative action.
Someone said something about not even attempting to argue the point of his/her comment – the difference in the treatment by the press of Sotomayor, a product of affirmative action, and Sarah Palin, a self-made woman of extraordinary achievement.
Acctual;ly, I answered the same comment in another thhread as follows:
“The facts that you bring up, that a young Latina girl, daughter of poor immigrants, who couldn't even speak English, whose father had a third grade education, whose mother worked her rear end off to support her family, and who herself, through hard study, hard work, initiative, perseverance, true grit, has been able to rise up to possibly become a Supreme Court Justice in the United States of America, is the greatest tribute you could have given to affirmative action and to our nation.
Thank you again”
“George Bush spoke both Spanish and English”
What a joke. I have heard the man attempt to say a few words in Soanish, and he totally murdered them.
As a person who speaks Spanish, let me tell you that man does NOT speak Spanish.
What did someone say, “como un borracho”?, si, el hombre siempre parecia embriagado…
DE Rodriquez — Didn't GWB in fact mention in a speech at one point that “I don't speak Mexican” ? So, yeah, agreed, not a Spanish-speaker.
This is actually the most frustrating thread I've seen in a long time. jwest, you are friggin killing me. First, one alternate definition of the word “providence” is “prudent management”, so it works just fine within the context of the statement. “Province” would also have worked. Also, I really could care less whether or not our friend Rush transcribed the word “eminent” in the above quote, the word “imminent” is virtually indistinguishable from “eminent” in the spoken language (try saying them out loud fer goodness' sake!), so that one doesn't count either. So you've got two legitimate grammatical mistakes in 4 days of off-the-cuff (even if prepared-for) testimony. Yeah, that's way worse than when Gov Palin couldn't pronounce simple and common words in a speech she was reading off a screen
Look, I think the sexism that Sarah Palin experienced from the media and from people in general was abhorant, and one certainly cannot fault her drive and her ambition to do what she's done at a relatively young age. I agree with nothing she stands for, but I do admire many of her qualities. But let's not pretend that she was qualified to be VP, or that there were no legitimate reasons to criticise her, or that she can even hold a candle — even within the context of the spoken English language — to Sonia Sotomayor.
One could write a book (well not a book actually but ten or twelve pages (with a lot of BIG pictures)) about George W Bush's mastery of the English and Spanish languages.
I think the characterization of Palin as benefiting from affirmative action is appropriate. She was selected as VP candidate because of her gender and demographics, not because of skill or ability. While I think the treatment of her family has been abhorrent, she herself is a ninny and seems to desire to be continually exposed as such.
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My middle name is Mia-Noel a tow part name it is a Latino (Jewish Spanish-Portuguese) name, Mia=is of Italian or Spanish for “my” and Micah a form of Michael or Miguel meaning who is like the Devine. Noel=is of French or Portuguese for “song” and Noel is a variant of Noah is of Hebrew origin and its meaning is peaceful, also possibly “wanderer”, or “conforter”.So Mianoel means , my peaceful song is the Devine is with us who is like the comforter’s song of the Devine with us or my peaceful song. My first name is a Sephardic (Jews from South Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, and North Africa, such as Morocco and west Asia, such as Turkey) name. It comes from the HEBREW Avitov which means “the Divine father is strong and good “or “the strength of goodness is from the divine.” I have studied Asian religion and Philosophy in the year of 1999 I graduated from “The Richard Stockton State College of New Jersey” in Pomona new jersey with a Liberal Arts Bachelor and a minor in Jewish studies with a second minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. In 2004 I received a B.A. in Political Science plus a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. I believe that we all are born for the purpose of learning and using what we learn is to teach others.
“Learning is to live and to live is to learn”.
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I also received a scholarship from The Jewish War Veteran, and also received two Harmony Scholarship and three book awards. I worked as an interpreter for Selantic Health Services working as a volunteer for AmeriCorps*Vista in Atlantic City New Jersey serving the Puerto Rican , Mexican , Haitian and Cambodian Communities. I worked as a progect maniger for The Korean Centers for Community Development as a Americorps*Vista Volunteer in Philadelphia (PA )
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