Musings of a “wise Latina woman”
From the party that believes that how you say is more important than what you say comes now the most recent icon of liberal thought and speech, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. As you read the following, keep in mind this quote from The Washington Post regarding Sotomayor:
“She has little patience for long-winded lawyers and bad grammar — ‘each time I see a split infinitive, an inconsistent tense structure or the unnecessary use of the passive voice, I blister.’ “
Now, consider the following statements from this stickler for grammatic perfection while in her Senate confirmation hearing:
“And it became clear to me after looking at that case that that process led to affirming the decision of the National Labor Relationships board…”
Correction: It is the National Labor Relations Board.
“But, under New York law, if you’re being threatened with eminent death or very serious injury…”
Correction: That would be ‘imminent death’. The two words are both spelled and pronounced differently.
“The question that would come up, and does come up before juries and judges, is how eminent is the threat?”
Correction: See above
“All questions of policy are within the providence of Congress first.”
Correction: Should be ‘within the province of Congress…’
“Judges — and I — I’m not using my words. I’m using Justice Ginsberg’s words. You build up your story of knowledge as a person, as a judge, as a human being with everything you read.”
Correction: Well, not quite. Judge Ginsberg would have correctly said ‘store of knowledge’.
And the following from the hearing regarding the firefighters:
This first seven who are gonna be hired, only because of the vagrancies of the vacancies at that moment…
Correction: Should be ‘vagaries of the…’
Not since Snuffy Smith has the English language been so thoroughly fractured.
And all from what Judge Sotomayor called, in her modest self-appraisal, “a wise Latina woman”. What, we wonder, might we then expect from a dumb Latina woman? Heaven forbid one of those ever comes along, but you can bet that, if she does, she will quickly be nominated as a Supreme Court justice, or, perhaps more likely, appointed Queen of the World.
One might reasonably believe that a Supreme Court justice — who must interpret the United States Constitution, which was written in proper English by well educated men — should have a powerful command of the English language, in both spoken and written forms, now mightn’t one? And it would only be unkind to suggest that Judge Sotomayor is a prime example of The Peter Principle at work, if it were patently false, which it is not. It may prove to be, but only time will tell.
Do you suppose, however, that she deserves the benefit of the doubt? Did Judge Bork deserve it? Judge Thomas?
Consider, though: What if any of the above misstatements had been uttered by Sarah Palin, or Dan Quayle, or George W. Bush, or any other Republican? It’s safe to say that we would now be experiencing a protracted nuclear winter from the multitude of journalistic atomic bombs that would most certainly have detonated in every liberal hotspot in the country.
But did you hear or read one single thing about Sotomayor’s numerous misstatements in any of the mainstream media? Just one? In the unlikely event that you did, what you probably heard or read was something like, “See – she’s actually human like the rest of us. Isn’t she just wonderful? (sigh)”
Or, was Sean Hannity correct when he proclaimed the death of journalism in America? What do you think?
Remember, you saw it at iPatrio.com first —
Q: How can you tell when President Obama’s teleprompter stops working?
A: His lips quit moving.
Q: How can you tell when Sarah Palin’s teleprompter stops working?
A: You can’t.
So, who da dummy? Hmmm?
Having said all of the above, I would be the first to admit that it seems picky and petty, but don’t blame me. I just channeled my inner liberal and pretended that I was writing about a conservative, and that’s what came out.
Judge Sotomayor is probably qualified to be a Supreme Court justice, and not because she is a “wise Latina woman”, but because she has the education, experience, and talent to do the job. Not my choice, but qualified. I would, however, prefer to see a little more humility, but, hey, that’s just me. And, in spite of what her own party thinks, a few boo boo’s in grammar do not disqualify her nor do they indicate that she is a dunce.
Just trying to apply the same standards to liberals that they apply to conservatives. Silly, isn’t it?
Jere Moore has been blogging about political matters since 2008. His posts include commentary about current news items, conservative opinion pieces, satirical articles, stories that illustrate conservative principles, and posts about history, rights, and economics.