The attacks just keep on coming against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Conservatives have gone beyond questioning her record and qualifications – both of which are fair game. Many on the far right are questioning Judge Sotomayor’s intellect, labeling her as angry and as a bully and referring to her as an “affirmative-action” pick. Here is a radio exchange by a pair of old-school right wingers: Fred Barnes and Bill Bennett.
BARNES: I think you can make the case that she’s one of those who has benefited from affirmative action over the years tremendously.
BENNETT: Yeah, well, maybe so. Did she get into Princeton on affirmative action, one wonders.
BARNES: One wonders.
BENNETT: Summa Cum Laude, I don’t think you get on affirmative action. I don’t know what her major was, but Summa Cum Laude’s a pretty big deal.
BARNES: I guess it is, but you know, there’s some schools and maybe Princeton’s not one of them, where if you don’t get Summa Cum Laude then or some kind of Cum Laude, you then, you’re a D+ student.
Note to Fred Barnes: You know your opinion is extreme when you have a hard time convincing even someone like Bill Bennett, who is highly conservative.
Some on the right continue to use affirmative action as a weapon to attack and to marginalize the accomplishments of people of color, and probably always will.
Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/28/barnes-sotomayor-affirmative-action/
