Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sonia Sotomayor: The Unwise Latina

Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor: An American Love Affair . . .




Sonia Sotomayor graduated "summa cum laude" (highest honors) with a degree in political science from Princeton University. Apparently, poli sci at Princeton, as at many big-time universities, is an easy major, one that doesn't demand a great command of the English language.

On Sunday and Monday, I'll be writing more about Sonia Sotomayor's intellectual limitations, which are many.

The other day I was taking notes during the first two days of the Sotomayor hearings. Her comments were legalistic and jargon-ridden to the point of being incomprehensible. When Senator Coburn asked her if we Americans "have a right to self-defense in our own homes," she gave an incoherent answer.

Even worse, she regularly misused common English words. In answering (sort of) Coburn's question she use the word "eminent" (standing out above others) several times when she meant "imminent." (about-to-happen). If she's ever ruled on the concept of "eminent domain," goodness knows what the decision sounded like.

Also, when she was talking about an individual's "store of knowledge" (itself a redundant phrase) she called it "story of knowledge." It was an absurd blunder. I doubt she won any spellingbees at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx.

(Marine Delano of New York State pointed out to me that Sotomayor badly mispronounced the Latin phrase "sui generis," meaning originally "of its own kind" and now generally meaning individual or unique. Sotomayor pronounced it "soo jen-riss," whereas the correct form is "soo-eye gen-er-iss.")

The Democrats
on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been slobbering (and shedding tears) over Ms. Sotomayor and her supposed "brilliance." Sotomayor once described herself as the "poster girl for Affirmative Action." In her case, truer words were never spoken.

She's not a "wise Latina." She's an unwise one. She wouldn't even be a good candidate for the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.

Oh yes, she's a certain to get confirmed. Her confirmation is imminent, although there's nothing eminent about her.

America now is the country where every girl, even stupid ones, can grow up to be a Supreme Court Justice.

1 comment:

chicagobluesgirl said...

Frightening what limited ability she has...but it seems that many of the liberal "elites" are missing a few nuts and bolts from the toolbox. I love the title AND your posts, Steve, you are a gifted writer.