Rush Limbaugh Calls Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama 'Racists'

Speaking about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh reiterated his tired "hope for failure" routine, plus he lashed out at the President and his nominee, dubbing them "racists," or "reverse racists." From Media Matters:

So here you have a racist. You might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist. And the libs, of course, say that minorities cannot be racists because they don't have the power to implement their racism. Well, those days are gone, because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power. Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he's appointed one.

Limbaugh seems to be referencing a 2001 speech given by Sotomayor, in which she said the following:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life,"

The quote comes from a speech on diversity, and within the context of an examination of the value of diversity. While an application of the standard test of whether the quote would sound racist coming from a white male might seem persuasive, it shrivels up if you place that test in a world where 100% of Supreme Court Justices are Latina women.

As for President Obama, I'm not sure what basis Rush uses for calling him a racist, reverse or otherwise. Rush is the one who thinks people only want the President to succeed because he's black. Come to think of it, he also calls Sotomayor an "affirmative action case extraordinaire." What's that called, when you ignore someone's qualifications in favor of their racial identity?

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