Early Smears On Sotomayor: ‘Dumb,’ ‘Bully,’ ‘Doesn’t Play Well With Others,’ ‘Obnoxious’
Early Smears On Sotomayor: ‘Dumb,’ ‘Bully,’ ‘Doesn’t Play Well With Others,’ ‘Obnoxious’
One of the candidates rumored to be President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee is Sonia Sotomayor, currently a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Sotomayor, however, has come under attack this week, with many commentators claiming she is lazy and unqualified to serve on the highest court.
The origin seems to be with GW Law professor Jeffrey Rosen’s New Republic article this week. Quoting several anonymous sources, Rosen argued, “The most consistent concern [from former clerks] was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was ‘not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench.’” Soon afterwards, the meme went viral:
Mark Hemingway: “Judge Sotomayor may indeed be dumb and obnoxious; but she’s also female and Hispanic, and those are the things that count nowadays.”
“Conservative politico” likely working on the nomination: “Substantial questions also persist regarding Judge Sotomayor’s temperament and disposition to be a Supreme Court justice. Lawyers who have appeared before her have described her as a ‘bully’ who ‘does not have a very good temperament’ and who ‘abuses lawyers’ with “inappropriate outbursts.’”
Marc Ambinder: “And the respectable intellectual center — see Jeffrey Rosen’s case against her temperament and inherent intellectual abilities — is beginning to have doubts.”
Jake Tapper: “Many others in the mainstream media take what Rosen has to say quite seriously.”
On Tuesday, Fox News’s Andrew Napolitano claimed on his radio show that Sotomayor “has a reputation for not being a very hard worker.” Listen to it:
The meme has now reached the mainstream media. In a news article yesterday, the Washington Post quotes “some lawyers who have practiced before her” complaining of “a domineering presence on the bench.” A “lawyer who has been consulted on the Obama selection process…said Sotomayor may have to overcome a perception that she ‘doesn’t play well with others.’” Today, the Post publishes a more laudatory article about Sotomayor — with no anonymous quotes.
Others in the mainstream media — like Mark Halperin and Richard Cohen — have indirectly claimed that Sotomayor and other candidates are only being considered because of their minority heritage.
The White House has not confirmed that Sotomayor is a leading candidate for the position, or even a candidate at all. Yet, the conventional wisdom — as dictated by the media and the “respectable intellectual center” — already is baselessly defining her.
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I doubt it. If that were true George W. Bush would have nominated her.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:02 amIf she’s a lesbian she’s PERFECT.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:04 amGee, they’re making her sound like Harriet Myers.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:07 amIt is my understanding that she was a Bush appointee. Is that true? If so, are we unable to find competent Democratic appointees to fill this position?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:11 amI have no doubt President Obama will choose a very smart, qualified candidate.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:13 amAll other considerations are secondary. Except of course to the reichwing, who consider fat white slobs who can hide their subcutaneous layers under black robes the only qualified candidates.
Are schoolyard taunts really all the right has to offer in the way of “criticism”?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:13 amThe GNOP has no leadership and no ideas. Rather than spend any time or energy on trying to rebuild any sort of party, they’ve decided to go all in on smearing a yet to be named SCOTUS nominee.
Sounds just about right.
PEACE
May 7th, 2009 at 11:14 amWell, Judge, if her clerks work so hard, I suggest we put one of her clerks on the Supreme Court.
Really, Judge, give us some hard evidence rather than hearsay. In fact, how about looking at the bulk of judges in general? Don’t clerks do a ton of work for them already?
My guess is that any nominee, liberal or conservative, has a percentage of the work done by clerks. How about a little insight into how much instead of just speculating?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:15 amSpoken like a true dogmatic, racist, intolerant, misogynist, homophobic, bigot. You must be so proud.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:17 amWhat a Dummeh!
/snark
So what do the wingnuts not like about this? Yale, Princeton? Morgenthau?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:18 amfletc3her Says: Are schoolyard taunts really all the right has to offer in the way of “criticism”?
Yep. As long as we Liberals continue to stand up to the Right, they’re over… They have nothing but third-grade taunts, fear-monering and lies. Who in their right mind wants that?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:19 amIf this is true then it sounds like her and Scalia would get along great. Bully to bully that is.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:19 am.. and once, in second grade, she took my money and instead of buying me a coke, she bought me a diet coke!
May 7th, 2009 at 11:19 am…Because, as well all know, Mexicans are lazy.
Right? :(
May 7th, 2009 at 11:20 amOk wait – weren’t these same conservatives criticizing Obama just last week for wanting a SCOTUS pick with “empathy” who identified with people’s hopes and struggles? Now they’re mad because the potential pick is someone strong-willed?
Make up your minds, people!
May 7th, 2009 at 11:21 amQuick GOP – there is a Kindergartener in North Dakota who may grow up to run as a democrat.
Better start assasinating their character IMMEDIATELY!
May 7th, 2009 at 11:22 amConservativeForProgress Says:
This will not do. She has to be black, hispanic, woman, Muslim, lesbian and handicapped. Other qualifications are secondary at best.
***
she hasn’t been nominated.
but hey, don’t let that stop you
from getting your bigotry on.
***
where’s your rope and
pointy white hat?
:\
May 7th, 2009 at 11:22 amCan I get a Borgen/Privacy Center steel cage death match going?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:23 amI am sick and tired of media outlets acting like tabloids, making judgements about people they do not know, trying to persuade people to their view.
Get over yourselves talking heads, I dont want or need your ad hominem spewage.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:24 amWho cares if she even gets offered a seat on the Supreme Court? As far as people like GOP Spokesman ConservativeForProgress are concerned, her gender and race make her unqualified for any job other than housekeeper.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:24 amI thought Yale was from whence came the best and brightest?
According to the tabloid talking crowing craniums dumb, lazy, bullying, obstinate people go there…who knew?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:27 amI think they are being really beastly to Judge Sotomayor. For heaven sake, Obama has nominated exactly no one, as of today! There is no need to rake this woman over the coals.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:29 amSo she is lazy, and doesn’t have the temperament, and she’s not smart enough, etc. Sounds like they don’t like women too well. There is one female justice on the court. Women make up over 50% of the population of our country. Let’s have some equal representation here. The United States has some fine, qualified, and skilled women who can serve well on the Court.
And why should I listen to right wing pundits they wanted some B school MBA for president who managed to create only three million jobs and bailout banksters in an eight year period.
The first MBA president they proudly proclaimed…
May 7th, 2009 at 11:31 amThe only way the GOP will NOT smear a SCOTUS nominee at this time would be if President Obama told Rush Limbaugh to pick the nominee. The President, therefore, should go BIG – a very talented, moderately young, and very progressive person (female and/or minority optional, yet a plus). If there is going to be a fight, then let’s have it. The worst that would happen is non-confirmation of this person and having to put up another, perhaps somewhat less progressive individual in round two. There is no way the GOP could refuse a second person’s confirmation and not have the “oppositional party” label stick even more dramatically.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:31 amAh yes — the rightwingers are ramping up their “people say that…” machine. History shows that to be an effective way to discredit somebody without providing anything of substance to back it up.
I don’t know much about Sotomayor — in fact I had never heard of her until recently. But I do have faith that President Obama won’t appoint a bullying idiot to the court, regardless of gender or ancestry, as that segment of the population is already represented.
I also refuse to become one of the “people say that…” people until I hear some concrete information.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:33 amThis is because the MSM is LAZY.
They do not wish to actually understand the subject or research it. They do not want to be late to the game.
It is much easier to just repeat talking points from the a political operative or conservative blogger.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:34 amI might be more inclined to believe what Sotomayor’s critics said if they provided facts to back up their claims. As it is, vague, generalized, character assassination doesn’t really rise to the challenge.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:39 am“Secularism is on the rise…”, Pat Buchanan. And it is all President Obama’s fault for not having a prayer breakfast, or something like that.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:39 am“He’s driving Christianity out of the public square…”, Pat B. Obama, that bastard. /sarc
Sorry OT.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:40 amBwahahahahahaha. Have the conservatives turned on the Bushies??
May 7th, 2009 at 11:42 amWhy they werent up in arms calling Sotomayor dumb or lazy back when Bush Sr. nominate her.
As usual the wangers are too busy whining, wailing, flailing and shrieking to actually read things for themselves.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:44 amObviously she’s lazy, she’s female and Hispanic and she’s not cleaning toilets at the Holiday Inn. /sarc
May 7th, 2009 at 11:45 amAnd in those days most of us would have been Republicans. How far you people have fallen.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:47 amAm I wrong or could you substitute in the name Antonin Scalia for Sotomayor in these smears and have more validity and truth to them?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:49 amAnd they wonder why President Obama is having such a hard time filling the positions he appoints. Who in their right mind would want to go through the Republican smear machine? It is truly despicable what the Republicans are doing in their anger and despair.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:50 amamish_edison Says:
Am I wrong or could you substitute in the name Antonin Scalia for Sotomayor in these smears and have more validity and truth to them?
Or Clarence Thomas.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:51 amNot like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
-Statue of Liberty Sonnet ‘The New Colususs’
May 7th, 2009 at 11:51 amOk, what’s with this “you are posting comments to quickly…slow down”. I am a fast typist and I think quickly. If TP is going to limit me to one post every 5 minutes I’m out of here.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:53 amConservativeForProgress Says:
After The Civil Rights Act was passed Democrat President Lyndon Johnson praised Republicans for their overwhelming support.
It is “Democratic President” not “Democrat President”. But I’m sure you know that.
The Democratic party today is a much different party than it was back then just as the Republican party is much different, and you know it. All the Democrats in the south became Republicans during the civil rights era and changed both parties forever. I say good riddance to them, you are welcome to their bigoted souls.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:55 amget a load of that lady’s 2003 photo on wikipedia. she comes across as the type willing to rule for criminal illegals even before the case gets to the court! o’connor rocked; don’t implant this short fuse in the supreme court!
May 7th, 2009 at 11:55 amGiven all the outrageous comments and attacks of the last 100 days, Media Matters had a hard time choosing the worst media moment and asked our readers to decide. The winner was Rush Limbaugh’s comment, “We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles … because his father was black.” -Rush Limbaugh
Things change CFP…
May 7th, 2009 at 11:57 amget a load of that lady’s 2003 photo on wikipedia. she comes across as the type willing to rule for criminal illegals even before the case gets to the court! -=NP=-
Do you buy books by judging the covers?
May 7th, 2009 at 11:58 amyou gotta have the people skills like alito and roberts to serve – this lady’s gotta chip on her shoulder!
May 7th, 2009 at 12:00 pmI wouldnt say that authoritarians [federalists] have good people skills..
May 7th, 2009 at 12:02 pmAh yes, our conservative friend feels the need to live in the past in order to convince himself that his party is not the party of racists these days.
The sad thing is, he doesn’t realize that the Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights movement were conservative Democrats from the South. The Republicans who supported it were largely liberal Republicans like John Lindsay and Nelson Rockefeller, chiefly from the Northeast. Sadly, that is a species that has gone extinct.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pmneoparody Says:
you gotta have the people skills like alito and roberts to serve – this lady’s gotta chip on her shoulder!
And you know this how? Because the right wing smear machine told you? You truly are an i d i o t and your soul is as black as night. There’s a special place in hell waiting for you parody and I hope you make it there soon.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:03 pmConservativeForProgress Says
May 7th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Joe, you seem to forget. Most of the guys with the rope and pointy white hats were Democrats. It was the Republican party that was on the right side of the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement.
__________________________________________________________
Every so often we hear this from one of your kind — that Democrats are historically bigots, and Republicans are historically progressives.
And that was true a long time ago. In fact, during the Civil War, most progressives were Republicans, and if I had been around then, I would most likely have been one, too.
But I wouldn’t be so quick to say the Democrats were on the wrong side of the Civil Rights battles. Southern Democrats, yes, for the most part. But it was a Texas Democrat who championed civil rights and signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law. And the fiercest proponents of civil rights during the 1960s were a coalition of northern Democrats and Eisenhower Republicans. And it’s been the Democrats who have been the most vigilant in ensuring the civil rights of all Americans ever since.
Now, fast forward to today. If you want us to believe that today’s members of the KKK and other white supremacist groups are politically progressive, you’re going to have to do better than that tired canard about “southern Democrats used to be bigots; therefore all Democrats are bigots today.” It’s not gonna fly.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:04 pmThe GOP conservatives are mentally disturbed and confused. They have nothing better to do than assassinate Sotomayer’s character. MSM continues to dissapoint with their lack of research and integrity. Quoting anonymous sources is unreliable and suspect.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pmYeah, what happened?
Wait, now I remember.
Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy’
It was then-President Nixon who came to the rescue with what was known as “the Southern Strategy,” a plan for appealing to White resentment over desegregation to capture Southern voters for the Republican Party.
The rest is history. The GOP reinvented itself as the party of racists. You must be so proud.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:09 pmHe also famously predicted, “There goes the South for a generation,” as he signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act into law.
Richard Nixon recognized this vulnerability of Democrats and wooed racist Southern conservatives to form the foundation of his “Southern Strategy”, completed by reagan in 1980.
As Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips observed in 1970, “From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don’t need any more than that… but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats”
May 7th, 2009 at 12:10 pmI guess this makes Limbaugh a democrat, huh?
May 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pmbilbo, you are bitter because you chose to participate in this recession. you are vile woman!
May 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Joe, you seem to forget. Most of the guys with the rope and pointy white hats were Democrats. It was the Republican party that was on the right side of the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement.
Quite true. The mid-19th century “first Klan” was composed of Democrats looking to silence the white Republican base, and this collaboration lasted ten years in the South.
However, the current portrayal of the KKK, the “pointy white hats” if you will, is strictly the “second Klan” model that was developed out of reaction to immigration during the mobilization of World War I.
It’s a far-right extremist group that believes in white supremacy and violent means to exterminate minorities. Hardly a society that the current Democratic Party would associate its name.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pmHe may not understand proper English. After all, he uses an oxymoron for a name.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:12 pmconservatives have a good customer service mentality. liberals steal customer’s money as is no refund!
May 7th, 2009 at 12:12 pmwe have the republican pro american gods and then we have the south side democrat party! muthaf ucka
May 7th, 2009 at 12:19 pmYes, Arbusto bailing out the banksters was such a nice way to make debt peons of the ‘customers’
May 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pmThe Goa’uld were false Gods
May 7th, 2009 at 12:21 pmI have no idea who Sotomayor is but the old adage “where there is smoke there is fire” might just apply to this judge. Of course, I noticed no one named names as their sources for these allegations and that is a problem, it is easy to start a smear campaign. So is it smear or is it smoke?
May 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pmneoparody Says:
we have the republican pro american gods
there is but one God, blaspheme! kneel before him and beg forgiveness lest ye be banned to everlasting hell!
Oh that’s right you rethugs worship Mammon too…
May 7th, 2009 at 12:25 pmSotomayor was nominated on November 27, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by John M. Walker, Jr. (the president’s cousin)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor
FYARR!!!
May 7th, 2009 at 12:25 pmaquarius2 Says:
I noticed no one named names as their sources for these allegations and that is a problem, it is easy to start a smear campaign. So is it smear or is it smoke?
It’s a grease fire. These slimy dirtbags don’t bath much.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pmIt might, but then again, one could have said the same thing about the President when he was being assailed as a Marxist, a terrorist, a secret Muslim and an elitist during the campaign.
Having observed the tactics of the Right for many years, I’ve reached the conclusion that “where there’s smoke there is a Right-wing smoke bomb.”
May 7th, 2009 at 12:28 pmneoparody Says:
bilbo, you are bitter because you chose to participate in this recession. you are vile woman!
You are right and I chose to become unemployed for the first time in my entire life.
I would like you to explain how I “chose” to participate in the recession/depression that your party created.
I am not at all bitter. I am just angry at what you and your ilk have done to this country.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pmAfter the last election with all it’s racial overtones from the GOP (Postcards of a phototshopped White house with a watermelon patch in place of the lawns, T-shirts asking if Obama won would it still be called the White House”, etc.) the GOP is now pushing a stereotypical “Hispanics are Lazy” meme.
Why to go guys! You wonder why minorities don’t vote Republican?? Keep marginalizing your party until only straight, white, men need apply, and you’ll have successfully become a regional party. Keep it up GOP. Please, keep it up.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:42 pmNo suprise that they are smearing a Latina woman with the usual stuff – a man who is a bully is assertive, a man who has his clerks do the work is a great delegator. Never mind that she is Latina – almost synonymous with lazy – what’s next – she doesn’t groom properly?
May 7th, 2009 at 1:39 pmGee, I thought they were making Sotomayor sound more like a cross between Scalia and Thomas.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:07 pm>Fox News’s Andrew Napolitano claimed on his
>radio show that Sotomayor “has a reputation
> for not being a very hard worker.”
I wonder if she has a history of taking more time off from her work than dumbya did when he was president.what was it? 1/3 of his whole term he was on vacation? …wow..
May 7th, 2009 at 3:09 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Joe, you seem to forget. Most of the guys with the rope and pointy white hats were Democrats. It was the Republican party that was on the right side of the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement.
There is a reason why the GOP Civil Rights calendar mostly included dates and events before 1964…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:11 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
After The Civil Rights Act was passed Democrat President Lyndon Johnson praised Republicans for their overwhelming support.
The Republican Party was formed by anti-slavery activists to combat the pro-slavery Democrats
The Ku Klux Klan was formed by radical Democrats who opposed equality for blacks.
In 1935 Democrats defeated an Anti-Lynching Bill supported and put forward by Republicans.
The 1924 Democrat National Convention in New York was host to one of the largest Klan gatherings in American history. Dubbed the “Klanbake convention”, a minority of delegates attempted to condemn the presence of the Klan but was rebuked by the Klan supporting Democrat Majority.
On April 20, 1871 the Republican Congress enacted the Ku Klux Klan Act, outlawing Democratic Party-Affiliated terrorist groups.
Ronald Reagan, a Republican, made history on November 2, 1983 by signing into law Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a National Holiday. This is the first and only Federal Holiday that recognizes a Black American.
Nice to see that your dates are pre-1983…Notice that John McCain, the standard bearer for the 2008 elections voted against the federal holiday…Note, it’s not what’s happened in the past but rather what have you done for me lately, whether it’s in sports or politics. So, answer me. What has the GOP done for civil rights recently?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:14 pmOh, come on! The GOP has fought tirelessly to protect the rights of white males, the most beleaguered, oppressed minority we have.
Doesn’t that count for something?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:22 pmOh I forgot…just look at that hero, Senator Jeff Sessions…protecting the right of the white male to vote…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:31 pmWow…..just….wow. I’m Chicano myself. Lazy, dumb? Ummm…yeah. I’ve never heard those stereotypes before . There is literally no depth to which these people will not sink.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pmFrom her wikipedia entry
The Bar Association rates her as centrist. I’m a little disturbed that senators can anonymously put a nomination on hold.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:03 pmseslichat
May 11th, 2009 at 12:01 amsesli chat
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seslisohbet
tiffany rings?
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