Hypotheticals are flying about judge Sonya Sotomayor, Barack Obama’s recent nomination for Supreme Court Justice. Media Matters wonders, what if she were a man? Would newspapers still question her “temperament”? Eric Boehlert wonders, “Would the NYT ever dream of typing up a straight news article about whether the judge was too bossy on the bench?” He thinks not.
The American Spectator questions: “What if Sotomayor were white?” Writer Andrew Cline postulates that more than half of the praise for Sotomayor stems from her race, gender, and socioeconomic background. “Most of the praise of Sotomayor is being dished out by commentators who seem ignorant of her record,” Cline writes, “but acutely aware that she is a Hispanic woman who grew up in a housing project.”
In the same vein, conservative radio host Bill Bennett recently went beyond speculation and straight into unfounded rumors, according to a transcript provided by Think Progress. Speaking with Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes, Bennett said:
BENNETT: Did [Sotomayor] 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.
In response, Salon.com threw out a hypothetical of their own, saying “if Sotomayor were a white man nominated by a Republican, he and Bennett would never have had that conversation.”
Source: Media Matters, American Spectator, Think Progress, Salon.com