My daughter is a Latina.

Let me first say that I have no idea if Sonia Sotomayor is qualified or appropriate for the SCOTUS. But, I rage against the fact that as soon as the Right viewed her as the front runner for the nomination they immediately and in a coordinated fashion ala Rovian politics, attacked her strictly for being female (irrational and moody) and Hispanic (hot blooded, lacks self-control etc). There is more, but oh wait, this blog post isn't about race or sex, its actually about merit and temperament by former Sotomayor clerk Professor Rob Kar, Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

She knows how to pull out the best in people with whom she works, how to motivate people through her words and conduct, and how to forge deep and abiding relationships with people from all walks of life, and from all political stripes and ideologies. She is courageous and fearless, but non-ideological, and wholly unimpressed by the kind of pomp and false theoretical excess that can sometimes make one look smarter in the short term but only at the expense of distorting the underlying issues. One measure of the extraordinary judgment she has is reflected in her incredible life story: she moved unerringly, and without any hint of doubt or hesitation, from the Bronxdale Public Housing Projects to graduating summa cum laude from Princeton, where she received the Pynes Prize (for their top graduate), and then to Yale Law School, the DA’s office, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The force of character that it takes to live such a life should never be underestimated: we have no other person on the bench with her experience and intellect who has come from these beginnings and who has developed with such clarity of purpose and vision.

The comparisons to Obama's campaign are interesting but only so much as it shows the repetitive and unimaginative way the Right attacks minorities they view as threats. Racism is a core tenent of the Republican party and they are proud to use it.