Hour 1: Limbaugh Reacts To Sotomayor Nomination: "Horrible," "Hack," "Disaster" Nominee Who Should "Fail"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Judge Sotomayor - the "horrible," "hack," "disaster" nominee who should "fail"
By Simon Maloy

Happy Tuesday from the Limbaugh Wire. We have to admit that President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has us pretty frightened. Actually, no, let's rephrase that -- the prospect of chronicling and critiquing Rush Limbaugh's response to President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has us pretty frightened. He's already slammed Sotomayor despite not knowing what court she serves on, and his unique views on women and Hispanics are well documented, so we're anticipating a Class 5 Limbaugh freak-out on this one.

Rush got the show rolling by praising Sotomayor's inspiring and tremendous personal story, but felt impelled to point out that she accomplished everything in her life during the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton years. We're not sure why he wanted to point this out -- perhaps to knock down liberal claims that Sotomayor can travel through time? Anyway, Rush counseled that Republicans should absolutely "go to the mat" in opposing Sotomayor, explaining: "I doubt that Sotomayor can be stopped; she should be. She is a horrible pick. She is the antithesis of a judge, by her own admission and in her own words."

Rush went on to offer some more thoughts on Sotomayor, which we could characterize, but we'll instead let his words speak for themselves:

• "She is a hack like he is a hack, in the sense that the court is a place to be used to make policy -- not to adjudicate cases, not to adjudicate constitutional law, but to make policy."

• "I mean, do I want her to fail? Yeah. Do I want her to fail to get on the court? Yes -- she'd be a disaster on the court."

• "You know, Obama talks about 'we need people with empathy.' It's not even about empathy, folks; that's just cover. He just wants one of his own on the court to do his dirty work from the highest court in the land, and she fits the bill."

Now, when Rush said that Sotomayor is a "hack" because she views the court as "a place to be used to make policy, not to adjudicate cases," he was referring to a 2005 panel discussion in which Sotomayor said the "court of appeals is where policy is made." Rush aired audio of her comments, saying that she is the embodiment of a judge that is all wrong for the high court, because she stands for "policy-making." Actually, Sotomayor was explaining the differences between judging at the district and federal appeals courts. As the legal observers at Volokh Conspiracy explained: "As presented in the clip, it seems to be nothing more than an observation that, as a practical matter, many policy disputes are resolved in the federal courts of appeals. This is an indisputably true observation. Moreover, the fact that many policy disputes are resolved in federal appellate courts does not mean that judges are resolving those cases on policy grounds." But, as a rule, saying something that is "indisputably true" does not dissuade the right from attacking you -- they actually seem to view it as more of a challenge -- so be sure that we'll hear more about this one from Rush.

Then Rush turned his attention to a speech Sotomayor gave in which she extolled the importance of diversity in the courts in which she offered this comment, which has been isolated for criticism by the conservative echo chamber: "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." Rush offered his thoughts on this: "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." After reading extensively from Jeffrey Rosen's disingenuous New Republic piece calling Sotomayor's intelligence into question, Rush said that "she's not the brain that they're portraying her to be. She's not a constitutional jurist. She is an affirmative action case extraordinaire."

After the break, Rush returned to Sotomayor, saying that the statue of Justice is blindfolded, but there is nothing about Sotomayor that is blindfolded. Rush explained that he thinks her nomination is more about Democratic politics than it is about the Supreme Court. Obama's motivations for nominating her, he said, are that he wants "an anti-constitutionalist on the court," and he wants to use race and gender politics to scare the Republicans. In that sense, said Rush, the nomination is a "two-run homer" for Obama, because it puts the Senate Republicans in a box. Republicans operate under the "illusion," Rush said, that they're treatment of Sotomayor will impact their appeal with Latinos.

So the situation, as Rush explained it, is that Obama has nominated a "party hack" who is likely to be confirmed, and in this situation the moderate Republicans, in Rush's estimation, are completely useless. Conservatives are confronting a "radical assault" on the country, Rush said, and the moderates like Colin Powell and Tom Ridge are distracting from that effort. Rush explained that Democrats and the media don't like him because he does the "heavy lifting" against the Democrats.

Another break and Rush was back, still attacking Powell and Ridge. Rush said that moderates like Powell and Ridge had to be put to the test, and there is no better time than the present, because we have a radical anti-constitutionalist appointed to the Supreme Court by the most radical leftist president we've ever had, who is also anti-constitutionalist. Rush's goal for the hour, it seemed, was to repeat the words "radical" and "anti-Constitutionalist" as many times as he could. Anyway, Rush continued, saying that Sotomayor's nomination is an outrage to "the whole concept of justice."

One more break before the end of the hour, and Rush came back with his three-point explanation of Colin Powell's motivations for his criticisms of Republicans and his support of Obama -- race, anger at Bush, and humiliation. The humiliation, Rush said, stems from Powell's 2003 presentation to the United nations regarding Iraq's scary (and nonexistent) WMDs. Rush said Powell is on a rehabilitation tour with the Washington establishment, and it's working.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I doubt that Sotomayor can be stopped; she should be. She is a horrible pick. She is the antithesis of a judge, by her own admission and in her own words.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: She is a hack like he is a hack, in the sense that the court is a place to be used to make policy -- not to adjudicate cases, not to adjudicate constitutional law, but to make policy.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I mean, do I want her to fail? Yeah. Do I want her to fail to get on the court? Yes -- she'd be a disaster on the court.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You know, Obama talks about "we need people with empathy." It's not even about empathy, folks; that's just cover. He just wants one of his own on the court to do his dirty work from the highest court in the land, and she fits the bill.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: 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: So she's not -- she's not the brain that they're portraying her to be. She's not a constitutional jurist. She is an affirmative action case extraordinaire.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I happen to think that this appointment by President Obama is more about Democrat Party politics than it is about the U.S. Supreme Court. It's a close second because he does have an anti-constitutionalist -- if he gets her confirmed, he will have an anti-constitutionalist on the court. That's what he wants.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh calls Sotomayor "a reverse racist," appointed by "the greatest living example of a reverse racist"

Limbaugh on Sotomayor: "She is the antithesis of a judge... She may as well be on the 9th Circus Court of Appeals"

Limbaugh: Obama wants an "anti-constitutionalist" on the Supreme Court