Among the many outrageous statements made about Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Media Matters for America has highlighted the following:
Limbaugh compares Sotomayor nomination to nominating David Duke
From the May 29 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
RUSH LIMBAUGH (host): The real question here that needs to be asked -- and nobody on our side, from a columnist to a TV commentator to anybody in our party has the guts to ask: How can a president nominate such a candidate? And how can a party get behind such a candidate? That's what would be asked if somebody were foolish enough to nominate David Duke or pick somebody even less offensive.
Beck on Sotomayor nomination: “Hey, Hispanic chick lady! You're empathetic ... you're in!”
From the May 26 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
GLENN BECK (host): They're just like, “Hey, Hispanic chick lady! You're empathetic?” She says yep. They say, “You're in!” That's the way it really works.
NRO's Krikorian on pronunciation of Sotomayor's name: “It Sticks in My Craw”
Buchanan declares Sotomayor an “affirmative action pick”
From the May 26 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
PAT BUCHANAN (MSNBC political analyst): I'm saying that she herself says that her gender and her ethnicity will influence her decision, and I think that is a disq-- that would be for me a disqualification for the Supreme Court. She is also an affirmative action pick, Chris [Matthews, host]. Clearly. The president was down to four choices, all four of them women, and he picked the Hispanic.
Reading from Lani Guinier playbook, Buchanan smears “quota queen” Sotomayor
From Buchanan's July 2 syndicated column:
Like Lani Guinier, the Clinton appointee rejected for reverse racism, Sonia Sotomayor is a quota queen. She believes in, preaches and practices race-based justice. Her burying the appeal of the white New Haven firefighters, who were denied promotions they had won in competitive exams, was a no-brainer for her.
Napolitano claims Sotomayor “has a reputation for not being a very hard worker”
From the May 5 edition of Fox News Radio's Brian & The Judge (transcript):
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): How would you describe her record?
ANDREW NAPOLITANO (co-host): Spot -- well, from my point of view, I think I probably would've voted the opposite from her 95 percent of the time. She also has a reputation for not being a very hard worker.
Limbaugh compares federal judge and former prosecutor Sotomayor to late mob boss Gotti
From the May 26 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Something I read this morning -- she is a workaholic, and her clerks become her family. And they go home with her and work, and they -- I mean, she's -- she has her -- so she's a hard worker. She's a very hard -- so was John Gotti.
Washington Times says Supreme Court's Ricci ruling means “Martin Luther King can rest easy” from threat of Sotomayor
From a June 30 Washington Times editorial:
Martin Luther King can rest easy. His dream is being protected by the Supreme Court - against and over the opinion of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
Limbaugh declares Sotomayor's “wise Latina” remarks “much worse” than Allen's “macaca” comment
From the July 13 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Sotomayor's comments are much worse than “macaca.” And they're frequent, and they are long-held.
Limbaugh: Somebody needs to tell “Michelle Obama and Sotomayor, 'get over it' ”
From the June 4 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Don't use as your motivation the “I'll show them” in a personal sense, because it poisons you. It distracts you from the real reason you're trying to succeed. Well, somebody needs to give this advice to Sonia Sotomayor and Michelle Obama. Get over it. You've overcome it. You are the first lady of the United States of America. But if you want to run around and still act like you are the victim of a great injustice because you grew up in America -- a country you did say, as recently as a year and a half ago, that you were never proud of until a year and a half ago -- it really is time to get over it, because this kind of attitude results in the formulation of policy.
From the June 1 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Folks, do you realize she would be -- if she stands by everything she said as a judge when she takes the oath of the Supreme Court justice, she will be lying. You ever stop to think of that? She's the antithesis of the oath.
Beck calls Sotomayor a “racist,” who “is not that bright” and “divisive”
From the May 28 broadcast of The Glenn Beck Program:
BECK: So Sotomayor. I'm -- I don't know exactly, I don't know where to go on our Supreme Court Justice nominee. And here's why I say that. I think the woman is a racist, and I think she is -- what? What, Stu?
STU BURGUIERE (executive producer): You're just like, I'm indecisive, I'm not sure which way to go -- I mean she's obviously a racist. But outside of that, I'm not --
BECK: Well, she is. I mean, you know, anybody who says, can you imagine?
BURGUIERE: Only in your world, though, could indecisive equal -- the next sentence be, “Ah, I mean she's obviously a racist.”
BECK: What -- here's why I'm indecisive: What are you going to get that's better?
BURGUIERE: Yeah, you're not. You could probably go worse.
BECK: Yeah, I mean we could go much, much worse. I think the woman is not so bright, from what I have heard from people who have worked around her, worked with her --
BURGUIERE: That is definitely the vibe, you know --
BECK: Yeah, she's not that bright, and she is a divisive individual.
From the June 1 edition of MSNBC Live:
BUCHANAN: Judge Sotomayor believes in race-based justice. Her entire career is based on advancing people of color, which happens at the expense of white folks.
[...]
BUCHANAN: This is her whole career. She's with La Raza, she's with that -- the Puerto Rican group, all of them. People agree with that is to advance people based on their ethnicity and national origin over white males in order to achieve some kind of ethnic diversity. Republican Party stands against that. We're for equal justice under law. I mean, whoever a judge is, they should --
NORAH O'DONNELL (host): You're against ethnic diversity? The Republican Party is against ethnic diversity?
BUCHANAN: I am against -- I am against using -- judging on the basis of ethnicity and giving people jobs and hiring them over other people based on their race. That was what was done in the South. For heaven sakes, that's what those decisions are about. Stop doing that to black people, denying them advancement simply because they were black, when they were more than qualified. And they're doing it now to white males, Norah.