Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Chaarles Pickering
Whether or not Judge Sonia Sotomayor gets confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, her nomination has hopefully taught Democrats a lesson about brandishing people on the right with the ugly tag of “racist.” So many times, writes columnist Mona Charen, Democrats have unfairly labeled conservative appointees to the federal judiciary as being insensitive to civil rights, if not outright bigots.
Charen cites the case of Judge Charles Pickering, nominated by President George W. Bush to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2002. Charen points out that Pickering had a long and distinguished career as a jurist who endangered his job, and more, when he testified in 1967 against the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He also hired black staffers at a time when few white Mississippians did, encouraged the chancellor of University of Mississippi to form the Institute for Racial Reconciliation and served on its board for many years.
And yet Democrats like Senator John Kerry (D-MA) had the nerve to describe Pickering as “a known forceful advocate for a cross-burner in America.”
According to Charen, the Sotomayor nomination has exposed the double standard that has for too long been allowed to continue in the public arena, whereby white conservatives are branded for whatever solitary remark they make, while Democratic-supported minorities are excused for their own wrongheaded or thoughtless proclamations. Charen hopes Democrats use this opportunity to learn a valuable lesson on “the evil of baseless accusations.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
It's Not Fair To Casually Call People Racist (by Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate)
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