The Scary Mexican Lady

The hoarse barking coming from the wingnutosphere on the subject of Sonia Sotomayor has been mostly high comedy, and though mean spirited, as effective as pelting the target with marshmallows. We've been warned that her love of "ethnic food" might add excessive spice to her legal reasoning (acid reflux, maybe?), that she got where she is today because of affirmative action, that she's a racist, that she's insulting the English language by insisting that people say her name right, and that she belongs to a revolutionary group, La Raza, which wants Mexico to retake the American southwest and make it Mexican again, which makes no sense because she's actually not Mexican -- a fine distinction which seems to have been lost on the clown brigade. This has all been documented by Josh Marshall at talkingpointsmemo.com.

However, the booby prize for pure schmoeism on this topic goes to Ed Whelan, who once called Obama a "former fetus," at the National Review website, The Corner. He refers to Sotomayor as "Her Majesty," implying that this Latina threat who rose from the Bronx projects to become some kind of wannabe princess is now gloating about lording over the rest of us.

All of this suggests a possible headline: "Former Fetus Appoints Scary Delusional Mexican Lady to Supreme Court."

I expected some winger opposition to this nomination, but I never expected this level of vapid silliness, considering that Sotomayor's seat on the court is a sure thing, since she's a rather bland jurist with a bland record of down-the-middle decisions who was originally appointed to the circuit by Dubya's dad.

James Wolcott supplied the link to Ed Whelan, and a lot of the other stuff that went into this post.

I think I sort of know what Whelan meant by calling Obama a former fetus, that it's an an oblique reference to O's desire to see Roe v. Wade remain as the salient point of law governing abortion policy. But what a goofy way to try to insult someone. I mean, aren't we all former fetuses?