The old joke is that the answer to why Hispanic men seem to spend a fair amount of time grabbing their crotches is, “because that’s all the Anglos left us with, and we check to make sure they haven’t taken them yet.”
Today, it looks like the AP has even taken the definition of the word “Hispanic”. The headline reads “Sotomayor nominated to high court - first Hispanic“.
Except that she’s not, unless either the AP has taken away Miguel Estrada’s right to claim the mantle of “Hispanic”, or the AP has banished him from history and has done a Stalinesque rewrite.
So what ever happened to Miguel Estrada’s appointment to the Supreme Court?
Manuel [sic] Estrada was a moderate nominee - he worked in the Clinton Justice Dept and clerked under Justice Anthony Kennedy, who decided to overturn judicial death penalty and wrote Lawrence v Texas, overturning sodomy laws… Democrats obstructed him.
Miguel Estrada’s appointment was filibustered away by Senate Democrats, which makes this thinly veiled threat by the AP especially snort-worthy:
Senate Republicans pledged to give her a fair hearing, and some questioned whether she would base decisions on her personal feelings, rather than constitutional principles. Given her background, any effort to filibuster her nomination could carry political risks, since Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the population and an increasingly important one politically.
The Democrats, in case you’ve forgotten, also showed very little love for the first Hispanic Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. Forgive me if I’m more than a little underwhelmed by Sotomayor’s nomination, and let’s at least be honest about what it means; it’s not about the Democrats’ love of Hispanics.
CORRECTION: I carried Judge Estrada as “Manuel” instead of Miguel - the memory dims… que tonto fue…