IN DEED!

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus: Sotomayor's Deliberate Choice of Words

"Nice try, Mr. President, but I'm not buying the poor-choice-of-words defense for Sonia Sotomayor [in her statement] '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' . . . You spin the speech that's dealt you. But it seems clear to me that Sotomayor, to quote that great jurist Dr. Seuss, meant what she said and said what she meant. This was no throwaway line or off-the-cuff linguistic stumble along the lines of the judge's other controversial comment about appeals courts making policy. Rather, Sotomayor was deliberately and directly disputing remarks by then-Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that a wise old woman and a wise old man would eventually reach the same conclusion in a case. . . . Moreover, if Sotomayor regretted that YouTube moment, she had the chance to revise and extend: Her remarks were reprinted in the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal. Knowing the multi-layered editing process of law journals, I'd be shocked if Sotomayor did not at least have the chance to review the transcript of her speech and make any tweaks"

AMEN!