Empathy, Shmempathy

So all of the conservatives are now jumping on Jude Sotomayor calling her everything from biased to racist. They also have a problem with her supposed empathy, based on her comments about a Latina possibly doing better than a white male. They want a justice who will only use the rule of law in rendering decisions.

Bull!

No one uses only the rule of law. If it were that simple, if everything were so black and white, we wouldn't need lawyers. We could just program the facts into the matrix, and the rule of law would decide. Everyone making these legal decisions, from county judges to Supreme Court Justices, to the OJ Simpson jury, sees the same facts differently and makes different decisions. How else could Plessy v Ferguson, the "separate but equal" doctrine, have been the rule of law for so long? Because it was decided by seven white males who grew up in the 19th century and couldn't empathize with a black man.

As far as empathy goes, I love how the conservatives are handling it. They are all bringing up the now infamous Ricci case from New Haven where Judge Sotomayor was on the panel that did not remand the case back to the lower court. Every conservative columnist and talking head, from Dr. Krauthammer to Ms. Coulter, start out with the same introduction. They talk about the dyslexic fireman who had to hire people to read to him in order to study for the test he past.

No discussions about disparate impact, or the rule of law in this case. They're empathizing with the white male fireman. I know why Dr. Krauthammer empathizes with him, they're both white males. Why does Ms. Coulter do it? I'm not saying she's a white male, but I wouldn't put it past her.

On another note, I'm starting to enjoy watching Fox Nuts in the Morning. Today the news poll was if you think that George Bush will get credit for the success in Iraq. If you're wondering if there has been success in Iraq, they had already reported that the number of civilian deaths in May was at its lowest since 2003. Success is measured by a decreasing body count.

Tragically, they did not report that the US service death toll was the highest in years.