[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/25/art.getty.rush.limbaugh.jpg caption=" Limbaugh is going after Sonia Sotomayor."](CNN) - While Republicans on Capitol Hill appear to be adopting a wait-and-see approach with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is taking direct aim at President Obama's choice for the high court.
Calling Sotomayor a "racist" and a "hack" on his radio show Tuesday, Limbaugh took particular issue with a 2001 speech at Berkeley during which she stated a "wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
"Here you have a racist – you might want to soften that, and you might want to say a reverse racist," Limbaugh said of that comment.
"And the [liberals] of course say that minorities cannot be racists because they don't have the power to implement their racism," he continued. "Well, those days are gone because reverse racists certainly do have the power to implement their power. Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he's appointed one."
"She's not the brain that they're portraying her to be. She's not a constitutional jurist," Limbaugh also said, referencing a New Republic article last month in which Jeffrey Rosen, the magazines legal affairs editor, wrote that "her opinions, although competent, are viewed by former prosecutors as not especially clean or tight, and sometimes miss the forest for the trees."
"She is an affirmative action case extraordinaire, and she has put down white men in favor of Latina women," Limbaugh said.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs defended Sotomayor's Berkeley comments Tuesday. "If you look at the context of the longer speech that she makes, I think what she says is very much common sense in terms of different experiences, different people," he said.
For the life of my I can not understand why anyone would waste their time listening to this idiot!
Rush, Hitler, Cheney.....
Hey Rush,
Shut up.
Regards,
The Free World
Rush Limbaugh calling someone a racist is on par with Hitler calling someone anti-semetic.
Ms. Sotomayor, however, has never been addicted to Oxycontin, and never once forced her housekeeper to buy illegal drugs of any kind.
I think Rush is a racist himself and a bigot. He hates everyone who does not look like himself and covers it up with his anti-liberal talk. I hope this hate spewing shock jock is banned from air for his venomous tirades against minorities.
Rush's druggie clown act has forgotten that notable republicans voted to confirm Sotomayor's last appointment in 1998 and some of them weren't 'moderates'. Jesse Helms, John Warner, Richard Lugar, Orrin Hatch, D'Amato to name a few. Just about half of the repubs in the Senate voted to confirm.
But I forget Limbaugh is center stage in a failing circus act.
What an idiot for a leading Republican spokesman!! That's what you get when you barely finish high school. Just like Sean Hannity and Glen Beck. Oh, and Karl Rove.
When I was a kid, my mother use to tell me to ignore people who were nothing but trouble or the loud mouth.
I would say that even the best thing the republican [moderates] can do is just ignore him
Well, he's right.
Just depends on whether you look at the factual facts, or the media filter / cleaned up 'facts'.
Her story isn't even that wonderful.. funny how you never hear of the whites coming from the identical backgrouds: poor, single parent family, the College... nope – if you're white, you're not news. And I thought whites were racists?
Before pitching in with praise or outrage, remember that Limbaugh is financially invested in stirring controversy.
Why do you continue to publish what Rush Limbaugh says.? Please stop.
Rush Limbaugh is a joke to accuse someone of being racist. I quess the oxycotin interferes with his memory and allows him to forget any words that have come out of his own mouth. I wish he would do the country a favor and disappear.
Perhaps Limbaugh could join Cheney and Rove at a health spa...or just go away.
Rush, let's speak plainly. You are a racist and a liar. You are a fat Goebbels. Remember him?
Unless Limbaugh is being misquoted by CNN, he has not demonstrated how she is actually a racist. This is not surprising, since he never backs his rants with anything factual. Well, he says things are facts but on even upon the most minimal inspection he's blatantly incorrect about those "facts." It's also not uncommon that he out and out lies.
I think it's wonderful that Rush has sooooooo much attention every time he opens his cavernous mouth. Whatever ridiculous comments spew from this guy seems to be news, which just proves, over and over, that he is the voice and leader of the Republican party. Ooops, is someone now going to berate me into apologizing to him?
Isn't the world getting a little small in Limbaugh's mirrors. He is so far removed from what is fair and appropriate that I am not certain that even one of the Apostles would or could satisfy him. If anyone is a hack it's Limbaugh: I thought America was about given people opportunities and places to grow BUT I guess Limbaugh thinks that these truths should only be for him and his hacks. No wonder the USA is in trouble!
Limbaugh is a joke...The republicans needs a new voice because this is just a sad thing to witness.
Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black
If Pres Obama nominated Jesus Christ to the Supreme Court, it would still not satisfy King Limbaugh, and I'm sure King Limbaugh would make a negative issue of Christ being a Jew.
This guy is a nut. Period.
Rush does nothing good but spew hatred himself. What a hack. It's easy to sit back and try to degrade someone, but where weere your suggestions. You are such a big fat, pill popping, bigot.
A "racist" and a "hack" is he talking about himself?
What a drug-addicted addled fool!