Supreme Racism

Pat Buchanan went off the deep end last night. No, I mean way off. On MSNBC’s Hardball, the Nixon-trained geezer oozed racism out of his pores as  he demanded to see Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s SAT & LSAT scores ( what’s with conservatives and ancient test scores? Ann Coulter tried to pull the same thing with me during a radio interview). He lambasted her for being a self-described ” affirmative action baby.”  So? Her minority status may have aided her Princeton and Yale Law School admissions, but that doesn’t diminish what she’s done with that education.  He even denigrated her attempts to improve her speech and vocabulary while a Princeton undergrad. You may not agree with her ideologically, but her seventeen years of accomplished service on the bench speak for themselves.

I don’t know how Eugene Robinson, The Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post columnist, who was sitting next to Buchanan, contained himself. He did interject proudly, ” I’m also an affirmative action baby,” adding that for what it was worth his SAT scores had been formidable.

The kicker, though, came from host Chris Mathews, who cornered Buchanan on the disconnect between questioning Sotomayor’s Supreme Court qualifications while fervently supporting Sarah Palin as McCain’s Veep pick and possible 2012 GOP candidate. Think Pat turned red and retreated? No way. Unabashedly he called Palin’s achievements ” self made… no affirmative action here.”

That’s for sure.   Sotomayor has handled four days of grilling on everything from abortion and gun rights to affirmative action and that unfortunate “wise Latina woman”comment with authority, grace and humor. Palin couldn’t even handle Katie Couric’s probing questions about what newspapers she read or name another Supreme Court decision besides Roe v. Wade she was against.

As for the infamous SAT scores, they are supposed to predict a student’s performance in college ( and some schools– including my and Rahm Emanuel’s alma mater, Sarah Lawrence – have tossed thme out because they don’t do that very well), so they’re pretty obsolete upon graduation. But in case anyone’s keeping track: Sotomayor graduated Summa cum Laude  from Princeton; I’m not well-versed in Palin’s academic record, but she did graduate from the University of Idaho. And I have a hunch, Sotomayor’s scores could easily beat up Palin’s scores. Even with the cast on her leg.

If you missed it–or can’t get enough of Pat Buchanan’s bitter, racist venom– he’s set to appear on The Rachel Maddow Show tonight. And channel loyalty is no excuse, Keith Olberman. You better anoint the angry old geezer ” Worst person in the World.” He’s earned it.