Senator Cornyn - Do You Have a Backbone?

May 29, 2009

Senator John Cornyn
517 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Subject: Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor is not qualified for Supreme Court

Senator Cornyn;

This is an open letter which I will post to my blogsite, about the only means I have to express my disappointment in your spineless handling of your “constitutional responsibilities of advice and consent” as pertain to the vetting process of potential Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

I’ll include two lines from your recent statement to NPR which address my opinion that you have either lost your backbone or must have had someone standing behind you with a loaded gun preventing you from saying what needed to be said; I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt even though you probably don’t deserve it.

“I think it’s terrible. This is not the kind of tone that any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advice and consent,” Cornyn told NPR’s “All Things Considered” of the attack on Sotomayor as “racist.””

“Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials,” he said of Gingrich and Limbaugh. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate and I certainly don’t endorse it. I think it’s wrong.”

I’ll refresh your memory of what Sotomayor said which clearly points out one of two things; either she is a racist and has no qualms regarding blatant bigotry while wielding the powers associated with such a responsible position OR she’s too stupid to know how foolish her words were as she mocked the progress which has been made toward improving America towards the goal of being blind to race. Would you hand over a life time appointed position on the Supreme Court to anyone who is either a bigoted racist or too stupid to know when to shut up?

“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.”

I know what you’re thinking, “What about Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, they don’t get any dumber than those two and they’re lined up in succession to occupy the presidency, what about them being too stupid to shut up?” They don’t count because they are elected, not appointed. You could say they act as an insurance policy against would be assassins contemplating taking out Obama, “Oh, no; Not Joe! Oh, no, Not Nancy!”

Had such a statement been made by a White Supreme Court nominee there would have been hell to pay. Even if you had someone standing with a gun pressed against your back when you made your groveling remarks, even then I’d have to say, “Get a pair!” Do you not hear or are you simply pandering for the Hispanic vote?

I’d also like to point out how wrong you are when singling out Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich for exposing the racism which was not taken out of context or created in order to embarrass Sotomayor; she said it and it was a racist remark. These two responsible citizens commented on what was said. In the case of Limbaugh, his job is to inform and comment; something which the media would rather not do, actually report and inform the citizenry.

You’re correct, they ( Limbaugh and Gingrich ) are not elected representatives for any political party; instead they represent what the everyday citizen is saying, they simply have a larger audience. Are you saying individual citizen’s voices should not be heard?

Maybe it’s time you stepped down from being a Republican Senator if you don’t want to listen to the average on the street citizen voicing concerns which will affect the lives of every American. Perhaps you’ve been hanging around the folks inside the Beltway far too long and have outgrown the need to hear our voices.

I don’t think the new health care package being proposed by the Democrats covers backbone replacement; better find the one you misplaced. Now do your job and get on with the business you were elected to do.

T. F. Stern
Houston, Texas