My Defense of Sotomayor's "Wise Latina" Quote

You know that Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, is being criticized as "racist" by the right wing pundits, in particular for this quote of hers: SOTOMAYOR: "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." Here's my defense, one that I haven't yet heard on TV nor yet read in the blogosphere: 1) Admittedly, if Sotomayor had said something like "Even a foolish Latina woman would reach a better conclusion than any wise white man." then that, on some level, would indeed be racist. But she didn't say that. 2) And if Sotomayor had said something like "Every wise Latina woman reaches better conclusions than every wise white man." then that too, on some level, would indeed be racist. But she didn't say that either. 3) Surely it is not racist to say that a wise Latina woman would reach better conclusions than an average white man. On the contrary, to say the opposite would be racist. Only a racist fool would think an average white man would reach better conclusions than a wise Latina woman. 4) Conclusion: Upon reviewing what she actually said one must realize she is saying a fairly obvious statement - wise people make better conclusions than people who aren't defined as wise. It is the racist right wing pundits who missed the important semantic distinction she drew between a WISE Latina woman and a white man.  Missing that distinction says more about the critical pundits' own racism. BTW - Don't forget that she even diplomatically hedged her statement (TWICE). 1) She "would hope" - She did not categorically insist it was indeed true and... 2) She hoped "more often than not" - acknowledging that in some instances the opposite was true (i.e. sometimes a white man reaches better conclusions than a wise Latina woman). Consequently - This quote is very tame when you really understand it. You may now remember that I not only went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor but I also was in the RC/East Quad. Consequently, I do have my liberal indoctrination to live with. Forgive me, my dear conservative friends.