When Republicans appoint justices (seven of the nine currently serving), they’re merely brilliant men who happen to be Italian American or African American — without any political or identity considerations whatsoever.

Then again, perhaps Sotomayor is an experienced jurist who happens to be a woman (check) and a Latina (check), who also happens to have the qualities Obama prefers, plus a spiffy résumé: Princeton University Pyne Prize winner, Yale Law Journal editor, 17 years on the federal bench. Some call that a trifecta. Yet, you’d think from the onslaught that she runs a chain of abortion clinics…

Could a white man get away with saying something comparable about a Latina? Of course not. After Latinas have run the world for 2,000 years, they won’t be able to say it ever again either.