Dave Neiwert is very confused about identity politics (Sotomayor)

David Neiwert of Crooks and Liars offers "We Stand With Sonia Sotomayor" (crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/we-stand-sonia-sotomayor) about a new solidarity campaign for her. When some of the comments others left on the post didn't break his way, Neiwert left a comment of his own:

Standing behind her has nothing to do with identity politics. Indeed, it's about refuting white male identity politics -- the primary reason for the right's opposition to her. We stand behind her because of her extraordinary qualifications and her sound legal reasoning. I don't think the fear of Catholicism is a legitimate reason to be concerned, either.

1. About the only form of socially-acceptable "white male identity politics" is to be found in beer commercials or as the butt of jokes. Other than that, as Neiwert would rush to remind anyone, "white male identity politics" equates to the KKK and the like. The debate about Sonia Sotomayor is almost all about her judicial actions, her statements, and how she's manifested her ethnicity. No white leader has ever in any way opposed her because they want "one of us" on the court. The same cannot, of course, be said of other leaders (see UPDATE 4).

2. The idea that identity politics didn't play a major role in her selection is beyond absurd. And, considering that the campaign David Niewert is promoting is from a group called Presente which uses "Latino" no less than eight times just on their About page (presente.org/about) and which seeks to "promote the political empowerment of Latino communities", Neiwert is even dumber than usual.

Sat, 06/06/2009 - 14:39 · · Importance: 4