By Peggy Noonan on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings.
The odd thing Republican elected officials forget is that they often have the better argument. So used are they to the defensive crouch that they find it difficult to stand tall, expand, tell, hear. They should have more faith in the philosophical assumptions of their party, which so often reflect the wisdom of experience, of tradition, of Founders more brilliant than we.
If only it were about the arguments...sigh.
On the other hand, Sullivan's temp argues it is - and should - be about race:
Yes, of course, ethnicity in politics is different from ethnic job quotas, and a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court is a special kind of job. Nowhere is a bit of diversity more obviously desirable. Nowhere is the case stronger for taking race, ethnicity and gender into account. And conservatives apparently agree. If only they could bring themselves to say so.
And, "GOP strategists openly warning: Support the Latina or die." Because they want to pick up the Latino vote.
Last month I went to the festival of books and one author talked about doing his research for a biography. He compiled notebooks filled to the brim with notes about his subject, which happened to be Walt Whitman and his family. At a certain point, he had so many notes, he started to take notes on his notes. He decided to stop because he realized:
"Therein lay the path to madness."
And he started writing the biography the next day.
Identity politics and privileging "diversity" is taking notes on your notes. What the hell is diversity? Is it something that can be measured? Defined? Is it the color of your skin? What if you are mixed? The mathematical variations and permutations are endless and ultimately, meaningless. They are a distraction and an overcompensation. It is an argument to divide people into predetermined groups. It is for the simple and stupid. Anyone with a whiff of complexity in their soul should reject it out of hand.
It is the path to madness.
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