USHLI President Denounces Judge Sotomayor's Critics; Warns Republicans of Possible Consequences USHLI President Juan Andrade today blasted former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, and RNC Chair Michael Steele for their reprehensible comments regarding Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Andrade said, "National Republicans have turned their search for a party head and spokesperson into a contest to see which of its non-elected appendages can best offend Latinos, misinform the American public, smear the President and his stellar nominee to the Supreme Court, and blindly lead the Republican march over the cliff and into a cesspool of alienation, polarization, and the perversion of human decency." Gingrich started the whole thing by calling Judge Sotomayor a "racist" and suggesting that the Judge withdraw her nomination. Sensing that his comment did not resonate particularly well among other so-called leaders, especially among elected officials, Gingrich found himself having to back-peddle and saying that her reference to a "wise Latina" was racial, which made her a "reverse racist" for believing that more judges with diverse backgrounds and experiences would be a good thing for the judicial system. Republicans once ran a powerful Gingrich out of the House, but now can't seem to summon the courage to stand up to him. That's fine. The voters will have their say next year. Not to be out-dumb, Limbaugh said she was unqualified for growing up poor in the Bronx and living in public housing, obviously not impressed by the facts that she graduated at the top of her class in school, graduated with honors and second in her class at Princeton, graduated Yale Law School, and that she has acquired more trail bench experience than any Supreme Court nominee in the last 100 years. Limbaugh won't run for office because he's too busy running his mouth. That's fine. We'll see what happens when Latino consumers let their money do the talking and his sponsors start losing millions of dollars more than the millions they are paying to keep him on the air. Tan-crude, whose sub-par intellect needs to be watered twice per day, piled on and just went for the cheap shot saying that Judge Sotomayor was a racist. When pressed for an example of her racism, the non-thinker said that the Judge is a member of the National Council of La Raza, which Tan-crude described as "the Latino KKK without the hoods and nooses." Last week Latino leaders sent a letter to Steele, asking him to intervene and stop the reckless name-calling on the part of his fellow Republicans. This week the Chairman responded by joining the band of fools saying "God help any white man who appears before Judge Sotomayor." So much for finding a voice of reason in this crowd. Republican leaders in the Senate have refused to repudiate any of these remarks and have asked that the confirmation hearings be delayed because they need more time to review the Judge's record. The truth is that they want the attacks to continue. Trust me, the President nominated the most qualified person in the nation and there is nothing that this band of fools can say to stop Judge Sotomayor's confirmation. The Judge personifies all that is good in our community and should be treated with respect, decency, fairness, and with the dignity a person of her caliber deserves. I just hope and pray that every Latino voter will always remember how she was dragged through the mud and by whom.