Sonia and Sarah

With perhaps only the exception of President Obama whose every activity(including whether the jeans he wore while throwing out the first pitch at the All Star game were too baggy!) is breathlessly chronicled, and even including the recently deceased Michael Jackson (who was possibly prescription medicationed to death???) and whose news coverage appears to be thankfully fading, no two public figures have received more current attention, positive and negative, than Sonia (Sotomayor) and Sarah (Palin). It is difficult if not impossible to find someone who likes them both (or for that matter hates them both). About the only thing they have in common is their gender.

Sonia, a highly educated, accomplished and articulate jurist who of course is of Puerto Rican extraction, appears to be ready to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, where she should prove to be a sensible, moderately liberal (the Democrats did win the election) addition to that august body which boasts one Clarence Thomas as a living model of ineptitude. But never mind. Her biggest fault among her detractors (largely fossilized right wing white men) is indeed the aforementioned heritage. Talk about reaching out to the Hispanic vote, a lost cause among the GOP. This is the party of Gingrich, Limbaugh, Rove, Cheney, Sanford and Ensign. What would you expect?

Sarah, a poorly educated, unaccomplished and inarticulate soon to be (by her own choice) ex-Governor, appears ready to stir up the "real America" of her dreams (translation=white, rural, gun-loving) either to make a lot of money (that's the REAL America) and/or position herself to be her party's 2012 standard bearer. Fully 71% of Republicans polled (the majority of whom are fossilized, right wing white men) would support her for President. This is scary indeed until you bring out the extra factor in Sarah's favor (especially among right wing white men of all ages)--undeniably she's a babe, certainly by the relative standards of most successful female politicians. TNB wonders --could horny white men carry the next election? This would only be fair considering how women swooned over say Jack Kennedy. Of course, he was highly educated, accomplished and articulate. Sort of like Sonia.