RON FOURNIER: STILL A JERK

Given his history of partisan hackery, I suppose it's no surprise that this short piece on the Sotomayor hearings by AP's Ron Fournier is utterly one-sided. The premise is this:

In the polite, white-hot world of confirmation hearings, senators and witnesses can't always say what they want to say. So they speak in code. Here's a translation of what was said in the opening moments of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings, and what the players actually meant:

I assume I don't have to tell you that the only "code"-talkers cited are Sotomayor and Patrick Leahy -- Republicans, apparently, don't ever speak in code, according to Fournier.

But what makes this especially galling is Fornier's Sotomayor example, and his "translation":

WHAT SHE SAID: "If I introduced every one that's family," Sotomayor said with a strong voice and a smile, "we'd be here all morning."

WHAT SHE MEANT: I may not look like all of you but, trust me, I'm no different than every other family-loving American. I'm surrounded by people who love me.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but isn't Fournier implying that loving the members of your family is somehow uniquely American? And that anyone who claims to love family despite being, y'know, not really part of this country (even though, last time I looked, Puerto Rico and New York City were U.S. territory) is somehow glomming onto something that, by rights, belongs to gen-yoo-wine Americans only? Because dirty furriners don't really love their moms and dads and grandparents and cousins?

What an idiot.

(Via BarbinMD at Daily Kos.)