THREE LITTLE WORDS

The White House has chosen to back away from Sotomayor's (one-time) claim that "a wise Latina" might be a better judge than a white male by saying that she made a poor choice of words. This suggests mainly using a word out of place, like calling the bankers and brokers who profited from trading in derivatives "embezzlers." But "a poor choice of words" might also mean using too many words or using too few. Sotomayor used too few. If she had simply qualilfied her claim for a wise Latina judge by limiting it expresslky to being a better judge "in some cases" -- three little words -- she would have made an interesting and defensible claim, and one that could have led to an illuminating debate, though not with the blowhards who took the lead in attacking her.