Milwaukee Journal catches hell for Clarence Thomas comment...

[MnFats]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001433835


from an editorial on the fact that with Alito, the Supreme Court will have a less diverse lineup:

"Editorial Page Editor O. Ricardo Pimentel said the paper had received nearly 150 letters, e-mails, and phone calls from critics, noting that most were from outside the state.

"They've been fairly unprintable and unmentionable, sometimes calling us racist," Pimentel told E&P. "I think folks are jumping to conclusions that we think Thomas isn't black enough. That is not what we said. We just said his views are not within black mainstream thought."

None of the letters or e-mails had been printed or posted online, Pimentel said. But, he added, "they're coming."

The portion that seemed to draw the most opposition pointed to the fact that, in replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Conner with a white man, Bush would be hurting the court's diversity. "In losing a woman, the court with Alito would feature seven white men, one white woman and a black man, who deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America," it read.

The editorial also stated that, "in picking Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, President Bush gave his right flank what it wanted: a true-blue conservative. The question now is: Is Bush giving the country what it needs?"