UPDATE 6/1: White supremacist David Duke took umbrage Monday at being compared to Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
On Friday, Rush Limbaugh suggested the former KKK Grand Wizard would be an equally controversial choice for the Supreme Court. Duke has responded in an interview with an Italian paper that he posted on his own website.
"Limbaugh, a recent addict to illegal drugs, has no business making personal attacks against me for my past," Duke said. "I have consistently supported true equal rights, stating again and again that I support the best-qualified person regardless of race in hiring and promotions."
However, Duke echoed Limbaugh's attacks against Sotomayor as a racist. Like Limbaugh, Duke distorts Sotomayor's words from a 2001 speech.
"Imagine if a White nominee for Supreme Court Justice said that he believed White judges would be more likely to reach better decisions than Black or Mexican judges," he said. "He would not have a chance in hell to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Why should she?"
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Rush Limbaugh, following a trend of conservatives depicting Sonia Sotomayor as a dangerous racist, suggested that President Obama's Supreme Court nomination had set back civil rights progress and compared Sotomayor to David Duke.
Listen:
LIMBAUGH: Not only does she lack the often discussed appropriate judicial temperament, it's worse than that. She brings a form of bigotry and racism to the court. I don't care, we're not supposed to say it, we're supposed to pretend it didn't happen, we're supposed to look at other things but it's the elephant in the room. The real question here that needs to be asked and nobody on our side from a columnist to a TV commentator to anybody in our party has the guts to ask, how can a president nominate such a candidate? And how can a party get behind such a candidate? That's what would be asked if somebody were foolish enough to nominate David Duke or pick somebody even less offensive. It is asked.
Limbaugh also responded to Sen. John Cornyn, who has been attempting to quell this racially-focused furor, by saying the Texas Republican was just "using me to win a one night stand with the media."
LIMBAUGH: Today the Republican Party seems more interested in condemning its supporters and its friends than in doing its job. Now, normally, I don't respond to all of this media bashing because if I did, it would be all I do because there is so much of it but the fact of the matter is, ladies and gentlemen, my wit and wisdom and brilliance is being drowned out out there and I have learned over the course of many, many moons that if you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else will either.
Now, a day is going to come here -- a day will come when reality hits. A day is going to come when each and every American looks up to the heavens and says "Why didn't somebody warn me?" I am that someone. I am that someone warning you. I am here to warn you each and every day and all of the drive-bys and even Republicans, all of these people using me to win a one night stand with the media, to win glowing praise from their enemies is not going to stop me from being that someone that you're going to say someday "Why didn't somebody tell me about this?"