Powell Responds to Limbaugh: Sotomayor as a Reverse Racist is "Nonsense"

On CNN today, former Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed Rush Limbaugh and among other things, his reference to President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a “reverse racist.” In his interview with John King, Colin Powell called her a "gifted and accomplished woman," with “a judicial record that seems to be balanced and tries to follow the law.”

Limbaugh's comment was in reference to Sotomayor’s past comment that “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.”

Continuing, Powell stated:

Powell: What we can’t continue to have is to have somebody like a Judge Sotomayor, who is announced, and based on one simple, tricky, but nonetheless case that the Supreme Court has now decided, have her called a “racist,” or a “reverse racist” and she ought to withdraw her nomination because we’re mad at her. Fortunately the senators who will sit on this hearing in the Judiciary Committee after a few days of this kind of nonsense said, “Let’s slow down. Let’s examine her qualifications and the way we’re supposed to at a confirmation hearing.”

And when you have non-elected officials such as we have in our party who immediately shout racism or somebody who is quite prominent in the media says the only basis upon which I could possibly have supported Obama was because he was black and I was black even though I laid out my judgment on the candidates, then we still have a problem.

King: The guy who used the term reverse racist, you didn't name him, but it's Rush Limbaugh, and he has said some not so favorable things about you, saying "This guy says he's a Republican, but he supported Obama so he's not really a Republican." You're a Republican?

Powell: Yes, and Mr. Limbaugh of course is entitled to his opinion but he’s not on any membership committee. He doesn’t decide who I am or what I am no more than I decide who he is or what he is, and we've had this running debate, let's call it that, and he's entitled to his opinion and I'm entitled to mine."

Watch it: