not only the slanted eyes, but look at the buck teeth, another racist Asian stereotype.

.....if they were going for a slanty eye look or maybe the artist just sucks and doesnt know how to draw someone with their eyes closed. I'm leaning towards the latter since the editor doesnt see it either.

Shorter liberal commentators: "If you dare caricature any prominent minority, we will call it racist."

"Lowry responded, '[N]ot sure I'm following you. Can you be more specific?'"

Wow, that's... whew. And they call *her* racist?

The Buddha was Indian. Can't these bigots even shoot straight?

Stupid is a better one, I think. I guess they think their audience are virulent racists. Somebody probably thinks its funny. The guy you e-mailed with can't possibly be that thick, can he?

There goes the Asian-American vote, too.

Is there anyone left the Right hasn't insulted lately?

I really don't see any buck teeth in this picture, and I'm aware of the caricature you are referring to. I just don't see it here.

While I can sort of see possible slanted eyes, it really to me just looks more like her eyes are closed in meditation.

When drawing someone like this, you try to incorporate both the person's actual expressions, and the subject you are tying them to.

Honestly, what's negative to Sotomayor about being compared to Budda?

If anything, it's an insult to religion. I don't the National Review would run a picture like this of Sotomayor as the Virgin Mary.

I'd like nothing more than to slam the NR folks for racist imagery, but I think it's just a bad caricature.

All of the jaw lines and other facial lines also are slanted, so if you're going to have closed eyes it makes sense that they would be as well.

As if we needed more proof that the right was racist... then they just go and drop a big giant racist turd like this in the discourse.

Good job twenty percenters! Keep it up, please. It is so much fun watching you marginalized yourselves. It just keeps getting better.

Thick? Have you ever seen or heard Rick Lowry on the news shows? He looks about 20 years old, and has a permanent, annoying smirk on his face. The majority of things I have heard come out of his mouth are the typical inane Republican talking points that you hear being bandied about by the Right. So yeah.... he's thick

I wouldn't have known who this s a caricature of if it weren't labeled as "wise Latina" Sotomayor.

Doesn't look like her. It sort of looks like Indira Gandhi with slanty eyes.

sorry, RICH Lowry.

You are an idiot for making any issue of this cover. The cover is perfectly fine, if hamhanded, caricature. Accusing TNR of slant-eyed racism was really stupid of you.

I mean, they call her the Wise Latina ... it's not racist, it's a compliment.

It's just a cartoon. Jeeezus!!!

This hyper-sensitivity on the left must end.

Worry about some shit that matters.

I have been a caricature artist for a long time. I don't think any stereotyping was going on here. I don't see a person with buck teeth. I don't see slanted eyes, either. The subject is smiling. It raises your cheeks and may give you eyes a downward slant. In either case, here eyes are closed so it is impossible to see if they were slanted. I am of German-English extraction and my eyes could be interpreted the same way when I smile. A more appropriate criticism might have been the use of Buddhism when it is the nominee's Catholicism that might be of note. BTW I consider myself to be liberal and hope Sotomayor is confirmed. Salon needs to stop crying wolf so much. This seems to be a tactic of conservative sites. Always in outraged reaction to the other side. Be more pro-active and less reactive.

bad artist in addition to racist. C'mon the charicature is obvious. I don't see how anyone can rationalize it. Rich Lowry is a dink and a total liar. The only thing I think he has been truthful about is is hard on for Sarah Palin. The guy is a joke. I hope he has his invite from the talk show permanently revoked as he is not suitable for adult, important conversation.

I'm no fan of the National Review, but this seems pretty innocous. Sotomayor does have high cheekbones, which would make her eyes appear somewhat "slanted" when smiling or making other facial expressions. This is a feature many people of various races and ethnicities have. I don't see anything racist about it at all. As a matter of fact, considering all the mud being slung at her by the wingnuts, the cover seems almost flattering.

Oh, and the Buddha was born into the Brahmin caste in India, so was probably light skinned without slanted eyes.

On the other hand why is Jesus, who was born in the Middle East, often depicted with sandy blond hair and blue eyes? Maybe Salon should investigate that....

an AWFUL lot of those WWII posters designed to teach Americans how to tell the difference between the Japanese (who were bad) and the Chinese (who were good). Anyone remember those?

I mean really an awful lot...I didn't find the specific ones I was looking for, but these are kinda representative.

http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/pm/11212cs.jpg

http://www.tfaoi.com/am/8am/8am206.jpg

I bet NR didn't go after Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Stephen Breyer like this. Why Judge Sotomayor?

They should have shown her picking tomatoes with some other Hispanics. That, evidently, is what they really think of her.

The NR neo-cons lost the last decade spoiling for various mideast wars. They've now lost their feel for middle American conservatives like me.

I see at the top of the cover: "JONAH GOLDBERG ON HIS CRITICS"

Better get him the hell off before those poor guys are SMOTHERED!

When reading how Sonia Sotomayor is interpreted by others, I think of a scene from West Side Story. Rita, the girlfriend of the Puerto Rican gangleader Bernardo, meets the rival Jets gang with a message for Tony, the Romeo character to Maria’s Juliet. The Jets, fueled by anger and ignorance and prejudice, insult and humiliate Rita, taunt her with a bullfight, and eventually rape her.

The right usually portrays Sotomayor as a fiery, tempestuous Latina. I have to admit, this portrait is a departure. Either way, Sotomayor’s detractors are showing the same ignorant and ugly behavior that I figured was limited to a fifty-year-old Broadway musical.