Take, for example, the wildly overheated denunciations of Judge Sonia Sotomayor by Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, on the one hand, and the demonstrably untrue assertions that President Obama has repeatedly made about the Supreme Court's 2007 ruling against the now-famous Lilly Ledbetter, on the other.

Limbaugh has denounced Sotomayor as a "reverse racist" and a "hack" -- adding that "Obama is the greatest living example of a reverse racist, and now he's appointed one." Gingrich has also called her a racist and demanded that she withdraw.

"Hack?" Judge Sotomayor's legal opinions may not be the stuff of brilliance, as some liberal critics have complained. But she is an accomplished jurist with many admirers and a stellar academic record at Princeton and Yale law School. She is also an inspiring, up-from-modest-origins American-dream life story.

"Racist"? Limbaugh and Gingrich based this imprecation on Sotomayor's assertion in a 2001 speech 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."

I, too, have criticized that assertion. But in the apt words of former Karl Rove aide Peter Wehner, now of the Ethics and Public Policy Center:

It is entirely appropriate to criticize those comments and Judge Sotomayor's decisions. But that is quite different, I think, from calling her a racist and insisting that she should withdraw. As a general matter, I think the term 'racist' is thrown around far too promiscuously and carelessly. ... Strong, spirited, even passionate debate can be useful, and even important, in the life of a nation. But civility and decency are vital as well.

Wehner's brief post -- "Challenge, With Civility" -- on Commentary's blog "Contentions" is worth a full read (as are all of Wehner's posts).

Obama's misrepresentations of the facts of the Ledbetter case are far less inflammatory but will take a bit more explaining.

Remember Bork. And Estrada. And Clarence Thomas. And Alito.

Never forget. Never.