October 1, 2007 7:57 AM
Clarence Thomas: on the record about Anita Hill and the hearings
Anita Hill was a mediocre employee whose allegations of sexual misconduct during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings were prompted by groups that opposed Thomas. The justice grew up in segregated poverty and was a radical until Ronald Reagan's message of self-sufficiency.
It's all in Thomas' autobiography, My Grandfather's Son, on sale today, coinciding with the Supreme Court's new term.
Much of the book deals with the contentious confirmation hearings.
He writes with indignation of the nationally televised hearings that he memorably called a "high-tech lynching." A child of the segregated South, Thomas says he was being pursued "not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony."Powerful interest groups were out to stop him at all costs and chose "the age-old blunt instrument of accusing a black man of sexual misconduct," he writes.
Hill, who is also black, had worked for Thomas at the Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She first made her allegations after Thomas had been nominated to the high court, 10 years after she began working for him and only after she was contacted by congressional investigators.
In the book, Thomas describes Hill as touchy and apt to overreact, not someone who would wait a decade to level a charge of harassment. She had complained to Thomas only about his refusal to promote her, the justice says.
"Her work at EEOC had been mediocre," he writes.
In 1991, Thomas adamantly denied Hill's accusations that he made inappropriate sexual remarks, including references to pornographic movies. Thomas says he did talk about X-rated movies while at Yale Law School, adding that so did many other young people in the 1970s.
Thomas says now that he was "one of the least likely candidates imaginable" for a charge of harassment, having made clear his desire to run an agency staffed mainly by minorities and women as professionally as any other.
Thomas, 59, acknowledges that three other former EEOC employees backed Hill's version of events, but he says they either had been fired or had left the agency on bad terms.
Thomas sat for a long interview with Steve Kroft that was broadcast last night on CBS.
Do you believe what Thomas says about Hill? And that his position on abortion was the driving force for the opposition to his confirmation?
October 1, 2007
9:43 AM
Anonymous writes:
Anita Hill had her 5-minutes of fame a long time ago. We need to forget the name but forever be aware that such slime always surrounds us.
October 1, 2007
10:23 AM
Rockies Rock writes:
Clarence Thomas is just another dishonest,deceptive Righty who tries to blame others for his own shortcomings.
October 1, 2007
10:31 AM
Anonymous writes:
Classic Uncle Tom
October 1, 2007
10:40 AM
Anonymous writes:
One only needs to contrast the reaction of the left towards Thomas on the basis of one woman's accusations with the many women who accused Clinton. One the one side Thomas is vilified, and on the other side all the women are vilified. Seems fair to me, Clarence must be a monster.
October 1, 2007
10:45 AM
Classic paranoia! Probably has the same "literary" agent as OJ writes:
Sooooo interesting:
"Thomas, 59, acknowledges that three other former EEOC employees backed Hill's version of events, but he says they either had been fired or had left the agency on bad terms."
Interesting, since Thomas only cites employees who LEFT--probably for the same thing. We don't hear a peep in this article about anyone in the same agency supporting him. Hmmmmm.
October 1, 2007
10:48 AM
Oh Wise One writes:
One of the biggest problems in the black community is the perception of "Uncle Tom" also known as "acting white".
For the majority of blacks to ever achieve equality, they are going to have to embrace education, grammar and pronunciation. Acting like a gangster rapping about their ho's and talking in Ebonics is NEVER going to achieve anything except more of the same.
Why is it that the biggest problems with the black minority is in the Democrat(ic) run cities? Giving away 'free' money encourages people to stay home and watch TV or hang out on the corner.
October 1, 2007
10:55 AM
feel the love writes:
This article looks to be a big draw today.
We have a bigot checking in at 10:31 and a conspiracy theorist at 10:45.
October 1, 2007
11:02 AM
The ONLY "blunt instrument" that got Thomas in trouble was his ANATOMY writes:
Oh, so now we have a mediocre Supreme court justice whining about Anita Hill speaking out because he sexually harrassed her? What??? Thomas only got onto the court to fill a quota--a Thurgood Marshall he ain't, and never will be.
October 1, 2007
1:18 PM
Clarence Thomas writes:
Bro's before Ho's, bro's before ho's...
October 1, 2007
2:00 PM
Judicial Code of Ethics writes:
Clarence Thomas' wife was working for the Bush transition team when he voted on the decision in Bush v. Gore. Judicial ethics required that he recuse himself for conflict of interest. Any state judge who would do such a thing would be disbarred. Now it is time to impeach Clarence Thomas and remove him from the bench.
October 1, 2007
3:04 PM
Chip on chump writes:
Clarence Thomas has quite a chip on his shoulder that he thinks the left camp was hunting him down when it was his own actions coming back to haunt him. His call for pity because he is a black man is pretty funny when his accuser is a black woman. He still does not accept responsibility for his own actions and does not deserve to serve on the court. He is bought by the right and only is concerned with his comfy backside not the constitution. Here is the corrupt activist judge and guess what, he isn’t a liberal. I doubt he is conservative either but corrupt I know is accurate and his track record proves it.
October 1, 2007
3:15 PM
Just the facts writes:
10:40,
Clinton was impeached, Thomas was confirmed. You have your story backwards. Oh it isn’t a story it’s rhetoric, I get it.
October 1, 2007
3:43 PM
Hogar De Vuelta (العودة) writes:
What is not widely known is that Anita was actually attacked by Buddy Love.
October 1, 2007
4:03 PM
Anonymous writes:
Boy that sure is a big job for somebody that is such a little man.
October 1, 2007
4:31 PM
Dave Hughes writes:
I listened carefully to the long 60 Minutes interview of him and its background piece of his background.
As I had thought before I saw both, I think it was perfectly appropriate for him to have been appointed to the Supreme Court in all his bedrock conservatism and Constitutional constructionism.
Now that I have seen him up close, I know I was right the first time. Too bad so many blacks who want perpetural 'victimization' rights reject him. He has their number.
October 1, 2007
4:33 PM
Dave Hughes writes:
I listened carefully to the long 60 Minutes interview of him and its background piece of his background.
As I had thought before I saw both, I think it was perfectly appropriate for him to have been appointed to the Supreme Court in all his bedrock conservatism and Constitutional constructionism.
Now that I have seen him up close, I know I was right the first time. Too bad so many blacks who want perpetural 'victimization' rights reject him. He has their number.
October 1, 2007
4:51 PM
Anonymous writes:
Dave,
He uses their number to defend himself. He played the victim the whole time during his hearings. Again I repeat it is a big job for such a little man.
October 11, 2007
5:05 PM
john mulroy writes:
this guy is a piece of shit; the conflict with his wife working for the transition team during the recount reeks worse than Dred Scott. He is bitter and utterly without morals.
October 11, 2007
5:05 PM
john mulroy writes:
this guy is a piece of shit; the conflict with his wife working for the transition team during the recount reeks worse than Dred Scott. He is bitter and utterly without morals.
December 17, 2007
10:47 PM
Heather writes:
Those who despise the truth will hate Justice Thomas Clarence. Those who love the truth will love him.
December 17, 2007
10:50 PM
Heather writes:
Those who despise the truth will hate Justice Clarence Thomas. Those who love the truth will love him.