The Clarence Thomas debacle
Read Time:4 Minute, 27 Second
The latest “news” debacle involves Ginny Thomas. That she married Clarence Thomas speaks volumes. [And was it a coincidence that, during my spell check of this post, a suggestion for the misspelling of “ginny” is “ninny”?] That Creepy Clarence failed to apologize to Dr. Hill is a tribute to his cowardice and prevarication.
MSNBC reports that:
Ms. Hill noted that she had been accused of harboring a romantic interest in Justice Thomas by his wife. “Virginia Thomas and I have never met,” Ms. Hill wrote. “And one can imagine that she is guided by her own romantic interest in her husband when she assumes that other women find him attractive as well.”
[ICK!!!]
The same MSNBC site also features a beautifully barbed comment from SC Boy regarding the Thomas clan : “[Ginny Thomas] obviously has some issues, as does her husband. Anita Hill was clearly telling the truth. The other side of the coin is this: A Supreme Court nominee lying during their hearings? Oh no, that’s never happened, has it? Thomas has been and continues to be a disaster on the court and for average Americans. He owes us an apology, which I will not hold my breath for.”
A comment on the Alternet blog wrote: “Anita Hill spurred two decades of progress on sexual harassment, while Clarence Thomas takes us backward on race. Thank you Anita Hill for courageously laying the groundwork for women to stand up to sexual harassment…For those of us who knew Anita Hill told the truth, the appointment of Clarence Thomas was a defeat, a slap in the face.” Indeed.
So, perhaps this might be a good time to consider the Supremely [pun intended] negative and unfounded judgment and backlash against Vice President Joe Biden from many women who hold him in contempt for his perceived condescending attitude to Dr. Hill. As noted in the New York Times: “In one interview,… Mr. Biden said later that he had tried to be a statesman, to uphold decency standards. In the end, however, he conceded that his motivations might have been “misplaced.” On excluding the pornography issue alone, they quoted Mr. Biden as saying that he acted, “in fairness to Thomas, which in retrospect he didn’t deserve.” Perhaps his comment was political posturing, although his future actions do not uphold that concept.
Joe Biden also deserves some acknowledgment for his ability to learn from his errors in presiding over the Hill-Thomas hearing as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Nevertheless, few realize the profound effect this trial made in terms of VP Biden’s tireless efforts to support women’s rights, resulting proximately from these hearings. Accordingly, he also deserves some mention as to his subsequent actions.
After the Hill-Thomas hearings and the subsequent disgraceful appointment of Thomas, Biden took action to ameliorate his error in 1994. He drafted the Violence Against Women Act, later signed into law…
The enactment of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 was the beginning of a historic commitment to women and children victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault. Our nation has been rewarded for [Biden’s] commitment.
Since the Act’s passage in 1994, domestic violence dropped by almost 50%.”[Biden] also stated that the Act “empower[s] women to make changes in their lives, and by training police and prosecutors to arrest and convict abusive husbands instead of telling them to take a walk around the block”
Further, the New York Times reports: “Maybe this is all ancient history. Senator Biden is indeed credited—by Democrats and those on the left— for also presiding over the rejection of Judge Robert Bork for the Supreme Court. And in opposing the placement of now Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.”
“He later spearheaded the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, also known as the Biden Crime Law, and the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), which contains a broad array of measures to combat domestic violence and provides billions of dollars in federal funds to address gender-based crimes. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Morrison that the section of VAWA allowing a federal civil remedy for victims of gender-motivated violence exceeded Congress’s authority and therefore was unconstitutional. Congress reauthorized VAWA in 2000 and 2005. Biden said, “I consider the Violence Against Women Act the single most significant legislation that I ever wrote.”
VAWA proved such a significant legislation that even Bushy Boy signed legislation to broaden the scope of VAWA. Who knew?
Ultimately, Vice President Biden became a strong champion for equality of women Senators: See 14 Women often referred to, fondly, as 14 Women and Joe Biden. Railroad Joe is prominently featured in this documentary: he worked tirelessly to help women Senators secure positions of leadership.
Nor would any misogynist marry the highly intellectual Dr. Jill Biden, a powerful individual in her own right who wisely avoids the Washington “scene.” Joe refers to her as the “smart one” in the family. He’d better. She single-handedly established three breast cancer centers and seven schools in Delaware.
Here’s Senator Biden’s voting record. NARAL rated him 36% on abortion issues [no one’s perfect].
Better still, The Christian Coalition gave him a 16% rating for an anti-family voting record. That’s the best endorsement imaginable.
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Oh, Gwendolyn, so good to be blogging again. Thanks so much for the cudos… I’m doing fine, Will. I missed blogging with both of you more than I can express.
Will, following is a link to a transcript by Anita Hill: http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/GenderIssues/SexualHarassment/hill-thomas-testimony/ Her comments sound less like a relationship gone south than the words of a woman sexually harassed in the workplace. Here is an excerpt of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
“I believed
then, as now, that having a social relationship with a person who was
supervising my work would be ill-advised. I was very uncomfortable with the idea and told him so.
“I thought that by saying “no” and explaining my reasons, my employer
would abandon his social suggestions. However, to my regret, in the
following few weeks he continued to ask me out on several occasions.
…
My working relationship became even more strained when Judge Thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex. On these occasions he would call me into his office for reports on education issues and projects or he might suggest that because of time pressures we go to lunch at a government cafeteria. After a brief discussion of work he would turn the conversation to discussion of sexual matters. His conversations were very vivid.
He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes. He talked about pornographic materials depicting individuals with large penises or large breasts involved in various sex acts. On several occasions Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess.”
***
At the risk of repeating myself… ICK!!!
That is her version of what happened. His version is that nothing at all happened. My suspicion is that the truth lies somewhere in between.
It is ironic that, as I read this, Larry King is interviewing Thomas’ girlfriend who is verifying everything Anita Hill had testified to in his hearings. I have never like this sleaze ball, now that I am hearing this I really hate him. She says that he was obsessed with porn and like to act out some of the pornographic scenes with her. I think now might be a good time to impeach a Supreme Court Justice.
I have no idea what happened between Clarance Thomas and Anita Hill. My suspicion is that there was probably something going on between them and that, yes, for some reason, it obviously went south. But I don’t know. The only thing that I know for sure is that Republicans 100% believe Thomas and Democrats 100% believe Hill. But, hey, why in the hell should this issue be any different from the rest of ’em out there?……How you doin’, Stella?
Thomas does nothing without Scalia telling him it’s okay. He has done nothing since being on SCOTUS, except agree with the rest of the good old boys. I just find this all funny, at a time when one of his old gfs has a book coming out, his wife butt dials Anita Hill asking for an apology. Finding out that Thomas is part of the secret Kochsuckers meetings with the likes of the Beckerhead and Charles Krauthammer. I say Ginny butt dialing Anita Hill was to deflect from all the other stuff going on.
Dearest Gwendolyn, thank you so much and how are you? Thomas? Dumber than a rock? You’re being too kind, Bro.
hey sweetie…. I’m just way too caught up in personal scribe-ing…. other than that
I’m grand!
How are you? And all that goes? Miss you!
This guy is dumber than a rock. He was a Republican place card. Nothing more and nothing more has been expected of him. Another example of Republican nonsense. Great post sis!
Four cheers for Stella! Great post sweetie. We knew at the time that he was what he was… and NOW it’s coming around? Perhaps because it’s so easy to purchase a politician or Justice these days.
A great post. ta.