Thank you Ginni Thomas.
Having the audacity to ask Anita Hill for an apology has given the courage for Lillian McEwen to come out and talk about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ predilection with porn, but also big breasts. Now, a man having a big breast fetish isn’t exactly news, but classy guys keep it to themselves or at least don’t ask a woman openly how big her tits happen to be.
“He was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners,” McEwen said matter-of-factly. “It was a hobby of his.”
In her Senate testimony, Hill, who worked with Thomas at two federal agencies, said that Thomas would make sexual comments to her at work, including references to scenes in hard-core pornographic films.
[...] “He was obsessed with porn,” she said of Thomas, who is now 63. “He would talk about what he had seen in magazines and films, if there was something worth noting.”
According to Ms. McEwen, at an EEOC seminar no less, Thomas asked her “What size are your breasts?”
Clarence Thomas should never have been confirmed.
That he was lays at the foot of Democrats, particularly Joe Biden, who found the politics of it a little uncomfortable, because polling didn’t lean toward the brave, lonely African American woman taking on the old boys Senate club all on her own.
We all know what happens when one woman takes on the boys.
You are right on target. I watched those hearings and couldn’t believe Joe Biden and his “gentlemanly fairness.”
The most courageous act of the hearings came from Sen. Jack Danforth of MO. after he left office. He wrote a public letter of apology for his sponsorship of Thomas.
I don’t remember that letter of apology. I know my opinion of St. Jack changed forever after his attempt to make Hill seem mentally unbalanced.I would love to read it doda.
I wish he had never been confirmed. The man is a horrible Justice and adds nothing to the court but bad decisions.
I remember watching the hearings as well. It still stands out as one of the highest profile “official” displays of misogyny I’ve ever seen. Today I’ve read for calls for Thomas to resign. The possibilities of that happening are all but nonexistent, of course.
I attended a reunion of sorts with ten friends from college after the hearings and was surprised to find that even the seven conservative Republicans were angry about the hearings. It was the first time all ten of us had ever agreed on anything!
They all, like me had been glued to their TV.
Taylor,
Please also remember that Bush Sr. played identity politics with the misogyny. There was the not so subtle threat that the “black” seat on the Supreme Court would be lost if Thomas was rejected.
One of the bitter ironies of Clarence Thomas is how he rose on the governmental equal opportunity structures he now votes against. He is the ultimate ladder kicker.
I’ve have less problems with Joe Biden act way back in the Poppy Bush days than Mr. “Fierce Advocate” collapsing on the Alito nomination. It is the reenforcement of Clueless Clarence with Awful Alito and Retrograde Roberts that has made the Supremes the force for retrograde motion they are today.
Those hearings infuriate me to this day. Remember the “high-tech lynching” remark? Remember how Ted Kennedy was forced pretty much to sit on his hands, because he was involved in the aftermath of the rape case of his nephew, and the stupid night of drinking and sexual assault? Remember the women of Congress (maybe it was the House) walking in protest to confront the Senate?
And here in Illinois, Carol Moseley Braun won — beat Alan Dixon — because of his vote to confirm.
It was proof positive, once more, that women simply didn’t count.
I can not imagine what motivated Ginni Thomas to do such a stupid thing but it seems to have backfired on her with the comments of Ms. McEwen. It would have been nice for her to have supported Anita Hill during the hearing but at least this might put a stop to more character assassination now.
What motivated her was the disconnected from reality hubris of the pshyco UUUUBERchristofacists.
Like the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass(I THINK it was the Red Queen, coulda been White…but a Queen of some color) Words mean exactly what I want them to mean, nothing more, nothing less.
SHE says Ms. Hill did some thing WITH her…..husband(eeeewww!) si it MUST be true!!
thomas was nearly rejected by the senate i think by what 2 votes? 2 votes! bush sr.’s worst gift to this country was thomas. thomas sits there with views that are getting new attn- oh like hisosition that states have the rt to est a church. he thinks tx has the rt to set up an offical state church. this is way out fo the mainstream- no wonder he is a tea party kinda guy.
the process is broken for court noms. our sense of civility and fairness appears broken. anita hill wasnt givne fair treatment bc those polls said dont be too nice to her. hearings for court noms are a joke and should be disbanded. or maybe the nom should be forced to answer the questions or not confirmed! what a concept. but the tv loves a bit of drama and a happy ending for the poor nom too.
clinton picked ginsberg- a liberal with a long paper trail on choice. she got confirmed by 99 to 100 in sen. today kagan had no paper trail bc in dc its so broken a paper trail can kill a no or cause too much drama. she got confirmed by i think 63 votes. no paper trail.
people are so frsutrated bc dc is broken. pols wont rise to the occassion for the country. mccain filibusters dadt repeal. snowe wont vote to end debate to pass the repeal bc she didnt get her own freakin amendment ont he floor. ui was held up for 2 mos. bs the gop wanted 100 amendments to it while people suffered. and bumbling reid cannot manage the senate with a out of control filibuster a fear to confront the opposition so folks at home know what the gop is up to.
we are watching a trainwreck. is it no surprise that obama’s court noms- a majority of which are women- latinas and african americans too- are being filibusted right now in the senate? the senate body is so out of its damn mind so busy fighting over petty crap that these noms cant even get a freaking vote. for 2 yrs now. the function of the 3 chamber of govt appear unable to use checks and balances. senate cant pass simple bills or noms. congress to afraid to challenge executive power. the courts are so activst conservative fairness is often lost. bush v gore anyone?
texan~ I think Bush v Gore was the real start of decline in our country. I know that the economic side of things had already been started during Regan and inabled during Clinton but it could have been corrected and regulated better under Gore.Eight years of Bush set things on a downward spiral that Obama does not seem to have the ability or maybe the will to hault and in all fairness to him congress is so out of control maybe it is impossible.
The outcome of that Supreme Court decision is when Americans should have hit the streets.