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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Morning Open Thread: We (Still) Believe Anita

Thursday Morning Open Thread: We (Still) Believe Anita

by Anne Laurie|  March 13, 20145:27 am| 103 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Vagina Outrage, Women's Rights Are Human Rights

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Don’t see many movies in the theatre any more, but I’ll look for this one. From the NYTimes:

WALTHAM, Mass. — On the day in 1991 that the Senate confirmed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, Anita Hill — the little- known law professor who riveted the nation by accusing him of sexual harassment — faced news cameras outside her simple brick home in Norman, Okla., with her mother by her side, and politely declined to comment on the vote.

In the nearly 23 years since, Ms. Hill, now a professor of social policy, law and women’s studies at Brandeis University here, has worked hard, she likes to say, to help women “find their voices.” She has also found hers — and she is not afraid to use it.

“I believe in my heart that he shouldn’t have been confirmed,” she said in a recent interview, acknowledging that it irritates her to see Justice Thomas on the court. “I believe that the information I provided was clear, it was verifiable, it was confirmed by contemporaneous witnesses that I had talked with. And I think what people don’t understand is that it does go to his ability to be a fair and impartial judge.”

It was a surprisingly candid comment from a deeply private woman who has long been careful in the spotlight. But the quiet life Ms. Hill has carved out for herself is about to be upended — by her own choice — with the release of a documentary, “Anita,” opening on March 21 in theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York…

The movie, which premiered at Sundance last year to good reviews, opens with the voice of Justice Thomas’s wife, Ginni, in a 2010 message on Ms. Hill’s office answering machine, asking her to “consider an apology and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.” (Ms. Hill initially thought it was a prank.) It intersperses old footage of the hearings with interviews with Ms. Hill; her lawyer, the Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr.; some supporters and two journalists, Jill Abramson, now executive editor of The New York Times, and Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, co-authors of a 1994 book, “Strange Justice,” that raised questions about Justice Thomas’s candor…

Today, Ms. Hill is working mostly on a strategic plan for Brandeis; she plans to use a sabbatical next year to organize her letters. If she has a legacy, experts say, it is in creating a vocabulary for Americans to talk about sexual harassment, where none existed before. In 1991, after a confidential memo containing Ms. Hill’s accusations leaked out, seven female Democratic House members marched over to the Senate to demand that she be called as a witness…

But she wants America to know that “I have a good life,” a life of meaning and purpose, that “something positive” has come out of those dark 1991 days. Looking back, she said, she sometimes marvels at how hard her critics worked to destroy her.

“And yet,” she said, sounding satisfied, “here I am.”

All those years ago, I was still young enough to be amazed at how many otherwise well-educated, well-meaning men just couldn’t believe that a powerful man would harass his female underlings just because he could. Or how many women would defend Clarence Thomas because, well, listening to your boss describe his sexual fantasies was just the lowest price any smart, ambitious woman should expect to pay for the privilege of being allowed into “a man’s world”. It’s not like he actually groped her, raped her, abused her in front of his fellow powerful men — it was “just words”, after all. And the intersection of these two justifications… watching men see their mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters come out of the sexual-harrassment-victim closet… well, that was quite eye-opening, as well.

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Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2014 at 5:43 am

    You can’t say “I believe Anita Hill” without triggering an earworm.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 13, 2014 at 5:59 am

    “And yet,” she said, sounding satisfied, “here I am.”

    The plate of revenge is best cold.

  3. 3.

    Montarvillois

    March 13, 2014 at 6:01 am

    Looking at the face of Orrin Hatch will forever remind me of the sneering and contempt he projected towards Anita Hill at the Thomas hearings.

  4. 4.

    low-tech cyclist

    March 13, 2014 at 6:06 am

    And there was also Angela Wright.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    March 13, 2014 at 6:07 am

    Bush I wasn’t a horrible president by GOP standards, but the Thomas nomination will forever damn his soul.

  6. 6.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 13, 2014 at 6:13 am

    @Baud: Well, that and fathering Bush II.

  7. 7.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    March 13, 2014 at 6:13 am

    @Baud: Double Post.

  8. 8.

    Chyron HR

    March 13, 2014 at 6:30 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    We have no evidence that he fathered Dubya. That’s all on Bar, pending a paternity test.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    March 13, 2014 at 6:36 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    It is a nice counterexample for when the anti-choicers argue that women could be aborting the next Mozart.

  10. 10.

    mai naem

    March 13, 2014 at 6:40 am

    Don’t forget Ginni Thomas is such a whackjob that she talked at the CPAC whackjob alternative confab last week. I never liked Arlen Specter because of the way he interrogated Anita Hill like she was some serial murderer on the stand. BTW, I always thought Anita Hill’s story was so crazy it had to be true.

  11. 11.

    currants

    March 13, 2014 at 6:49 am

    We must be close in age, Anne. I had a similar experience here (in MA), where I was (an older student) in college. And the first time I visited my family (in red rural Pennsylvania) after that, I was shocked at the virulence of their feelings about Hill. I knew they were deeply conservative, but around then I began to understand just how misogynist the right-wing was.

  12. 12.

    HeartlandLiberal

    March 13, 2014 at 6:52 am

    What I do not understand is how Thomas and Scalia repeatedly purport themselves outside the Supreme Court, in public, with far right groups, and make statements that clearly violate in sense of adherence to the neutrality in public discourse that their role demands. And Thomas’ wife hangs all the time with the most fringe and extreme elements of the far right.

    If this nation had not descended already so far into lawless chaos across the board at the highest levels of government, both would be impeached and removed for conduct incompatible with their role as a SCOTUS Justice.

    I see Dianne Feinstein is all upset the CIA lied to her and spied on her and the Senate.

    My only response is, where was she when it had become crystal clear that the intelligence agencies of this nation dumped the Constitution overboard over a decade ago, and have been spying on EVERYTHING American citizens do, with no regard for due process, habeas corpus, warrants, or anything else, since then?

    The American Sheeple have allowed our nation to become a 24×7 surveillance police state. And a majority of SCOTUS will rule that all these actions are perfectly compatible with the original intent they repeatedly trumpet as their prime consideration regarding the constitutionality of anything that comes before them.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    March 13, 2014 at 6:52 am

    There was additional information that Joe squashed, which would have showed a pattern of abuse. Ginni Thomas is going to do some more drunk dialing in the future, imo.

  14. 14.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    March 13, 2014 at 6:55 am

    Another snow day. I’m going skiing. Fresh pow here I come.

  15. 15.

    Aimai

    March 13, 2014 at 7:10 am

    Oh yeah. I remember listening by radio and just shaking with rage.

  16. 16.

    currants

    March 13, 2014 at 7:17 am

    @Aimai: Yeah. And going to classes where that was THE topic of conversation, so much so that our profs set aside time for that and set up a separate classroom (with TV) so we could watch–the vote, probably, although all I remember (aside from the discussions) is Arlen Specter.

  17. 17.

    Betsy

    March 13, 2014 at 7:19 am

    @Chyron HR: hey, that is kind of a patriarchal “joke” that picks on a woman because of conventional patriarchal insults and gender roles.

  18. 18.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    March 13, 2014 at 7:24 am

    I’m angered at the confirmation of Thomas, and I’m angered at the interrogations Ms. Hill faced (with dignity and professionalism), but I am grateful to her for speaking out. She changed the conversation re: sexual harassment — gone are the days when a woman complaining about creepy behavior from a male co-worker is dismissed with words like “he is jus showing his interest in you.” Cosmos willing, her legacy will be longer than Justice’s Thomas’. Maybe in a multi-verse, she is a Supreme Court Justice.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    March 13, 2014 at 7:25 am

    Every time Thomas opens his mouth on the bench he exhibits his mastery of jurisprudence and depth of intellect.

    Oh, wait…

  20. 20.

    IowaOldLady

    March 13, 2014 at 7:55 am

    I’m having trouble commenting because I’m apparently still waaay more angry about this than I realized.

    Clarence Thomas, the Thurgood Marshall replacement brought to you by people who really do think Hillary Clinton-Sarah Palin, same diff, right?

    I’m glad Anita Hill is doing well.

  21. 21.

    Tommy

    March 13, 2014 at 7:58 am

    This might have been about the first time I really paid attention to politics or watched one of these hearings. I recall saying to myself, “wow this can’t be how our government works.” 20+ years later when I watch one I ponder the same thought.

  22. 22.

    Tommy

    March 13, 2014 at 8:05 am

    @IowaOldLady: I think I understand. With Hill, or Hillary (insert many examples), the Republicans are like a dog with a bone, they can just never let it go. I don’t frequent far right sites, but Media Maters or somebody will pick up they are still going after this women to this very day.

    As others have noted it appears Hill held it together after all this and became a successful and strong women (guess she was already that in 1991). I say good for her!

    She is a better person then myself. If I knew something about a powerful Republican or the DNC wanted to put me in an ad, pretty sure I’d not do it cause I wouldn’t want to invite the Republican and far right attack machine into my life.

  23. 23.

    Bobby Thomson

    March 13, 2014 at 8:14 am

    @JPL: Definitely the nadir of Biden’s career. At least the bankruptcy bill was something his state wanted. This was all on him.

  24. 24.

    Chyron HR

    March 13, 2014 at 8:19 am

    @Betsy:

    “Woman” implies that Barbara Bush is human. Again, I would need to see DNA evidence before accepting that.

  25. 25.

    Tokyokie

    March 13, 2014 at 8:33 am

    The trailer alone gets my blood boiling. I was appalled by the treatment of Hill at the time, but even more so by all but two Senate Republicans voting to confirm a perjurer to a lifetime Supreme Court position. And, oh, by the way, in his more than 20 years on the court, Thomas has consistently proven himself to be one of the worst justices in the history of U.S. jurisprudence.

  26. 26.

    Cassidy

    March 13, 2014 at 8:36 am

    @HeartlandLiberal:

    The American Sheeple have allowed our nation to become a 24×7 surveillance police state.

    Tell us more about that conversation between you and your barista. I’m so very interested.

    The legacy of Anita Hill is she retired to a life of obscurity; not her fault in the slightest. They won. A smart, charismatic woman got shuffled off to nowhere for the sin of not listening to a conservative creep describe how he wanted to fuck her.

  27. 27.

    rikyrah

    March 13, 2014 at 8:44 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

  28. 28.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    March 13, 2014 at 8:45 am

    I watched the hearings from a bar in Charleston, SC (coincidentally, representing a Fed employee in a sexual harassment case), and remember being mad as hell at Joe Biden (D-MBNA) at the time, but don’t remember why. Thomas was head of the EEOC at the time and his tenure was a complete disaster. I hated anything connected with the Bush family for a lot of reasons. This was one of them.

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    March 13, 2014 at 8:45 am

    Never EVER trusted Unca Clarence.

    Not from the moment when I first read the story about how he lied on his sister and why she got on welfare, all so that he could kiss up to White conservatives. When I read how he humiliated, disrespected and lied on his sister to kiss White ass, I was done with him. Never even needed to hear Anita Hill’s story.

  30. 30.

    Tokyokie

    March 13, 2014 at 8:50 am

    @Cassidy: I sat next to a black woman at the office while the Thomas confirmation hearings were going on, and I think her view of the situation affected mine. Her take was, essentially, “You want to know whom to believe? Just look at her! And look at him!” She was saying that Hill was an attractive woman who had romantic options, while Thomas was a physically repulsive creep who didn’t. Of course he harassed her; abusing a good-looking underling was as close as he’d ever come to having one.

  31. 31.

    gogol's wife

    March 13, 2014 at 8:51 am

    @Aimai:

    Me too. That radio was on all the time, and I was in a seething rage the whole time. Biden was a weasel.

    And don’t forget, we owe the “election” of 2000 in part to Clarence Thomas.

  32. 32.

    Hillary Rettig

    March 13, 2014 at 9:05 am

    @Cassidy: That is too limited a view. Anita Hill raised everyone’s consciousness about sexual harassment, and work life is better for millions as a result.

    Happy about the movie, but esp. happy that it begins with the awful Ginni Thomas’s drunk dialed harassment.

    Recently reread David Brock’s Blinded by the Right, about his time as a 1990s era right wing hit man. So well written, such great insight. Super recommended. He was the one, remember, who was one of the principal media attackers of AH.

    The main lesson from BBTR: the right wing are fundamentally haters. In some cases, the hate is leavened with greed, corruption, or power lust. But fundamentally, in many of them, a solid core of hate.

  33. 33.

    wonkie

    March 13, 2014 at 9:08 am

    It seems like a case of misplaced loyalties.. Remember the reaction to the accusations made against the coach at Penn State? I can understand a wait-and-see attitude. After all, innocent until proven guilty. I cannot understand the people who immediately jumped to the conclusion that the coach HAD to be innocent or the victims HAD to be lying.

    We have a situation out here in Washington state in the town of Forks, of Twilight fame (or infamy depending on your attitude toward the books). A man set himself up as an expert in dealing with dangerous dogs. (He had no credentials, training, or expertise and the dogs he collected were not dangerous). He got 501c3 charity status, a lovely website that promised services he never provided, appeared at public events , ingrated himself into local politics as a Democrat, got write-ups in national print venues, got a grant from the Humane Society…all the while keeping one hundred and sixty dogs crammed into crates stacked up in a filthy stinky dark 4000 square foot warehouse inside Forks city limits.

    How smart does someone have to be to understand that one cannot humanely care for one hundred and sixty dogs inside a 4000 sqft building? If he had kept those dogs in a house of equivalent size there’d be no debate about whether or not he was a hoarder.

    Anyway his operation went bust when pictures of the inside got onto Facebook. He was charged with cruelty to animals (but the City Attorney and Mayor refused to prosecute due to local political reasons). He is the target of multiple lawsuits for misuse of donor money. There’s a lot of stuff in his tax returns that the IRS could get their teeth into. One hundred and twenty four of the dogs were rescued and they exhibited a long list of predicable health problems: parasites, semi-starvation, muscle atrophy, induced arthritis from confinement, side effects of chronic malnutrition, untreated injuries….

    But none of that matters to a little group of determined idiots who see the guy as a local hero and are bound and determined to keep on seeing him that way, facts be damned. It’s a mentality I do not understand and I am appalled that some of cultists are Democrats. I guess I thought Dems would be better than that.

    (BTW there were plenty of people in Forks who saw right through the guy. The stink, the rats and the incessant barking…)

    Point is there are people out there who make up their minds based on internal factors such as loyalty to a town, a person , a political party, a perception of commonality…and to them reality is irrelevant. The simply cannot think fairly or objectively about issues obscured by their misplaced loyalty.

  34. 34.

    gene108

    March 13, 2014 at 9:25 am

    @IowaOldLady:

    Clarence Thomas, the Thurgood Marshall replacement brought to you by people who really do think Hillary Clinton-Sarah Palin, same diff, right?

    I think what’s interesting about the Thomas pick to replace Marshall was Republicans “caring” about the perception that they had blacks in the Republican Party, because it would look bad to replace Thurgood Marshall with a white guy.

    Today they would not care about replacing minorities/women with white guys. There is no attempt at even giving a window dressing approach to appearing to be inclusive.

  35. 35.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 13, 2014 at 9:26 am

    @gogol’s wife: Hey, did you see where Dmytro Firtash was arrested in Vienna this morning, on an FBI warrant? If he sings, things will get interesting in a hurry.

  36. 36.

    LAC

    March 13, 2014 at 9:35 am

    @IowaOldLady: you and me both. Amen to what you said. Every day that man sits on the bench is an affront to Marshall ‘s legacy. He is just Scalia ‘s rubber stamp.

  37. 37.

    Original Lee

    March 13, 2014 at 9:41 am

    I didn’t see much of the hearings due to working two jobs at the time. I do remember talking about it in the carpool. I wanted to believe Hill, especially since Thomas creeped me out, but I had trouble believing that she didn’t just find another job if the harassment was as bad as she said. I was young, had led a sheltered life, and was deeply puzzled by the whole thing. Now that I’m older, I know that nothing is too weird not to have happened. I owe Hill an apology for ever having doubts. I’m glad she’s doing well.

  38. 38.

    wenchacha

    March 13, 2014 at 9:45 am

    I was truly disgusted by Sen. Alan Simpson while watching the hearings. He was despicable then, and still is.

  39. 39.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 9:51 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Yes, I saw that. The warrant has nothing to do with the current mess in Ukraine but having Firtash in custody may be a useful start.

  40. 40.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 13, 2014 at 9:53 am

    @wonkie:
    Our culture perceives women as weaker than men, and thus vulnerable. Looking for weakness to attack is built into humans as an instinct, but assholes and abusers get off on it, and have a large emotional stake in hurting the weak. When a woman tries to hit back against abuse and make herself and women in general less vulnerable, abusers everywhere, male and female, go on the attack. No group that is vulnerable can be allowed to gain strength and threaten the whole structure of abuse that they love so much. You can see that clearly in the disgustingly personal ‘blame the victim’ arguments the Right loves.

  41. 41.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 13, 2014 at 10:01 am

    @Cervantes: Not a short-term solution to anything, but he knows an awful lot, much of which will point back to Putin. This is hardball on the part of the EU. I’d bet Yulia Tymoshenko isn’t jumping with joy either, because she had deep tentacles in RosUkrEnergo as well.

  42. 42.

    beth

    March 13, 2014 at 10:09 am

    A few months after the Thomas hearings, I had to travel with two men from work to take over some businesses my company had just bought. We worked under a vice president from another office – none of us had ever met him before. He turned out to be a complete leering lech, constantly making crude jokes and suggestions, trying to look down my shirt, and just overall being a creep. I didn’t say anything, just kept my head down for the three days we were there since I was a new, young employee and didn’t want to rock the boat. When we returned to our office the two men I traveled with took me out to lunch and told me that they were going to make a complaint against this guy. They said they were very uncomfortable with how he treated me and didn’t want him doing that to other women. I was very surprised by this. We told the president of our company what had happened and I’m told the creep was disciplined. He did call me and apologized. A few months later, all the employees had to take sexual harrassment classes.

    I’m sorry Anita HIll had to go through what she went through but it started a conversation in this country that needed to be started and I’m eternally grateful to her for that.

  43. 43.

    Hillary Rettig

    March 13, 2014 at 10:12 am

    @beth: great story, beth! maybe email it to Prof. Hill so she knows of another incident where she made a difference

  44. 44.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 10:13 am

    @beth:

    I’m eternally grateful to her for that.

    Let her know:

    ahill at brandeis.edu
    781.736.3896

  45. 45.

    shelly

    March 13, 2014 at 10:20 am

    Don’t forget Ginni Thomas is such a whackjob that she talked

    Yeah, I’ve always wondered what prompted Mrs. Thomas to , seemingly out of the blue, to leave that messaage for Hill. Somebody joked about drinking and dialing. But really, what was she thinking…?

  46. 46.

    wil

    March 13, 2014 at 10:20 am

    Anyone who’s ever had a bad boss can relate to Anita Hill, regardless of whatever you give a crap about sexual harassment in general.

  47. 47.

    bemused

    March 13, 2014 at 10:22 am

    I started to imagine how Thomas’ sexual harassment and confirmation hearings would play out if it all was happening today in our current political environment but had to stop going there when my head started to throb.

  48. 48.

    beth

    March 13, 2014 at 10:32 am

    @Cervantes: Thanks, I may just do that. I always thought that the Thomas hearings made good guys like the ones I worked with more sensitive to what women had to deal with. A year earlier and they may not have done anything and then it would have been my word against his if I’d chosen to pursue it (which I probably wouldn’t have at that point in my career).

  49. 49.

    Bobby Thomson

    March 13, 2014 at 10:38 am

    @LAC: In fairness, Thomas is more consistent and principled a judge in his opinions than Scalia, who departs from his “originalism” whenever it suits him. And his lack of questions at oral argument don’t really mean much, since the justices make up their minds after reading the briefs and the draft opinions. I have more respect for him as a judge than I do for Scalia or Alito, who are pure political hacks.

    But his conduct outside the courtroom is and was inappropriate, as is his failure to recuse himself in situations where he has a clear conflict of interest. He never should have been confirmed and he dishonors the institution.

  50. 50.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 10:39 am

    @shelly:

    Yeah, I’ve always wondered what prompted Mrs. Thomas to , seemingly out of the blue, to leave that messaage for Hill. Somebody joked about drinking and dialing. But really, what was she thinking…?

    She has a … history of making unusual (not necessarily bad) phone calls.

    Once, she even left a voice message for David Brock when he was being criticized for giving up his right-wing advocacy. She defended him.

    People can be complicated.

    (I am not saying or implying anything here about the message she left Hill.)

  51. 51.

    mak

    March 13, 2014 at 10:47 am

    @JPL:

    Ginni Thomas is going to do some more drunk dialing in the future, imo.

    I take great comfort in the fact that Professor Hill appears to be as comfortable in her own skin as Clarence Thomas seems uncomfortable in his. History has been much kinder to her position than to his. Anita Hill is a hero to a generation of women; Clarence Thomas is a hero to . . . no one. His own kid probably hates his guts.

    I also hope that the documentary is well publicized and finds a large audience (an NYT write up is a good start in that department), since every bit of publicity it receives will likely cause Mr. Thomas shame and discomfort and, more importantly, increase the likelihood that Mrs. Thomas will get hammered and pick up the phone once more.

  52. 52.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 10:52 am

    @beth:

    I always thought that the Thomas hearings made good guys like the ones I worked with more sensitive to what women had to deal with.

    Whatever caused them to treat you with respect and decency, I’m glad they saw the obligation to do so.

    For some people, it’s as practical as realizing that their own mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters deserve respect. For other people, it’s more of a philosophical or intuitive or universal thing.

    And then there are the people who just don’t get it. This happened a few days ago:

    Two teenage girls in southern Maryland bullied an apparently autistic 16-year-old boy into performing sexual acts and crashing through pond ice in episodes they captured on cellphone video, authorities said Wednesday. The girls, ages 17 and 15, threatened the teen with a knife, kicked him in the groin and dragged him around by his hair, said St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Cara Grumbels. They coerced him into walking on a partially frozen pond and then refused to help him out of the frigid water, she said.

    If you’re not speechless at this moment, you’re quicker than I am.

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    March 13, 2014 at 10:58 am

    @gogol’s wife:

    I think that, like most men of his generation, Biden was probably unaware of how pervasive the problem of sexual harassment was, but learned from the experience. The Hill testimony was in 1991, and he helped draft and sponsor the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994.

  54. 54.

    Lurker

    March 13, 2014 at 10:59 am

    “(…) the voice of Justice Thomas’s wife, Ginni, in a 2010 message on Ms. Hill’s office answering machine, asking her to “consider an apology and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.” ”

    Ginni Thomas left that ridiculous message on Anita Hill’s answering machine 19 years after Hill’s testimony? Methink Ginni Thomas has serious mental issues.

  55. 55.

    GregB

    March 13, 2014 at 11:07 am

    Does anyone remember the wingnut e-mail that stated that the GOP was the Party that put the first Black man on the Supreme Court when Thomas was appointed?

    Yep, Thurgood Marshall was shoved down the memory hole for that glorious bit of moronaganda.

  56. 56.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 11:18 am

    @Lurker:

    Ginni Thomas left that ridiculous message on Anita Hill’s answering machine 19 years after Hill’s testimony? Methink Ginni Thomas has serious mental issues.

    Here’s more of her message than you quoted above:

    Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought. And certainly pray about this and hope that one day you will help us understand why you did what you did. O.K., have a good day.

    Someone who used to know Clarence Thomas (far more intimately than I do!) suggested that Mrs. Thomas left this message (or perhaps intended to have this conversation) in order to support her husband’s portrayal of himself (and to himself).

    Or I guess we could just go with “serious mental issues.” Your call.

  57. 57.

    jonas

    March 13, 2014 at 11:23 am

    @Cassidy:

    The legacy of Anita Hill is she retired to a life of obscurity; not her fault in the slightest. They won. A smart, charismatic woman got shuffled off to nowhere for the sin of not listening to a conservative creep describe how he wanted to fuck her.

    Sure she opted not to try to use her notoriety to launch a celebrity career of some kind, but she’s a very successful scholar and teacher at Brandies University and doing what she loves. That’s not being “shuffled off to nowhere,” IMHO.

  58. 58.

    feebog

    March 13, 2014 at 11:32 am

    @Bobby Thomson:

    And his lack of questions at oral argument don’t really mean much, since the justices make up their minds after reading the briefs and the draft opinions.

    I’m not sure at all this is true. I’ve been in the labor relations game most of my working life, the last nine years as an arbitrator and hearing officer. More often than not I know how I am going to decide a case once it is over and well before the briefs are received. I once had a very experienced arbitrator tell me that in the hundreds of cases he had heard, he had only changed his mind based on a brief once.

  59. 59.

    mak

    March 13, 2014 at 11:34 am

    Probably just coincidence, but worth mentioning that the release of this documentary probably does very little to help Uncle Joe’s chances for 2016. VAWA notwithstanding, Joe’s Don Draper persona probably won’t play well among the women who are reminded of this fiasco – or their daughters, who will be seeing it for the first time.

  60. 60.

    J

    March 13, 2014 at 11:39 am

    @jonas: Quite right, Jonas!

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 13, 2014 at 11:40 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    And Jeb, and Neil, and Marvin, and Dorothy.

  62. 62.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 13, 2014 at 11:43 am

    @Cervantes:

    Either way, both Ginni Thomas and her husband are utter scum.

  63. 63.

    daveNYC

    March 13, 2014 at 11:50 am

    @bemused: My guess is that he wouldn’t be confirmed. We’ve moved forward a little bit as far as that goes. On the other hand, the flying monkey attacks would be completely off the charts.

  64. 64.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    @jonas: Exactly. Hill wasn’t seeking to gain anything personally from taking part in the hearings.

  65. 65.

    hitchhiker

    March 13, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    I saw this movie when it played at the Seattle Film Festival awhile back.

    IT’S FUCKING AMAZING.

    I’m going to drag every young woman I know to the theatre.

  66. 66.

    Betsy

    March 13, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    @Chyron HR: I’m no fan of Barbara Bush, but the joke was still patriarchal and based on woman-shaming, so I had to speak up. You can help or hurt women with the kind of humor you choose to employ.

    Everybody has the responsibility to choose how they want to do things, of course. But it’s nice when a liberal guy chooses NOT to be an example of “Never confuse a liberal man with a feminist.”

  67. 67.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    @hitchhiker:

    I’m going to drag every young woman I know to the theatre.

    Careful about that. You may have missed the point of the movie!

  68. 68.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 12:46 pm

    @Betsy:

    I’m no fan of Barbara Bush, but the joke was still patriarchal and based on woman-shaming

    Yes, but I suspect many people do not see that.

    Or they might if they’d ever stop to think about it.

  69. 69.

    bemused

    March 13, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    @daveNYC:

    Yes, I’m sure there would be the same amount or more of wingnut insanity. The more some things progress, the more the rightwing regresses.

  70. 70.

    Samuel Knight

    March 13, 2014 at 12:56 pm

    Few random thoughts:
    1) I (and many others I’d guess) initially did not believe Anita Hill because why on earth would a woman with that kind of resume stick around to put up with that kind of garbage? But then when Clarence Thomas opened his mouth viciously attacking her (and using the Marion Barry defense more or less), it was obvious – he was lying.
    2) Biden was a disgrace, and Spector and Simpson were appalling. And the fact that Biden did NOT call other witnesses who could have confirmed Anita Hill’s story was just pathetic.
    3) This story also gives a bit more background about why so many older folks were so disappointed in the Obama team. Why pick Biden? after this and years of Senator from Chase? Why ask Simpson ot lead a budget cutting effort?
    4) Also showed the GOP machine in perfect illustration – the happy assertion that he was remotely qualified -and the insistence in the years since that he’s been anything more than a joke. He’s a horrible embarrassment to have ever sat on any bench, let alone the Supreme one.

  71. 71.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 13, 2014 at 1:05 pm

    @Cervantes: Besides, the physical resemblance between George H.W. and George W. is very great. So I’m pretty sure Bar wasn’t playing the field looking for a baby-daddy.

  72. 72.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    @Chyron HR: I think Alfred E. Neuman fathered Dubya. Strong resemblence there…

  73. 73.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    @Samuel Knight:

    Clarence Thomas opened his mouth viciously attacking her (and using the Marion Barry defense more or less)

    Here’s the line:

    As far as I’m concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves.

    Just as Anita Hill had to face a Senate committee that looked nothing like her, so did Clarence Thomas — and, totally unqualified for the job as he was, he needed something to deflect the criticism that any fool knew was coming. This exquisite line was stolen, and prepared, and then used for that very purpose.

    I once figured out where he and his allies stole the line: I think it was from a lawyer in South Carolina (maybe a public defender, I don’t recall now), who had used it only recently but in an entirely different context.

  74. 74.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    @rikyrah: Just the fact that he was a Bush I nominee should have told you he was a POS, whatever his skin color.

  75. 75.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:24 pm

    @wonkie: Good point. Feel very, very sad for those poor animals.

    Wish that guy could do a weekend at Ramsey’s.

  76. 76.

    Cassidy

    March 13, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    @jonas: That’s a testament to her ability to move on and create a good life for herself and I applaud that, but as a result of this she chose to live a life of obscurity. I can see why, but any further career in Washington was over. After it was over, she quietly went away and we still got shithead and his batshit wife.

  77. 77.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    @gene108: No. It was a giant FUCK YOU, as they purpously picked the weirdest, youngest, most right wing black male they could get their hands on (who also technically had a law degree).

    Laughing their asses off the whole time.

  78. 78.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    @Paul in KY: One exception: Bill Reilly at EPA.

  79. 79.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 1:29 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    No. It was a giant FUCK YOU, as they purpously picked the weirdest, youngest, most right wing black male they could get their hands on (who also technically had a law degree). Laughing their asses off the whole time.

    That’s my interpretation/recollection as well.

  80. 80.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    @Cervantes: There were women guards at SS camps. Thank God these evil idiots captured the crimes. Makes it easier to send them away for many years.

  81. 81.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 1:31 pm

    @Paul in KY: But remember that they, too, are children. I have no simple solution.

  82. 82.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    @Cervantes: Not familiar with him, but I respect your opinions so there’s one I should have excepted.

  83. 83.

    Paul in KY

    March 13, 2014 at 1:36 pm

    @Cervantes: If you are 15 or 16 & do that kind of stuff, then you are old enough to do the time (IMO).

  84. 84.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    @Paul in KY: Well, you’re right that most of them really were awful. Listing them would turn my stomach, too: Quayle, Cheney, Baker, Bennett — I have to stop.

  85. 85.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Not a short-term solution to anything, but he knows an awful lot, much of which will point back to Putin. This is hardball on the part of the EU. I’d bet Yulia Tymoshenko isn’t jumping with joy either, because she had deep tentacles in RosUkrEnergo as well.

    But isn’t she the one who, as Prime Minister, signed a gas contract directly with Russia, thus forcing RosUkrEnergo out of the middle-man game? If I recall correctly: she was punished for her interference — sent to jail — when Yanukovych took back power in 2010.

    (I’m not arguing here that her motives are pure, but as stated above is my recollection inaccurate?)

  86. 86.

    Xenos

    March 13, 2014 at 2:07 pm

    @Cassidy: hill had already gone off to academia when the whole episode took place. She did not lose anything, in fact, she was situated in such a way she was relatively safe.

  87. 87.

    mark

    March 13, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    The point the op misses is Thomas LIED UNDER OATH while being confirmed (you damn weasel democrats who voted for him!) to the Supreme Court.

    Every Republican female I talked to admitted they knew he was lying.

  88. 88.

    opiejeanne

    March 13, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    @Tokyokie: Bob Packwood. and Jim Jeffords were the two Republicans who voted Nay.

    I remember this and how angry it made me even though I was distracted by a financial crisis that had my husband living 400 miles away from us while I tried for months to sell our wonderful old house in a tough market. I was 41 and had stopped taking crap off of people maybe a year before this. It took so long for me to stop being “polite” that I had a pretty big rage built up that will keep me going well past my 80s, and I just turned 64.We have a son and two daughters, and my husband’s reaction to this can be described as damned angry.

  89. 89.

    opiejeanne

    March 13, 2014 at 3:38 pm

    @wonkie: I live just east of Seattle and I’m surprised I haven’t heard about this at all.

  90. 90.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    I had a pretty big rage built up that will keep me going well past my 80s, and I just turned 64.

    I like the way you plan ahead!

  91. 91.

    AxelFoley

    March 13, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Are you saying Prof. Hill is a Klingon?

  92. 92.

    opiejeanne

    March 13, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Enjoying your book, although I didn’t realize at first that it was a collection of short stories so when I went from the first story to the next I was startled at first.

    The second one about the kids banging the pipes reminds me a little of Terry Pratchett’s “Dodger”. There is another book that came to mind in the wee hours, but darned if I can remember what it was. Good stuff. I’m on the golf game in the office story right now. Will have to restart it when I’m not falling asleep like I was last night. .

  93. 93.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    @AxelFoley:

    Are you saying Prof. Hill is a Klingon?

    The Klingons are from the future. That expression is considerably more than a hundred years old.

  94. 94.

    AxelFoley

    March 13, 2014 at 5:05 pm

    @Cervantes:

    Of course. But we at this blog are known to make pop culture references all the time.

  95. 95.

    opiejeanne

    March 13, 2014 at 5:20 pm

    @Cervantes: I might manage to run on steam even longer, if I”m careful. We tend to live well into our 90s.

  96. 96.

    Cervantes

    March 13, 2014 at 6:18 pm

    @AxelFoley: Of course.

    @opiejeanne:

    May the saint protect ye —
    An’ sorrow neglect ye,
    An’ bad luck to the one
    That doesn’t respect ye
    T’ all that belong to ye,
    An long life t’ yer honor —
    That’s the end of my song t’ ye!

  97. 97.

    Joey Giraud

    March 13, 2014 at 6:59 pm

    @HeartlandLiberal:

    Careful with that kind of talk. You’ll make Cassidy whine.

    oop… too late.
    @Cassidy:

  98. 98.

    Joey Giraud

    March 13, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    @Samuel Knight:

    I always believed Anita Hill, probably because I read articles about Clarance Thomas’ history and his piss-poor legal resume.

    She was very credible in her testimony.

    And I’ve not liked Biden since before that; he’s the senator from the credit-card industry and supported all kinds of economic nonsense over the decades.

  99. 99.

    EthylEster

    March 13, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    I still have my “I believe her” T-shirt.

  100. 100.

    opiejeanne

    March 13, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    @EthylEster: There was a tv show on at the time, Designing Women. I almost threw something at the tv the night that the one sister came on the show wearing a t-shirt that said “I believe him”.

  101. 101.

    dopey-o

    March 13, 2014 at 9:27 pm

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    Maybe in a multi-verse, she is a Supreme Court Justice.

    Does anyone have Justice Ginzberg’s address? I just found a great reason for her to retire from SCOTUS ! Might be the only thing to convince Justice Thomas to retire.

  102. 102.

    wonkie

    March 13, 2014 at 9:40 pm

    @opiejeanne: There has been a lot of coverage on KOMO. In fact Jeff Burns adopted one of the rescued dogs. But your point is well taken: for a rescue effort that is nationwide and still on-going the Seattle media market has been pretty remiss.

  103. 103.

    Samuel Knight

    March 14, 2014 at 9:58 am

    Good to pull the exact quote he used. And yes, the Thomas’ horrible resume should have made it clear that he would be terrible.

    And yes, his pick was a huge F*** you to Democrats. They knew minorities would be upset because he was such an appalling (sorta) successor to Marshall. They knew liberals would be upset because he was nuts, And they knew establishment Democrats would cave and make themeselves look like total losers and dispirit the Democratic base.

    And the latter is important. Because the GOP always relies on that.

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