Here's a question: what does anyone remember about Biden's campaign in 2008?

[emmaverybo]

56. We forget Clarence Thomas's competing claim

Last edited Sat Apr 20, 2019, 03:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Yes. I recall Biden was respectful. True, the committee men were seriously castigated. It was said that Kennedy shied away from defending Ms. Hill because he was hiding his own misconduct with women. But what we tend not to factor in when we deconstruct the hearing is the vigorous, angry, aggrieved claim Thomas made. He called the hearing a lynching. That moment was powerful and should be re-played today to get a fuller sense of social and political ramifications implicit in this pivotal event.

Ms. Hill was entirely credible, but her case could not be proven unequivocally while his claim spoke to deep and abiding racial discrimination that certainly Biden and Kennedy did not want to be seen as upholding. Here Thomas had risen to the heights professionally and a bunch of white men, he implied, were subjecting him to public humiliation, and so much more than that. They were the standard bearers for deeply ingrained, historic , institutionalized racism, out to take him down for the color of his skin. I don’t accuse him of playing the race card. He perceived the situation in those terms and one could not discount his strong defense as being made on behalf of all black men in America.
Yes, we have come to view Ms. Hill as representing all women, and in particular, all women of color.
But this was not then the universally shared view. It was a heart-breaking situation. More would be revealed to affirm Ms. Hill and show the conservative agenda at work. As was true recently, the Republican leaders should not have put Thomas forward given her accusations and her own credentials.
Not so easy then and shouldn't be now to boil down the forces at play to one issue
and blame Biden for the outcome.