MUST-READ: 29-tweet Kurt Eichenwald thread defending Joe Biden re Anita Hill hearing

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4. More complex issues than we tend to talk about

Thomas, who would go on to be only the second black man in history to become an SC justice, claimed during the proceedings that the hearing was a lynch party. Certainly, many who watched felt the members should have been far more aggressive with Thomas. They held their punches, the Dems, which was extremely disappointing. On the other hand, Thomas was on solid historical ground in his protest, which he made in no uncertain terms. Implied was that once again a black man was smeared with the myth of unbridled sexual aggression in addition to being held back from one of the most prestigious and powerful offices in the land.
The Republicans put Dems in a delicate bind. Biden got the blame. Hill perceived him as having drastically blown his responsibility. But there were in fact competing perceptions and claims.
And everyone acted partly, perhaps to a larger extent, out of politics. Ted Kennedy noticeably held back. It seemed not so much that Hill was being demeaned as that Thomas was being given a pass.
It seemed the members cared more about Thomas’s reputation, his future, than hers. Many who observed felt what was at stake was their own reputations as standing against racism.