Your post will likely be locked because it should rightly be in GD-Primaries. I urge you to post it there.

about Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas considered General Discussion? does my Biden comment move it to Primaries?

It may stand here but it would also be suitable for GD-P and I would like to see you cross post it there.

any potential candidacy. It refers to Biden as the VP. Nothing more.

included a brief "this will remind people of his behavior" comment that I took out

Hopefully it will stay that way.

And Biden was never disrespectful. I'm so glad he was the chairman because I don't think anyone else could have done it as well as he did it.

treatment? That was disrespectful.

not willing to testify. But I have to be honest with you. As an African American woman what I thought was being harmed and reinforced was a very negative stereotype of African American men which was horrifying to me and more dangerous than what one asshole did. What would the consequences be for everyday AA men in the workplace? Most professional AA men worked in companies where there were many white women. White people tend to generalize from the specific to the general so my concern was for an expanded war on black men. I was so glad, Sen Biden let one witness testify and then "normalized" the asshole's behavior by focusing on HOW ALL THE WHITE SENATORS (males) ON THE COMMITTEE HAD PROBABLY BEHAVED IN AN INAPPROPRIATE WAY TOWARD WOMEN IN THEIR WORKPLACE. Sen Biden actually said something very similar to this because he was thinking about the racial overtones and their broader impact. What Sen Biden did took a great deal of courage. No it wasn't popular among white women but African Americans, especially AA women understood. Not all but most.

who were willing to testify, told they would be able to testify, and flew into DC, waiting to be called to the senate floor. But Biden never let them come.

can't wait to see the film. I think it will be amazing.

Disgusting. It insulted her credibility and that of the women who wanted a voice but were denied any by Joe Biden.

Biden had promised Anita they would testify, and he promised those women they would testify.

that hearing was not just about sexual harassment. It was also about race. At that time, it was the right call. Today, thanks very much to Anita Hill's courage men can't get away with that perverted shit.

You sound like you accept that Thomas was harrassive and that Hill was courageous and truthful, yet you're glad she was treated poorly, lied to, and glad that the numerous other women were also lied to and not allowed a voice? Remember, she was black too. Thomas and his ilk liked to pretend that he was the target of a "high tech lynching," but in reality these were black women who experienced his harassment.

And today, men still can get away with harassment and do.

corroberating witnesses, even though his staffer (Scooter Libby's wife) had them waiting in the wings.

You probably need to do a review of the history of this matter--Biden did poorly, and it will come back to bite him if he wants to take a shot at the POTUS slot--it will cost him votes, too, in a big way, once people refocus and remember.

In fact, in 2008, Obama made it a POINT to defuse any of that "WTF JOE???" talk by specifically saying that HE would NOT have voted to confirm Thomas.

Let's use a current example. Bill Cosby rapes women. how do we know this because the women said so and we later find out Bill Cosby gave sworn deposition that clearly indicates he had "sex" with women without their permission, which we call rape. Now white Donald Trump's wife gave sworn testimony that Trump beat and RAPED her. How many of you are calling Trump a rapist like you did Bill Cosby?

Ao when you are so outraged about Sen Biden, you need to remember what Biden obviously understood. In America, there is no equal protection under the law when you're black.

it but what it is. In comparison, Trump's wife recanted and there is only one and Trump didn't admit but other than that this is the same thing.

I call Donald Trump a rapist every chance I get especially after I saw he threatened to sue someone who called him a rapist.

I think Donald Trump raped his wife. That makes Donald Trump a rapist.

It was extremely disappointing.

and I remember the hearing went on until almost 2:00 a.m. in the morning when Biden called an end to it before the last witness who really had the goods on Thomas could be called. She was there waiting to testify.

I will never forget it and Biden needs more scrutiny because this saintly image of him these days isn't quite the reality for those of us who've been around awhile.

That was highly disrespectful.

And this little reminder may dissuade him from the attempt.

So, if he's not a candidate, why would anyone lock this thread?

my first choice Dem candidate

not quite sure what you're getting your back up about. If he runs, you go on and vote for him. No one is stopping you.

I watched those hearing gavel to gavel. By the way, how did Biden vote?

SUBPOENAED, as were corrorborating witnesses--who were NEVER CALLED.

It all came out--later--that Biden acted as benevolent judge, instead of a chairman looking for the facts, and gave Clarence Thomas a pass. Joe Biden is the REASON that Clarence Thomas sits on the Supreme Court. He put bros before.. well, never mind. He, and Scooter Libby's wife--who was his aide at the time--orchestrated a scenario that painted Anita Hill as "nutty and slutty" (a term coined by David Brock, working at the time for the GOP).

That's going to be re-circulated next year with this CONFIRMATION film. It will get a number of backs up, mine included.

Barack Obama said he would NOT have voted to confirm Thomas.

been filed against Biden?

to call corroborating testimony was disgusting (Four other women were willing to testify to Thomas's sexual harassment - they flew to DC in order to do so, Biden refused to seat them at the hearing.) Biden mishandled the hearings repeatedly, essentially ceding his gavel and position to the likes of Orrin Hatch, Alan Simpson and Arlen Spector.

It was sickening and as a result, we've one of the worst jurists on the Supreme Court in my lifetime.

His actions during the Thomas hearings were one reason I was disappointed at his being Obama's VP (the second was because he is MBNA Joe).

until the tv timing was just right than he played to the cameras and tried to act like he was running a fair trial. Yes it was a trial as it was framed by Biden and the media as a battle between Anita and Clarence and Anita was the liar and loser. Without all the corroborating witnesses she was humiliated.

On the 20th anniversary of the event the media was still playing it as a battle between Anita and Clarence and Anita was still "not believable". I know Anita and she has more integrity than Biden, his staff, and all those Senators put together.

It was so horrible to watch.

as he played a pivotal role in casting doubt on Anita Hill's testimony and also in not calling other women who were ready to testify against Thomas.

In other words, they had to assume that Anita Hill was a liar.

No, they didn't. They just chose to, led by Biden. None of the Republicans did a better job of helping Thomas than Biden -- as the Chair of the Committee -- did.

shot. It's not about him being accused of "sexual harassment" -- it's about how shittily the Judiciary Committtee treated Anita Hill. It's all here:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/biden-and-anita-hill-revisited/?_r=0

vote aside. Many women of color will never forget it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I never forgave Arlen Specter either, and he was one of PA's Senators for a long time.

Fuck Biden for the way he mishandled the hearings, giving us Thomas on the SC.

And, yeah, Specter was a disgusting slimeball during the whole debacle as well.

I was dismayed when then-candidate Obama selected Biden as his running mate. The Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings made a deep and lasting impression on me.

I was astonished when Obama picked him because of the Thomas hearing. He has acquitted himself well as VP, but that definitely was not his finest hour. I do think it will come back to bite him. Sorry to say....

Sticking up for slappy was a bad career move.

He won't come off well in this film if it sticks to what really happened.

He played a key role in ramming through Clarence Thomas' confirmation to SCOTUS by casting doubt on Anita Hill's testimony and by not calling Angela Wright and other women who also allegedly had experienced Thomas' sexual harassment.

She is so decent and kind and actually painfully shy. She really did not want to testify. Biden assured her she would be treated fairly and all the other women would also testify so he and his staff talked her into it.

After her testimony the Oklahoma state Senate tried to force the University of Oklahoma law school to fire Anita. For years they passed legislation and even tried to shut down the entire law school by cutting all funds. Finally Anita left Oklahoma for NY. I lost contact with her after that.

David Brock is the person who coined "a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty" to describe Anita. Later he apologized. Biden not so much.

The missing piece of information in all this.

Who played Bunk in "The Wire" the best tv series ever made in the history of the entire universe.

They'll have to old and ugly hm up a bit, but I'll bet he'll hit that part outta the park.

The director gave a talk in Mumbai not too long ago to some film students here and then showed it. Really good film:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2481202/

The Wood and Dope. Cast is golden from top to bottom, massively good. Treat Williams as Ted Kennedy...good choice abound.

That's how long this has been in the works. It is a very well timed campaign ad by the Repubes who have been planning against a Biden run for years.

I don't see how this movie could possibly make the Rethugs look good anyway.

it really isn't that damaging.

That's why Biden actually has a pretty good shot, the stuff on him really isn't that bad compared to everyone else.

They are the real competition, not any of the Rethugs.

His record is more conservative than any of them, and anyone who is concerned about her IWR vote wouldn't like his either.

And this whole email thing against Hillary is just a bunch of nothing.

I've done extensive research on this....they all have to. After an two term President, historically the only person who has won for that same party is the incumbent VP. It is up to the Democratic Party to pick who is statistically their absolute best chance of winning....which they have known since his first day in office as VP, and they have been preparing for it ever since. The rest of this is all just noise/polititainment, to make the party and the media more money.

There was a time in history when women didn't even have the vote. Now they are the biggest block of the voting population.

History won't tell us anything about this race.

absolutely lowest risk possible (which fits a Presidential election in the US to a "T&quot , you let history be your guide.

They would do more harm to Hilary's legacy than good by having her run in 2016 and lose, but regardless of which party wins or loses in 2016, they'll have a woman run in 2020.

I'll be happy to come back to this post and eat crow in 2016 AND 2020, but my hobby is political statistical analysis and I spend hours every week going through this stuff.

of one of the two major Presidential parties?

Hint: you can start out by eliminating from your analysis all the years in which women didn't even have the vote.

But...hey, this was fun. Thanks for playing and all I really care about is a Dem winning in 2016 so I would rather it be Clinton than a Repube.

I've talked to enough female Independents, Dems, and even Republicans to think that Hillary's candidacy could be a game changer.

Many women, especially more mature women, are very eager to vote for Hillary.

Are you willing to do the same?

If Biden loses in the general, that won't mean that Clinton would have done any better -- and the reverse is true, too.

Biden was not only respectful, but voted against Thomas in the end. He was running a hearing. What did everyone expect, that he shut down appointed members of the committee?

and who would say the same thing had happened to them.

Instead they let some liar testify that she had "erotomania."

I don't care how polite and respectful and smiley and calculating he was (it was reported that he had expressed pleasure with his high visibility numbers after the hearings.)

What matters is that he controlled who testified and he used it to ensure Thomas would have the votes he needed.

I wouldn't be surprised if every network makes a pilgrimage to Massachusetts to interview Professor Hill.