it probably did not factor into his decision by much.

The whole episode was surreal. I wonder if it was the fact there were two African Americans involved in a tawdry hearing that made the media go wild about it. Obviously the issue was about the actions of one of those persons, but would the same thing have been brought up if they were two white people?

I believe Ms. Hill did the right thing coming forward and confronting the nominee and the whole country that sexual harrassment does occur.

And the fact that this was the first extended, public discussion of the issue that (I think) was ever held.

And the Dems blew it, completely.

W.T.F.? How would you like it if you was gonna take a sip outa your can on a hot summer day and you look at the top and what do you see? A PUBE! Staring you right in the face. Wouldn't you be pissed?

I ain't sayin' Anita put it there, just that it shouldn'ta happened.

Mr. Thomas made the comment about the hair. It was offensive to Ms. Hill, as it should have been. Do not further impugn her reputation by suggesting she "put it there".

one way or another.

if the left had gone to her defense the way stoprush and flushrush and boycottrush went to sandra fluke's defense that would have ended rw radio's invisibility to the left and we'd have single payer, no bush, no iraq, and a lot less global warming denial.

back then we didn't have social media but protests at those rw radio stations and at the 90 major universities that support 270 limbaugh stations, along with a general awareness of how much shit that classic CIA style radio psyops was pumping into the country, would have destroyed it.

today thanks in large part to stoprush and co, clearchannel/i fart radio is 20 bil in debt.

for those who continuously dismiss the importance of rw radio, consider some simple math:
at a cheap $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 1200 stations, rw talk radio is worth 4.68 BIL$/ year or 390MIL$ FREE/month for pro republican wall st propaganda.

that's been going for over 25 years- the advertising dollars paid for most of that.

that is why we got clarence thomas.

and until the left gives rw radio the attention it deserves, with protests etc., there will still be dem politicians intimidated by and giving weight to the illegitimate made-to-order constituencies rw radio routinely creates on behalf of the wall st stink tanks.

and she has experienced sexual harrassment and as far as i can tell is in some split-consciousness state of denial. very sad.

Or what I could. I think the power of her testimony and her poise led to many changes in the US.

I was in my second year of graduate school and my advisor was in the Women's Studies department. Because of the hearings, the president of the university held open meetings with women employees on campus and commissioned a committee to draft a sexual harassment policy (my advisor lead that committee). None of it would have happened if it had not been for Anita Hill and the hearings.

That would have been PERFECT!

I don't think men understand how sickening just mention of Clarence Thomas' name even today makes women's blood boil. Hill was the target, but all American women were demeaned and violated by allowing Thomas onto SCOTUS without a full hearing
(i.e. Hill's corroborating witnesses in the wings were denied the right to testify.)

Thomas' appointment is a constant living insult to American women.

And WTH is David Brock, who wrote the penultimate character assassination of Hill, high up on Hillary Clinton's payroll?

Thank you, Anita Hill! YOU. WERE. RIGHT!

Of Blue Nation Review and Hillary campaign champion.

Some of us don't forget.

and later regretted his actions.

Maybe this guy did, too.

intimidated other female witnesses using information he'd dug up about them. Called Hill 'a little bit nutty, a little bit slutty' while destroying her life in order to get Thomas on that court where he still sits today doing harm to the country no matter how much 'regret' Brock claims to have. He got nothing but rewards for what he did. I do not think he regrets it, as it made him rich, famous and advanced his career. He lost nothing, gained much while doing harm to innocent people.
Not one penny from me, but I'm a liberal and not a misogynistic bigot.

That Clinton legitimizes that slime. He showed his character. And men that do that to women, don't deserve a place of prominence. Sorry, not sorry.

from the mid 70's to mid-80's, that I was propositioned by my boss (during a performance evaluation!); propositioned
by the Chief Financial Officer; propositioned by a male mentor during graduate school;
and propositioned by a male colleague. Flirting and comments of a sexually suggestive nature
were regularly present in all kinds of interactions with males in the workplace during that time.

It really was in the air--everywhere--and you had to be careful not to offend these guys when you said
'no' to a direct proposition as well as not appear to be a prude when off-color jokes were made.

I had absolutely no problem believing Anita Hill.

And that reminds me of one of the ironies of Anita's situation: she and Thomas both worked for the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Every time I see Clarence Thomas I think of that.

Propositions could get really ugly and we were supposed to just brush it off in a lady like fashion. Never, ever, we were told, scream vituperations at any man because they had fragile egos.

And the times men thought it was more than OK or even their right, to grope women. It was ugly. Men thought it was flattering.

Ugh! And the asshole is still around.

We've tried :/

Men were pigs and the things they could say and do to women at work were shameless and humiliating for us women. I will never forget that men felt they could touch me because they paid me to type.

I worked with several complete pigs, and consequences for such behavior was out of the question.

I am still shocked.

Sometimes young women look at me as if I am lying about what used to happen. We fought hard and won big.

and the huge sacrifice this shy young woman made when this movie comes out.

She was right. She was sexually harassed. She had the amazing courage to come forward, and was slimed and slandered to no end by just about everyone. Anita Hill was right. AND CLARENCE THOMAS HAS NO BUSINESS ON THE SCOTUS. And to think that he was and/or is considered the "successor" to Justice Thurgood Marshall is beyond laughable.

Bless your heart for sharing.

For covering the whole thing on NPR. I listened to most of it on the radio. And I agree that having a name for that repulsive behavior at work was a paradigm shift! If it has a name, there can be laws wriiten against that.

Yes. Thanks Professor Hill. You made a difference in my life for the better.

Instead of just viewing it as this weird thing that kept happening between that weird, icky man and you.

People who weren't around back then need an idea of the sickening process of how Silent Clarence Thomas managed to get on the Supreme Court....and just what it cost. Anita Hill was the only person who acquitted herself with honesty, integrity, and class in the whole sorry spectacle. After all these years, it still enrages me to think back on it.

I was too young to understand all of what was happening at that time, but I could tell that Anita was sincere and Clarence was skating his way into a position he was not suited for.

I didn't know the Dems piled on her at the time(was in schools so didn't get to watch most of it). That's pretty ugly- the well paid Establishment against women's rights.

Yes, he was egregiously wrong about Professor Anita Hill, PhD. I had forgotten his part in that fiasco until several months ago, when it was brought up here. I yelled at the tv a lot during those hearings, especially when all those men kept calling HIM "Judge Thomas" and HER "Miss Hill."

But having said that, Joe Biden is now one of the most beloved figures in Democratic politics. Hell, I love him to bits myself. Even so, a man with his lengthy political history is always going to be vulnerable to oppo research from someone, if they choose to do it.

I support Hillary Clinton, but I was hoping for lively debates among Democrats as a way of clarifying who we are as Democrats, and that is why I was disappointed when Jim Webb dropped out so soon. If Joe's son hadn't died just then, I think Joe would have made a likely candidate.

He was an asshole, to be blunt about it.

Not his finest hour by a LONG shot.

when they screw up, the rest of us not so much. (this is not my speculation there is a whole research program around this phenomena. look at anything to do with aversive racism etc.)

whether by numbers or position, knows Anita Hill was telling the truth. We've all seen it, and most of us have experienced it. Thomas is a creep. For years I wished Scalia would drop dead..can I get two wishes, please,oh genie?

so he could be properly trashed for his control of the hearings. There were four or five women who had also experienced sexual harassment from Thomas, and they were all wiling and ready to testify. Biden chose to not allow them. He let the other committee members embarrass Hill, and I believe even Biden himself joined in by asking Hill to repeat herself when she stated what lewd things Thomas said.

I'm glad they have a very high profile lead actor who will get the attention that movie deserves.