WP, Robinson, Witness for The Persecution: Saddled for decades with Thomas and chip on his shoulder

[DeepModem Mom]

Witness for The Persecution
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, October 2, 2007; Page A19

I believe in affirmative action, but I have to acknowledge there are arguments against it. One of the more cogent is the presence of Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court.

If you caught Thomas on " 60 Minutes" on Sunday night, you know that he will probably consider me one of the many people who want to see him "destroyed" because he doesn't "follow in this cult-like way something that blacks are supposed to believe." That's what he told CBS correspondent Steve Kroft -- that he'd been persecuted for "veering away from the black gospel that we're supposed to adhere to."

The up-close-and-personal "60 Minutes" piece, timed to coincide with publication of Thomas's autobiography, was compelling television. It was also a useful reminder that whenever my Bush Derangement Syndrome flares up to the point where I'm actually feeling nostalgic for the days when George Bush the Elder was in the White House, I need only recall that it was Poppy who put Thomas on the court. That snaps me back to my senses. Thomas is only 59; we'll be saddled with him, and that gigantic chip on his shoulder, for decades to come.

Thomas said in the interview that the scorched-earth battle over his confirmation wasn't really about him, it was about abortion. Yet at other points he made clear that the whole thing was about him, specifically his commission of the ultimate sin: He is (drum roll, please) a black conservative. Cover the children's ears. "I'm black," he told Kroft. "So I'm supposed to think a certain way. I'm supposed to have certain opinions. I don't do that. You don't create a box and put people in and then make a lot of generalizations about them."

Enough with the violins. When Fox News bloviator Bill O'Reilly says that African Americans are "finally" beginning to "think for themselves," I chalk it up to the fact that his germane experience with black people is probably limited to that recent dinner he had with the Rev. Al Sharpton and a room full of shockingly well-behaved patrons at Sylvia's, the Harlem soul-food shrine. But Thomas should know better. Either he's being disingenuous or he has a persecution complex of Norse-saga proportions....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/01/AR2007100101332.html?nav=hcmodule

[Kagemusha]

1. Disingenuous or Norse-saga sized persecution complex? Why choose?

Let's just say he is/ has both.

[tblue]

2. Justice Clarence "Uncle" Thomas is ashamed of himself, as well he should be

I loved his "Why isn't Justice Scalia asked why he doesn't stand up for Italians?" I never realized Italians were (still) second-class citizens in this country. Mama mia! Who knew?

Clarence, okay, you spoke your mind and got to pimp your book on prime time tv. And I still think you are a monumental waste of time, unfit to serve on the SCOTUS by any measure.

[jaysunb]

3. He's mentally unfit to serve.

:evilfrown:

[xchrom]

4. thomas obviously has mental issues.

that interview was like eavesdropping on something you really weren't supposed to see or hear.

[Olney Blue]

5. As a female, Thomas scares me. So do Scalia, Alito and Roberts.

[Solly Mack]

6. That man ain't got issues - he's got subscriptions

I saw the interview (60 Minutes) and I could feel his defensive anger coming through the screen...his need to justify himself

[DeepModem Mom]

7. a.m. kick for Eugene Robinson --