October 22, 2010

"Lillian McEwen breaks her 19-year silence about Justice Clarence Thomas."

The Washington Post has the scoop, including what may be the key sentence: "She has written a memoir, which she is now shopping to publishers."

UPDATE: McEwan in a interview reveals that she had an intimate relationship with Thomas. She says he liked pornography, especially depictions of large breasts. What is the point of revealing something so incredibly banal? Does it corroborate Anita Hill's testimony in any significant way? The issue, in the confirmation hearing, was whether Thomas engaged in sexual harassment in the workplace. McEwan is talking about his private life. First, that's really creepy. Imagine if a man revealed private, sexual things about a woman. McEwan even admits that she's speaking now because she is politically opposed to Clarence Thomas. She doesn't like the way he's deciding the cases.

Since McEwan never says that Thomas talked about pornography in the office, the supposed corroboration is virtually nil. It's true that if we know a man is interested in pornography, it makes it more likely that he talked about that interest somewhere, more likely than if we didn't know whether the man liked pornography. But huge numbers of men are interested in pornography, and only  a small subset of them who pester women by talking about it graphically in the office environment. So it just doesn't matter enough to bring it up.

McEwan also talks about the way Thomas thought about women, but it comes across as sheer speculation. She somehow knows he thought about whether women he met in the office would make good sexual partners. Again, this is perfectly banal. It says little about how he might attempt to initiate a relationship with a coworker. Doesn't nearly every single adult look around at other people and think about whether they are attractive and might make a good sexual partner?

This is just sad and embarrassing.

33 comments:

KCFleming said...

"Now, she says that Thomas often said inappropriate things about women he met at work -- and that she could have added her voice to the others, but didn't."

Is her book called "Profiles in courage?"

Superdad said...

Or maybe this is the most important line:

"McEwen, a Democrat, acknowledges growing increasingly irritated with Thomas's conservative jurisprudence ..."

Or maybe its all true and we should just leave President Clinton - I mean Justice Thomas' personal life private.

traditionalguy said...

Her chance to get money from a book deal must be seized soon. But once more the extreme time lapse before the terrible bad deeds occurred and her speaking up becomes an easy defense for Justice Thomas. But he is already confirmed, I believe.

roesch-voltaire said...

Of course if Specter and Biden has allowed Angela Wright to testify there would be no need to revisit these allegations and Thomas would not be on the court.

Shanna said...

"He was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners," McEwen said matter-of-factly. "It was a hobby of his."

Newsflash…this is pretty common in any workplace.

Wince said...

My new home heating oil company just sent out a guy named John Holmes to "check my equipment."

Besides being flattered, did I just harass you?

traditionalguy said...

The bottom line is that black men are just like white men, or is there a special need to lynch scary black men for possessing lust in their hearts.

KCFleming said...

"But McEwen remained mum. She said she saw "nothing good" coming out of talking to reporters about Thomas, whom she said she still occasionally met. She did not want to do anything to harm her career, she added. Plus, she realized, "I don't look good in this.""

Now that there is no risk, she speaks.

Feminism: You've come a long way, baby!

MayBee said...

I bet he called women "sweetie".

Jana said...

"McEwen, a Democrat, acknowledges growing increasingly irritated with Thomas's conservative jurisprudence ..."

Hmm.

ndspinelli said...

I'm sure this woman is out for a buck. But what the fuck is up w/ Ms. Thomas...her call was way out of line and stupid!!! No matter what you think, she has no biz calling Ms. Hill.

There are hormones for those hot flashes.

write_effort said...

To be charitable, CT is one [i]conflicted[/i] guy. I've worked with guys obsessed with porn and they do go over the line much in the same way CT seems to have done. Even had one use my computer to access it at work. All I ever think is I'd hate to be married to the guy -- 'cause there is something incredibly childish about it. Of course, none of these guys head the EEOC or look like likely candidates for the Supreme Court.

Sprezzatura said...

She's probably angling for a call from Ginni.

KCFleming said...

"they do go over the line"

Robbie: Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!

Unknown said...

I love the line in the article, "his handlers", and that she says she has nothing to fear.

Once you get past lies, character assassination, and vote fraud, fear is all the Lefties in the media have and the WaPo is such a class act.

traditionalguy said...

The bottom line is that black men are just like white men, or is there a special need to lynch scary black men for possessing lust in their hearts.

Only if they don't vote Democrat.

Sprezzatura said...

"fear is all the Lefties "

The Rs don't trade in fear? Ha ha ha ha.

Unknown said...

1jpb said...

"fear is all the Lefties "

The Rs don't trade in fear? Ha ha ha ha.


PB&J, of course, forgets the 75 years of, "The Republicans are going to take your Sosh Security away"; the 40 years of, "The Republicans will outlaw abortion and legalize rape"; the 50 years of, "The Republicans will bring back slavery", etc.

Of course, PB&J will come back with all those warnings about Communist aggression as being fear mongering, but, then, that's what the Commies were actually doing.

PS PB&J sounds suspiciously like Montagne there. Ha ha.

William said...

She had an intimate relationship with him for five years. During the course of that relationship, she discovered that he had an enthusiasm for porn and large breasted women. He also had a roving eye and made sexual comments that she found inappropriate. These are shocking revelations? Where are the nipple rings and threesomes? How about the time he brought a Shetland pony into the bedroom in order to spice up a stale relationship? These accusations just aren't all that awful and had they been leveled against any Democrat in public life would have been dismissed with a shrug.

KCFleming said...

Maybe Thomas And Ted Kennedy could have made a waitress sandwich, or he coulda used a cigar on Anita and spoke on the phone with a legislator while gettin' a lil' sumpin'.

Then everything would be cool.
Way cool.

MamaM said...

Stroking and Stoking for Gold Part 2:
The 2nd key sentence: "I have nothing to be afraid of," she said, adding that she hopes the attention stokes interest in her manuscript."

DaveW said...

So on Saturday Ginny Thomas calls Anita Hill and asks for an apology. Hill forwards this to campus police and FBI and apparently takes it to the NYTimes.

A couple days later another figure from this sad, decades-old saga appears with a book to shop.

What an amazing coincidence.

chickelit said...

Oh I get it now: The left, already in a legislative free fall, is now seeking to undermine the judicial branch so that they get another sure shot at a nomination before 2012.

Got it.

Kirk Parker said...

Althouse, I think you've got a typo in one of the tags. Shouldn't that be "sexual hairassment"?

:-)

Pastafarian said...

This article, and this story, can be boiled down to the following excerpts:

"He was obsessed with porn..."

And:

"McEwen added that she had no problem with Thomas's interests, although she found pornography to be "boring.""

Because that's the reaction of most women involved with a man who likes to look at other women, naked and engaged in sexual acts. Not jealousy or vindictiveness; but blase' boredom. Ho hum, this again, they say.

"He was partial to women with large breasts..."

And:

"However bizarre they may seem, McEwen's recollections..."

Indeed. Bizarre, that's the word for it -- a man interested in porn and breasts. Must be some sort of one-in-a-million freak of nature.

And finally:

"McEwen, a Democrat, acknowledges growing increasingly irritated with Thomas's conservative jurisprudence..."

And there we have it.

Now, I'm sure that roesch-voltaire, and all of the other liberal commenters on this blog, have absolutely nothing to fear, should they ever reach a position of power and every old girlfriend and female employee, co-worker, and acquaintance was assured of lucrative book deals for spicy tell-alls. There's not a single embarrassing detail that any of them could possibly embellish into a perverse obsession.

If you're conservative and sexually active, expect this sort of backstabbing. If you're conservative and live like a monk, expect to be derided as some sort of anti-sex nut.

chickelit said...

19 years is nothing. I heard that Mark Twain finally broke his 100-year silence on what he really thought of things.

hombre said...

I don't know. I'd buy Lillian McEwen's memoirs even if there were no lurid details about Justice Thomas. LOL

Phil 314 said...

I'm really not surprised by this. The tougher question now is, does this impugn his jurisprudence? Interesting on the same day we have a post re: Bill Clinton.

In both cases its not too difficult to argue that it puts in question:
1) How they got there
AND
2) Should they stay there

But of course to come to an agreement that these "cases" are similar would involve the Left and the Right agreeing.

Daniel12 said...

William writes:

"These accusations just aren't all that awful and had they been leveled against any Democrat in public life would have been dismissed with a shrug."

One person's shrug is another's impeachment proceedings.

Eric said...

She had an intimate relationship with him for five years. During the course of that relationship, she discovered that he had an enthusiasm for porn and large breasted women. He also had a roving eye and made sexual comments that she found inappropriate. These are shocking revelations?

That's what I was wondering. He sounds like, you know, a guy.

Methadras said...

roesch-voltaire said...

Of course if Specter and Biden has allowed Angela Wright to testify there would be no need to revisit these allegations and Thomas would not be on the court.


Oh, bullshit. Angela Wright was allowed to testify along with Rose Jourdain, but never gave their testimony in chambers, but on the phone with the committee. Also, if you followed the proceedings or read the transcripts, Angela Wright was fired by Thomas for poor performance and calling a member of staff a faggot. I think the committee saved her the trouble.

Cleatus Pomazal-Smith said...
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Cleatus Pomazal-Smith said...
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Cleatus Pomazal-Smith said...

Ann Althouse and other right-wing nuts actually defending obscene Clarence the perjurer after his ex-girlfriend (finally) confirms his despicable lewdness and sexual harassment of Anita Hill! Clarence is an EXTREMELY ANGRY black man, who has never gotten over the raging humiliation he suffered during confirmation hearings, which exposed his sexually lurid behavior and obsession with porn. Now he is a "tenther," who is against affirmative action, even though it was only reason he got into Yale, American Disabilities Act, Civil Rights Act, Child Labor laws, Medicare, Social Security, Health Reform Act--you know--extreme right-wing nut conservative ideology that misinterprets the Constitution. Read his opinions: They are simple-minded and stupidly "banal" in formulation and argumentation. He attends Koch brothers secret meetings. He does not belong on Court because he does not have intellect or character to be credible judge of anything.