Just watched Confirmation on HBO On Demand.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

It was like having a scab pulled off. I was so moved by Professor Hill that I wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper that my Republican boss read and commented on...

The movie shows how important diversity is. If the Judiciary Committee had women and women of color Professor Hill might have got a fairer hearing.

It was sad that Ted Kennedy's powerful voice was silenced and he lost his ability to moralize because of his own complex relationship with women.

I think when Clarence Thomas made it about race and not sexual harassment the all white Senate Judiciary Committee was cowed.

It's a painful less that sometimes truth doesn't win out.

[truedelphi]

1. I can't wait for it to be obtainable as a DVD.

Once I own my copy of this, I would gladly cue and re-cue the very ending to watch to my heart's delight.

Women of all races understood what Anita Hill had gone through. The only women who didn't were very young adults who were in a new time when such harassment was not de rigeur.

Back in the day, I had a girlfriend who worked as an escort, and she did so in part because she actually was hassled less by men on the upper end of the pay scale than when she worked as a waitress. As an escort, she called the shots, whereas in the restaurant, the boss she had had thought of her as part of the equipment.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. It was a cynical move by President Bush

It was a cynical move by President Bush to create fissures in the African American community by appointing a black conservative to such a prestigious position. It reminded me why I really disliked him.


You will enjoy the movie.


And I am a yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeee Kerry Washington fan. she was awesome in For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide and the Last King of Scotland.

[BlueMTexpat]

4. That and his equally cynical move

in naming the vacuous Dan Quayle to be his Veep.

Some thought at the time that move was to ensure that no one would seriously think of assassinating Bush because Quayle was so clearly out of his depth.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/8-dumbest-presidential-campaign-blunders-modern-political-history

[

b]1. You say potato, I say potatoe.

No list of presidential campaign whoppers would be complete without Dan Quayle. Quayle was a little-known frat boy senator from Indiana when George Bush the Elder tapped him to be his vice-presidential running mate in 1988. Ostensibly added as a way to inject youth and energy to the ticket, Quayle proved to be a goldmine for late-night talk show comedians and a constant pain in the neck to Bush 41. Despite being destroyed in the 1988 vice-presidential debate by Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, the Bush-Quayle ticket prevailed in 1988 by running one of the dirtiest campaigns in history and tarring the reputation of Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, the Democratic candidate.

In 1992, running for re-election, Bush again tapped Quayle as his running mate, although there was inside-the-Beltway talk of replacing him. During this campaign Quayle made maybe the funniest gaffe in presidential political history. Visiting an elementary school in New Jersey for a photo op, Quayle watched as a student proved his spelling prowess by correctly writing the word “potato” on the chalkboard. Quayle told the young man he had forgotten a letter and urged him to add an “e” to the end of the word. When the boy doubtfully complied, Quayle happily cried, “There you go!” As many a comic pointed out in the days to follow, Quayle’s spelling smarts were less than stellar. The Bush team lost its re-election bid.

And then there was Iraq War I ... I was not then and never have been a fan of Bush I. The BFEE lives on.

[BlueMTexpat]

3. <<<< This >>>>

I think when Clarence Thomas made it about race and not sexual harassment the all white Senate Judiciary Committee was cowed.

I remember all too well that the seminal moment was when Thomas called the hearings, "a high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks ...."

That did it - likely triggering lots of well-deserved white male guilt that swept like a tsunami over Hill's allegations and perhaps the most essential thing of all: Thomas was simply not qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice and his name should never even have been put forward by a cynical GHWB. In no way was Thomas worthy to replace the truly wonderful Thurgood Marshall.

The ABA split on whether Thomas was "qualified" - which was extremely unusual and basically equivalent to a "middling" grade. See http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/28/us/bar-association-splits-on-fitness-of-thomas-for-the-supreme-court.html

The bar association committee that conducts the evaluations split on President Bush's choice to succeed Thurgood Marshall on the Court, with a majority rating Judge Thomas "qualified" for the job and a minority of two members finding him "unqualified." No one on the committee found him to be "well qualified," the third available rating and the association's highest.
...
It is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for a nominee to be confirmed without a unanimous evaluation of at least "qualified." The association's records show there may have been a dissenting vote given to Justice Potter Stewart in 1958, although that is unclear, said Gail Alexander, an association official. Reopening Old Wounds

Of the last nine Justices confirmed going back to 1969, there were no votes of unqualified. The records are unclear as to whether there were any votes of unqualified against some earlier Justices.

Those words have remained as the most inspired of ALL of Thomas's utterances. He has probably said less in oral arguments over all his years as a justice than he did at that moment. But the decisions that he has participated in approving have been among the worst decisions ever to be taken by the Supremes. Ever.

[Surya Gayatri]

5. Watched it on-line a few days ago. Extremely powerful.

Kinnear's portrayal of the hapless Biden is uncannily good.

When I closed my eyes, I would've sworn it WAS Joe.

And, Kerry Washington is absolutely riveting as Anita Hill. You can practically feel her reluctant, but courageous resolve through the screen.

A shameful period for Democrats and the democratic process. Anita Hill was a hero of the first order, going up against the whole DC power structure in a brave, lonely stand.

Great film. I hope it's getting good press in the US.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. The scene where Ted Kennedy's aide tells him I know your past makes you feel uncomfortable...

The scene where Ted Kennedy's aide tells him I know your past makes you feel uncomfortable but you have to say something is riveting.

[Surya Gayatri]

7. Yes, that scene was a mouth-dropping moment, too.

This was all new to me. As an ex-patriot living in France, I only heard about the ignominious proceedings after the fact.

Never saw any of the live TV coverage of those ghastly hearings.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I watched them live.

But as an ex-pat you had to know of Ted Kennedy's complex past with women.

[Surya Gayatri]

9. Of course, Chappaquiddick happened before I left the States.

That appalling moment of immaturity and bad judgment cost Ted and the Democrats a great deal of political capital.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. There was also Palm Beach.

With all the tragedy in his life I suspect all the affairs were cathartic for him.It had to be hard to bury three brothers and a sister at relatively young ages. I also think some was inherited from his father. I choose to remember the better times.

[Surya Gayatri]

12. He was a flawed human being whose faults were amplified by

multiple life-altering tragedies. He was also a great liberal presence in the Senate for years.

There have been very few who ever spoke out with his sincerity or authority for Democratic values and justice.

That's how I prefer to remember him as well.

[OneGrassRoot]

10. I just watched it last night.

It was very, very good. Kerry Washington is stellar and the other actors were excellent as well, in my opinion.

I remember the hearing and the almost collective surge of indignation by women -- of all color. Anita Hill was the picture of courage, grace, dignity, wisdom...the whole package.

Great point about diversity; given the trend to try to dismiss the need for it, this is indeed an excellent example of what it is desperately needed, especially in a so-called democracy.

[pnwmom]

13. The other thing that I kept thinking was that if Anita Hill had been a white woman

the Rethugs on the committee would have handled it very, very differently.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. No doubt.

I just saw something in the last two hours and I can't even remember what it was on now, but it was saying how black women are THE most disrespected group of people in America. Always have been. It seems like it was an MLK quote?

(Crap. I just finished watching Beyonce's "Lemonade" and my mind is blown. That's a lot to digest but what an artist that woman is. Has my brain all rattled...lol.)

[pnwmom]

14. Sadly, it reminded me why I'll never have a soft spot for Joe Biden.

He was weak when he should have been strong. He cares too much about being popular -- with the wrong people.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. if anything that movie remind me that actual representation matters, allies are not the same thing

as members of the actual marginalized community (in this case women, esp black women)