I only bring this up because it was brought up to me by

[Cleita]

my step daughter. We were talking about Sarah Palin and how she could possibly debate Joe Biden and win. My SD said if he is mean to her, it will turn off a lot of people in the South who still believe that women should be treated like hothouse flowers. And I said who cares? She then said then that she never liked him after what he did to Anita Hill. :wtf: I said you think that people in the South will vote for McCain because of Biden's treatment of Anita Hill? She said no but if he treats Sarah Palin like he treated Anita Hill they will. So I've been thinking about this all day and I think this is an Achilles heel no one is looking at right now. Here is some information on this for those whose memories, like mine, had somewhat sunseted.

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

Now it is sort of starting to make sense to me why he picked a charming, attractive, but empty headed woman as his running partner. He wants her to go up against Biden and he wants people to be reminded of the Clarence Thomas hearings, where many believed that Anita Hill was not treated with enough respect by Joe Biden. She will debate him and he is going to have to be oh so careful on how he handles this. Now I know that it shouldn't matter. That she should be able to, like Hillary, go up against the big boys with no special advantages, but he will be damned for it if he's tough with her. You know how it is when our side does it, it's one of the seven deadly sins. When their side does it, it's just politics. It makes me wish now that Obama had chosen Hillary as his running mate.

[Sanity Claws]

1. People don't remember the Anita Hill hearings

They were about 18 years ago. I'm more involved than most people and have no recollection of how Biden treated Hill. When I think of those hearings, I think the Republicans ganged up on her because they wanted Clarence Thomas.

[CTyankee]

2. Joe knows about this minefield. The Obama campaign is NOT stupid.

Plus, there are lots of voters who weren't even born or old enough to remember Anita Hill. I'm willing to bet money that Joe will be careful in this respect.

[rvablue]

20. Amen, to what you said and as Barack would say....

"Chill out. I got this one."
The Obama campaign are no fools.

[DesertRat]

3. At least the moderator will be a woman. n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. He won't address her directly

He'll talk of his experience and attack McCain. I don't think the format is like the debate we saw last night, and I doubt if there will be any interaction between the candidates.

[rubberducky]

5. I think when he said that he would be talking to the American people,

he was giving a heads up that he will ignore her. Now if he can get all the way through the debate without bursting out laughing at her answers or loudly saying WTF is she talking about, I will be happy ;-)

[elkston]

6. No one's going to remember the Anita Hill hearings. And I guarantee McCain's staff was not ....

thinking about Anita Hill either. The bruised feelings of a black woman, no matter how accomplished, is not significant to them.

[saracat]

12. There are a large group of voters who WILL. remember. I remeber. It was a really important event to

me and it is really sad how little progress we have made since then. That being said, I think Biden will do just fine but many of us do indeed remember Anita.She was very important to some of us and still is.

[OHdem10]

7. He chose her because a group of Republic ns recognized

that her personality and charisma would infuse their ticket with
excitement. She is a solid Conservative which helped him with the
base.

Joe Biden is not going to be mean to her. That is not his style.

[saracat]

10. Well, he was mean to Anita Hill in reality. But I don't think he will be mean to Palin.

[global1]

8. Biden Will Go Out Of His Way To Be Charming To Palin.....

nothing Biden will do or say will cause problems. Palin will do herself in.

[Liberal Dose]

9. Joe Biden has a lot of experience debating women over the years. Not an issue IMO. nt

[1corona4u]

11. People seem to forget that he deals with women everyday in the senate.

:eyes:

[rvablue]

18. And he debated Hillary Clinton several times. n/t

[texastoast]

13. "Mr. Biden as saying that he acted, 'in fairness to Thomas, which in retrospect he didn’t deserve.”

I think the race and sex issues were very complicated, as I recall. First you have a black man being nominated for a very high post. Then you have a black woman calling sexual harassment.

The very term "sexual harassment" was in its infancy at this time. ALL women were suspect when we made such a claim.

Biden has admitted mistakes during these hearings. My guess is that he will stand up and say he was wrong.

Meanwhile, as to his performance at the upcoming debate, I do believe he will be able to make his points and win without being "brutal" to "poor little Sarah Barracuda."

[No Elephants]

14. Is your daughter a Republican? BC the Pubs brought Anita Hill up immediately. Biden has a much

better record on women's issues than Palin ever will. And being short with one woman over 20 years ago has nothing on making women pay for their own rape kits.

[Cleita]

15. She says she's a Democrat but she does bring up

Republican talking points a lot. I believe it's because of the group of ranchers she and her husband socialize with. I'm usually able to wack her down, but she caught me with my guard down on this one. I know she's parroting a lot of what is discussed at the barbQ's they frequently attend. I know that they all have no use for Bush because of the Iraqi war, but I am seeing the McCain/Palin yard signs going up down our road and this explains a lot to me. They hate Bush but some will still vote for McCain because he's a Republican. Many it appears are still fence sitters though and if Biden is mean to Palin it could be a deal breaker. This is why I brought it up.

[TheKentuckian]

16. I think its great

Biden can lead her down certain policy paths and she can just explode on her own.

I do think its wrong that this double standard has not been punted to Jupiter or Saturn but we play with the handcuffs we're dealt I guess.

[Jennicut]

17. I remember the Anita Hill hearings but I was just a teenager

I don't think she was treated unfairly by Joe at all. He did not want the hearings to be held in public so as to not make it a sideshow but Poppy Bush insisted. He tried to be be fair to both of them and neither side ended up happy. Clarence Thomas did not have pleasant things to say about Biden at all in his book about the hearings. I think all Joe has to do is go after McTroll but not be like McTroll was to Obama. He was rude and condescending. Just avoid that and he will be fine.

[Erin Elizabeth]

19. I didn't even realize Biden was involved in that.

I was in my late teens, I believe. Shrug.

[Vinca]

21. Keeping in mind McCain himself has serious problems with women -

rape jokes, calling the wife the "c" word, opposed to equal pay for equal work. I'm sure Biden will be nice to the dainty flower Mooseburger.

[Cleita]

22. Yes, but Republicans always get a pass for these things.

Imagine if Obama's girls had been teenagers and one of them was up on the stage at the Convention unmarried and pregnant. You know how that drum would have been pounded all the way up to the election.

[Vinca]

23. So true. Hardly a peep about the "laying on of hands" to rid

Mooseburger of witches (or whatever the hell that was). If it was Obama it would be on a constant loop.