October 2, 2007 -- IF Clarence Thomas weren't a black conservative, his new memoir, "My Grandfather's Son," would be hailed as a kind of classic - a powerful, moving tale of a black man's ascent from bone-crushing poverty to the pinnacle of the American system of government.
But Thomas has a unique lot in life. On top of the discrimination, insults and condescension he has experienced simply as a black man have come the outrage, insults and condescension he has experienced as a black man who broke with liberal orthodoxy. In his view, all this culminated in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, when liberal interest groups revived the old smear of the sexually rapacious black man in the guise of Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment.
The final section of the book dealing with the hearings is getting the most attention, and Thomas is being portrayed as the aggressor. He "lashes out," according to a headline in The Washington Post. Those pages do indeed pulse with anger, but how could it be otherwise when Thomas contends - persuasively - that he did Hill a favor by hiring her to work for him in the federal government, he had never mistreated her, and her accusations were a brutal instance of the politics of personal destruction?
Thomas survived, of course, and if his opponents had been able to read this book they would have known he would. "My Grandfather's Son" is a tale of pride, determination and independence - from the constraints of discrimination and the deadening influence of group-think.
Thomas was abandoned by his father and didn't even meet him until he was 9 years old. He was raised in segregated Savannah, Ga., by his grandmother and his grandfather, a steely disciplinarian determined to keep Thomas and his brother out of trouble through sheer hard work.
"Old Man Can't is dead - I helped bury him," his barely literate grandfather used to say. He sent Thomas and his brother to a Catholic school where the nuns were nearly as strict as his grandfather. Missing school wasn't an option. His grandfather warned us, Thomas writes, "that if we died, he'd take our bodies to school for three days to make sure we weren't faking."
Thomas remembers, years later, watching his grandfather dote on Thomas' own son and wondering why he hadn't been so tender with him when he was growing up. "Because you were my responsibility," his grandfather replied. Thomas' upbringing was a triumph of mind over matter, of will and discipline over social injustice and economic deprivation.
Thomas says he came to realize, "I had been raised by the greatest man I have ever known." His book is so moving because it is partly an unrequited love story between the two men, whose stubbornness and insecurities kept them from ever truly reconciling after various blowups and slights.
Thomas' pride was a key to his slow turn from radicalism to the right. His accomplishments and his reputation were paramount to him. When he graduated from Yale Law School, he realized that when he went on job interviews people assumed he wasn't as talented as his peers because of affirmative action. White liberals had cheapened what he had worked so hard for; he took a 15-cent sticker from a cigar and stuck it to his Yale diploma to symbolize its true worth.
Thomas is painfully honest about his struggles in this book: the drinking, the broken marriage, the debt, the despair that had him contemplating suicide even as he ascended in Washington. He constantly worried that he had exposed himself too much by being frank about his conservative views, and when the first President Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court, he was filled with dread. He feared his political enemies would stop at nothing.
He was right. But the ordeal drove him to the Christian faith of his grandparents, making him more than ever his grandfather's son. This is a great American story, written by an extraordinary man.
John Kennedy
10-02-2007, 01:17 PM
What does this have to do with race? White liberals despise? How about a conservative that liberals despise? Damn, things are getting tangled up for "your side" lately, clawing at whatever you can dig up in the blog world (who wrote this anyway?)
jameznyhc
10-03-2007, 09:09 AM
What does this have to do with race? White liberals despise? How about a conservative that liberals despise? Damn, things are getting tangled up for "your side" lately, clawing at whatever you can dig up in the blog world (who wrote this anyway?)
from rush limbaugh show ...
JUSTICE THOMAS: I never really wanted to be on the court. I don't like Washington. When the president asked me... Just like my call to become a priest, my vocation, I think when the president asks you to do something, you should do it. Now, most people would say, "But it's the Supreme Court." Well, maybe they are interested in it as a personal bit of ambition, but I was not. So it wasn't something I was trying to get. It wasn't a prize. What was important to me was that my family... I mean, I don't have a whole lot. I had my good name -- and I was too prideful about that, I will admit. But my grandparents had cobbled together this life. They had never been bitter. They weren't upset with anybody. They got these two little boys; they raised them; they were law-abiding; they were religious people; they were frugal; they were hard working. And they made us work; they made us adopt those things. And, here, for no reasons other than people disagreed with me, or they thought that a black person shouldn't particularly have these views, they were going to set upon me and undermine, or destroy the little bit we had cobbled together. At some point, I think, you are obligated to stand and defend that, to defend the honor -- and I think I would have shamed my grandfather if I had not stood up and defended what he had given us and defended the legacy he left us to provide for ourselves and for our kids.
RUSH: Well, I know exactly why they opposed you, and I know exactly why they tried to destroy you, and I also am going to mention this in our next segment -- which, by the way, will set a record, Mr. Justice Thomas.
JUSTICE THOMAS: (chuckles)
RUSH: No guest has ever gone longer than one hour on this program. You are the first.
JUSTICE THOMAS: Well, thank you.
RUSH: Well, it's our honor and privilege. We have a little less than a minute here, but I need to ask you: You said you didn't like Washington. You don't like it. You never thought of the court. You did it in accepting the honor and the request of the president. I have about 30 seconds here. Do you see yourself as being on the court as the pinnacle of your profession?
JUSTICE THOMAS: I don't see it that way. I am honored to be a part of defending what we think is the best country in the world, the best Constitution in the world, and I'm honored to be in this role for my fellow citizens, and I can't complain about it in any way.
RUSH: I can't wait to comment on this when we get back -- and we will be back, folks, shortly after our top-of-the-hour break. One more segment at least with Mr. Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Be right back. Don't go away.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Greetings and welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. It's great to have you with us on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. We continue our discussion here today with the Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Clarence Thomas, about his memoir, his new book, My Grandfather's Son. I mentioned right before the previous hour concluded, I evolved a theory back during your confirmation process -- and I think I'm right about this, and I made a big deal about it: I asked you if you thought that you were at the pinnacle of your profession as an Associate Justice on the court. You said you don't look at it that way, at all. You have a much more humble approach to what it means to sit on the US Supreme Court. But others, who were threatened by your nomination and your confirmation, looked at you, Mr. Justice Thomas, as the biggest threat to the existing civil rights coalition prescription for minority success in this country today because you did not follow their route. You did not go through the appropriate civil rights leaders to be anointed and granted permission to move on and do so in their image and in their ways, and, as such, you on the Supreme Court would provide -- and this book is doing it, this interview today is doing it, your 60 Minutes last night -- America is seeing you as they've never seen you. They're seeing you exactly as the civil rights coalition feared from the first day of your nomination that you would be seen: a genuine, humble human being who has become, in their fearful view, the way they look at you is, you are now the most powerful African-American man in the country, and you have shown that it can be done without them. Now, I'm not asking you to take potshots at them with this observation and the question, but I wanted to share with the audience my view of why you were so contentiously, rudely, in a slanderous way, opposed. Now, do you have -- and I know the answer to the question, based on things you've said already -- but when you get to the Supreme Court every day, you get to your chambers and it's time for oral arguments, you look around you, it has to have permeated at some point that you are one of a precious few human beings who has ever worked as a justice in that building. At some point you... I don't know if you were ever in awe of it and had to get past that, or did you just step right into it?
JUSTICE THOMAS: Well, first, Rush, the job itself was certainly something I never thought that would be a problem to do. It never occurred to me I wouldn't be able to decide the cases.
RUSH: You never thought it would be too hard a job?
JUSTICE THOMAS: Oh, no. No. It's been a long trip from Pinpoint to here; and along the way, you learn lessons that people who have a much easier path never learn. So it was not something that I thought would be too difficult to do. When I first got to the court, Justice Powell was still there, and, of course, he had retired and was still in the court itself, and he had a conversation with me during one of our many chats, and he said that, "Once you think that you belong at the court, it's time for you to leave." I agree with that. I think that in these jobs, you have to remember that the job, the Constitution, the work we do is important, but we're just human beings. That was the attitude that Justice White had and so many of those who went before me. I think humility is very important in doing these jobs. It's not about us. I keep on the wall in my office -- and my favorite prayer is -- The Litany of Humility. You really don't want to get caught up in what people say, negative or positive. You're there, you took an oath, and, as I said to my clerks, "I took an oath to God, not an oath to be God." We're there to do our jobs as judges. I'm a judge. I have a limited role, and I stick within that role.
RUSH: Could you describe it? What is that role? In your view of your role as a judge, a justice, what is that?
JUSTICE THOMAS: My role is to interpret the Constitution, when it's a constitutional case and a case or controversy. It's to interpret a statute. It is not to impose my policy views or my personal views on your Constitution, our Constitution, or on your laws. It's not my private preserve to work out these theories, and I guard very, very diligently against doing that. I think a part of being able to stay within the confines of that limited role, one has to be humble about one's -- a judge has to be humble about his -- own approach and what his capacities are. Before I start the term, and certainly in many, many cases, I had a little prayer that I used to say years ago when I was at EEOC: "Lord, grant me the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do it." So I also think that, in addition to wisdom or humility, you need the courage to do what is right. If the answer is something that is difficult or that will lead to criticism, you still have to do it, if it's right. It's your oath. So that's, in a nutshell, my approach to the job.
RUSH: What would you do if you weren't a judge? Other than being a judge, what would you like to do?
JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) Oh, goodness. My wife always sort of has problems when I answer questions like that, because what I'd like to do is a little bit different --
RUSH: Well, is she there?
JUSTICE THOMAS: No, she's not.
RUSH: Well, then go ahead and answer it!
JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) I would like to run a small- or medium-size business in a small community. That would be sort of the more top-end of the options. I'd like to be a coach. I would love to know enough football or basketball to coach teams, and my one dream job was to be a truck driver. I still have that in my system. I love being around tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers. I love working on large vehicles, driving them. Maybe that goes back to delivering fuel oil and working on the farm. But I love being around people who work with their hands, who do the hard things to keep our country going. They're just my kind of people.
John Kennedy
10-03-2007, 10:54 AM
Still doesn't show that this has anything to do with race... it's just another liberal vs conservative institutional battle (opposing him was), which jumps off of the fact that institutions like the NAACP, as do all special interest groups, have the built in first priority to keep their doors open, followed by their stated true purpose... so it's common sense that a special interest group would resent him because he didn't utilize them and give them face on a national stage. It happens with all institutions... churches, political parties, special interest groups, etc etc etc. To say "the black man that white liberals despise" is ignorant and just exposes you for blindly taking sides once again... I still don't know where you, as a person, stand on any single issue... you always regurgitate drudgereport headlines, neo-con bloggers ideas, etc... whatever they say you agree with and you take headlines for face value, without even reading the articles sometimes lol
jameznyhc
10-03-2007, 11:05 AM
Still doesn't show that this has anything to do with race... it's just another liberal vs conservative institutional battle (opposing him was), which jumps off of the fact that institutions like the NAACP, as do all special interest groups, have the built in first priority to keep their doors open, followed by their stated true purpose... so it's common sense that a special interest group would resent him because he didn't utilize them and give them face on a national stage. It happens with all institutions... churches, political parties, special interest groups, etc etc etc. To say "the black man that white liberals despise" is ignorant and just exposes you for blindly taking sides once again... I still don't know where you, as a person, stand on any single issue... you always regurgitate drudgereport headlines, neo-con bloggers ideas, etc... whatever they say you agree with and you take headlines for face value, without even reading the articles sometimes lol
ill be happy to explain in detail any issue or debate you'd like to engage in. Ive been heavily into politics since 1988 dukakis vs bush srwhen i was in high school..
yes i absolutly do post alot of articles, polls, op-eds, blogs, etc.. but thats to start a discussion on CURRENT EVENTS lol..as you can see we can do threads with a 100 replys, after the intial topic i post about it becomes a discussion with all my own opinions as to why I agree with viewpoints or disagree with other members on the board .. Again if you dont know my position on spending, taxes, gun control, welfare, islamic fundamentalism, goverment programs, vouchers, abortion, war on drugs, war on terror, who i support as the nominee for 2008 etc etc etc all you gotta do is ask ..even though ive stated my position on these issues numerous times..
Another reason why i like to post articles by people like michelle malkin, roy innis, Amir taheri, thomas sowell, etc is im showing that there are many non white male and females who hold the same position..in mainstream media republicans are labeled as racist, hicks, christian fundamentalists, extremists etc.. so i feel it important to break that stereo type ..50% of women and 40% of hispanics rewarded bush with a second term .. im just destroying the stereotypes
John Kennedy
10-03-2007, 11:14 AM
ill be happy to explain in detail any issue or debate you'd like to engage in. Ive been heavily into politics since 1988 dukakis vs bush srwhen i was in high school..
yes i absolutly do post alot of articles, polls, op-eds, blogs, etc.. but thats to start a discussion on CURRENT EVENTS lol..as you can see we can do threads with a 100 replys, after the intial topic i post about it becomes a discussion with all my own opinions as to why I agree with viewpoints or disagree with other members on the board .. Again if you dont know my position on spending, taxes, gun control, welfare, islamic fundamentalism, goverment programs, vouchers, abortion, war on drugs, war on terror, who i support as the nominee for 2008 etc etc etc all you gotta do is ask ..even though ive stated my position on these issues numerous times..
Another reason why i like to post articles by people like michelle malkin, roy innis, Amir taheri, thomas sowell, etc is im showing that there are many non white male and females who hold the same position..in mainstream media republicans are labeled as racist, hicks, christian fundamentalists, extremists etc.. so i feel it important to break that stereo type ..50% of women and 40% of hispanics rewarded bush with a second term .. im just destroying the stereotypes
I know your stances go in line with the neo-con mentality being that you've supported Bush's stance on global imperialism.. combined with other traditional republican stances... I mean when you post an article it's not clear on what you're trying to get across... it's usually just divisive and a matter of which side you are on... nothing about the country's health, legislation that truly helps this country, people united for a common healthy goal, the true reason that politics exist.
You finally say that your motive for this thread was to show the diversity of the right wing, meanwhile in the title of your thread you say white liberals despise blacks... totally off base and petty. I would've reacted the same way if the reasoning was faulty against the right wing which I have done many times on here so don't pull that "my side" thing either because I don't have a side.
jameznyhc
10-03-2007, 11:18 AM
I know your stances go in line with the neo-con mentality being that you've supported Bush's stance on global imperialism.. combined with other traditional republican stances... I mean when you post an article it's not clear on what you're trying to get across... it's usually just divisive and a matter of which side you are on... nothing about the country's health, legislation that truly helps this country, people united for a common healthy goal, the true reason that politics exist.
You finally say that your motive for this thread was to show the diversity of the right wing, meanwhile in the title of your thread you say white liberals despise blacks... totally off base and petty. I would've reacted the same way if the reasoning was faulty against the right wing which I have done many times on here so don't pull that "my side" thing either because I don't have a side.
please i posted an article obama finally takes the gloves off and hits clinton hard..nothing right wing or neocon there.. and whatta ya know an entire forum of obama supporters have nothing to say ..why because obama agrees with what i been saying how democrats are just as responsible as bush for getting us into iraq.. yet crickets ..no replys.. hmm wonder why
jameznyhc
10-03-2007, 11:23 AM
sorry this was the quote i meant to post by justice thomas..if you go back and watch the confirmation hearings it was a disgrace
He says he supported Ronald Reagan in 1980 because "I thought that blacks would be better off if they were left alone instead of being used as guinea pigs for the foolish schemes of dream-killing politicians and their ideological acolytes." When nominated to the Court, his "refusal to swallow the liberal pieties that had done so much damage to blacks meant that I had to be destroyed." And perhaps most extraordinary of all:
"I'd grown up fearing the lynch mobs of the Ku Klux Klan; as an adult, I was starting to wonder if I'd been afraid of the wrong white people all along. My worst fears had come to pass not in Georgia but in Washington, DC, where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony."