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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:49 am Post subject: Did anyone see Clarence Thomas on Sixty Minutes? |
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I very rarely tune in to "60 minutes". But I did so tonight for the interview with Clarence Thomas. It was well worth it.
No matter how many times Steve Croft baited him with questions on race and abortion etc., Thomas slapped him down.
(paraphrasing from memory)
Croft:Your were seen as kowtowing to win the prize.
Thomas: I wasn't winning a prize. This wasn't a football game!!
Later, Croft: "But you're BLACK"!!
Thomas: I'm a MAN! I'm an AMERICAN!!
Over and over again besting a withering Croft.
I was jumping up throwing my fist in the air and shouting "YESSS"
Clarence Thomas for President!!
A man of very reasoned logic, honesty, and humility. And he just leveled this journalist. I love It.
If anyone finds the transcript, I tellya it's a keeper!
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)
Last edited by shawa on Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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USAFE5
PO2
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 362
Location: Reno Nevada
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/27/60minutes/main3305443.shtml
(CBS) Most Americans know very little about the workings of the U.S. Supreme Court or its members, but mention Justice Clarence Thomas, and you are likely to start an argument.
He is the court's only African American, and it's most conservative member. He is arguably the most influential black man in the country, yet he is reviled by many in his own race for his opposition to government programs intended to help minorities.
Most people know very little about him, their opinions shaped by his bitter confirmation battle in which he was accused of sexually harassing a former employee named Anita Hill. Now, 16 years later, he has written a memoir called "My Grandfather's Son," which lays bare a remarkable life and the events that shaped it.
Supreme Court justices are private people who rarely give interviews and Justice Thomas doesn't think much of the press, but he gave correspondent Steve Kroft and 60 Minutes seven days of his life to talk about all of it.
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"It's fascinating that people, there's so many people now who will make judgments based on what you look like," Thomas says. "I'm black. 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."
The justice agrees that there are some misconceptions about him, but says, "I think there are misconceptions about all of us."
"There's been an effort over the last 15, 20 years to create this perception of me. And you can't argue that that's been, in large part, successful," Thomas says.
He is often dismissed as a man of little accomplishment, an opportunistic black conservative who sold out his race, joined the Republican Party and was ultimately rewarded with an affirmative action appointment to the nation's highest court, a sullen, intellectual lightweight so insecure he rarely opens his mouth in oral arguments. The problem with the characterization is that it's unfair and untrue.
"These conceptions or misperceptions, you call them, have accumulated because you haven't really addressed them. You haven't talked about them," Kroft remarks.
"My job is to write opinions. I decide cases and write opinions. It is not to respond to idiocy and critics who make statements that are unfounded," Thomas says. "That doesn't mean that people shouldn't have constructive criticisms, but it should be constructive. Whether or not I'm black or not, that's just silliness. That is not worth responding to."
How much of his life is determined by his race?
"Oh, goodness. I don't know. I’m black. How much of your life is determined by being male? I have no idea. I'm black. That's a fact of life. I'm 5'8 1/2" tall. I don't know how much of my life is determined by being 5'8 1/2" tall. It's just a part of who I am," Thomas tells Kroft.
"But you think of yourself as a black man," Kroft says.
"I'm a man. I'm a man, first and foremost. I'm a citizen of this country. And I happen to be black. I am a human being," Thomas replies.
Thomas believes the Constitution is "color blind" and he is part of an emerging majority on the court that believes that laws granting preferential treatment based on race should be struck down.
But it is Thomas who has been vilified by the civil rights establishment in part because he is black, and because he is viewed as having benefited from some of very programs he now opposes. At best they consider him a hypocrite, at worst a traitor to his own people.
"You've been successful. You moved on. You don't care about people and your race," Kroft says.
"Oh, that's silliness," the justice replies.
"You do care," Kroft remarks.
"Oh, obviously I do," Thomas says. "Come on, you know? But it's none of their business. How much does Justice Scalia care about Italians? Did you ask him that? Did anyone ever ask him? Give me a break. Do I help people? Absolutely. Do I help, love helping black people? Absolutely. And I do. But do I like helping all people? Yes. In particular I like helping people who are disadvantaged, people who don’t come from the best circumstances. Do white people live in homeless shelters? Do Hispanics live in homeless shelters? Is disadvantaged exclusive province of blacks? No."
Continued at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/27/60minutes/main3305443.shtml
_________________
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I’m here to help." Ronald Reagan |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, USAF. There's a video too. You really have to see it. A STELLAR PERFORMANCE from this great man who has been soooo vilified. I can't wait to get his book.
| Quote: | He has expressed his legal views in more than 300 written opinions, which is about average given his tenure, but he rarely opens his mouth during oral arguments.
"The perception is, the critics will say it's because you're not smart enough or you're too insecure or you're afraid to make a fool out of yourself," Kroft says.
"Well, they make fools out of themselves with those kinds of comments," Thomas says. "Justice Marshall rarely asked questions. Justice Powell rarely asked questions. That’s a personal preference. I certainly wouldn’t do it to provide histrionics for the media gallery or for other people or for critics. Critics will always be critics."
Over the years the most vocal and persistent have been elements of the black community, where Thomas feels he has always been misunderstood.
"They feel that you received some preferential treatment because you were black. And that now, you are trying to say that they, that blacks, that other blacks shouldn't have it. That you've pulled the ladder on black people after you’ve climbed to the top," Kroft says.
"Steve, that's silly. Come on," Thomas says.
"This is a political reality. You are super charged," Kroft says.
"I don't think that when you're dealing with things that are matters of principle or matters of fact, that you can spend a lot of time worrying about what critics say. You have to do your job. My grandfather never worried about it. You’ve got to do what’s right. You don’t engage in this type of pettiness," Thomas says.
Thomas says the court may be closely divided on important ideological issues, but that he has never heard an uncivil word spoken in his 16 years there. He is reportedly one of the most popular people in the entire building, well-liked by everyone including his colleagues. Still only 59 years old, he is on track to become one of the longest serving Supreme Court justices in history. With every decision he makes and every opinion he writes, he thinks about his grandfather, Myers Anderson.
"The Supreme Court is a place where a number of justices have changed their views on things. Is it possible that over the next ten or fifteen years that you could change?" Kroft asks.
"My journey has over the years been almost that of a prodigal son where you journey away from your roots in the South. And now, I've returned to my roots," Thomas says. "And that's why I entitled my book "My Grandfather's Son." I have returned to my grandfather and to the way he raised me. And I think that's home and that's where I'll stay." |
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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AMOS
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 558
Location: IOWA
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