,
29 tweets,
13 min read
Read on Twitter
1. Whenever I read something online regarding some person's past actions, I refuse to take it at face value. I research, check original documents, if the statements are important. Which leads me to online criticisms of how @JoeBiden handled the Anita Hill hearings....
@JoeBiden 2...I watched the hearings, and remember some high points but little else. I have been reading lots of criticisms online that didn't seem to line up with my impressions. And so, I downloaded the hearing transcripts and have spent the last week reading them. Online is wrong...
@JoeBiden 3...there are things that are attributed to the hearings that were in fact statements from conservative journalists, including David Brock (who has since abandoned that side.) There are words attributed to Republicans senators that are in fact from sworn affidavits of witnesses..
@JoeBiden 4...and those witnesses backed down from the inflammatory words - under questioning by Biden. The hearing was nothing like we see in modern days - after all, this was before the contamination of Fox News. There was cordiality between both sides, and the aggressive questioning...
@JoeBiden 5...by Republicans would today be seen as quaint. No screaming, no obnoxiousness - except for maybe Senator Simpson, who was always obnoxious in a folksy way.
So, let's set up what really happened, and not what people - without citation - said happened....
So, let's set up what really happened, and not what people - without citation - said happened....
@JoeBiden 7...he also was very gracious to Hill, and apologized to her for being involuntarily dragged into this - Hill had wanted to be anonymous and provide the information to Senate staff, but after she did, her name was leaked without her permission. She then agreed to testify. 
@JoeBiden 8...now, one thing mentioned in the hearing was that the Senate had given Biden 48 hours until this issue had to be resolved, which is why the hearings were held on the weekend, going late into the night....
@JoeBiden 9...Biden also made clear - he had consulted Senate counsel about the limits of what he could do as chairman, found means by which he could prevent certain lines of questioning, but was not allowed under Senate rules to block questions on credibility, etc....
@JoeBiden 10...Hill was amazing in her testimony - poised, forceful and credible. Then, at Biden's urging and over the objections of Republicans, a series of witnesses were brought on to corroborate her statements....
@JoeBiden 11...and....
@JoeBiden 12...and on and on. The Republicans, of course, were allowed to have their own panel. Refusing to allow the opposing party to do that never happened before the GOP took over the senate under Obama. They threw all rules out the window....
@JoeBiden 13...there was one witness who was clearly inappropriate, ranting about what she believed about Hill, and saying the reason she did it was political. Biden eviscerated that argument with just a few questions...
@JoeBiden 14...he equally eviscerated a Republican witness who testified he didn't find Hill credible because they had run a sexual harassment seminar together and Hill never said anything about Thomas...
@JoeBiden 15...when a witness tried to attack the credibility of Hill by saying she never filed a sexual harassment complaint, Biden immediately shot that down, moving on from the subject...
@JoeBiden 16...and the second biggest allegation: That he allowed Republicans to say that Hill's statements about Thomas were a "fantasy." Never happened. A witness, discussing an experience with Hill, used word "fantasy" in a sworn statement about something that happened between THEM...
@JoeBiden 17...and Biden managed to get him to drop the word, saying he regretted saying it, essentially reverse himself. And then, Biden turned around and started using the dropped word to attack the man's credibility....
@JoeBiden 18...the realities here go on and on. The Dems brought out witnesses who specifically backed up Hill's having told them of Thomas's harassment years before, GOP brought out a team of folks to attack Hill's credibility, and Biden....
@JoeBiden 19...kept successfully tearing them down.
Then, one of the biggest falsehoods. Other women were blocked from testifying about their harassment by Thomas, and that changed everything....
Then, one of the biggest falsehoods. Other women were blocked from testifying about their harassment by Thomas, and that changed everything....
@JoeBiden 20...this was not true. There was a woman, Angela Wright, who was independently discovered by Biden's staff, was asked to testify. She refused, then was subpoenaed. However, unlike Hill, she was a problematic witness and the attacks on her credibility were going to be bad...
@JoeBiden 21...the primary issue, which came up in the hearings, was that Wright had said in her interview that she had not been harassed....
@JoeBiden 22...unlike Hill, Wright had been fired. She had also written a letter that the GOP had in which she lambasted a former employer in EEOC, and blasted it around DC - including to the White House. The GOP wanted to go on it...(attach from WashPost article years later...)
@JoeBiden 23...there was another big problem: Thomas's testimony about why he fired Wright....
@JoeBiden 24...now, sum it up. The Senate gave Biden 48 hours. Hill had been an incredible witness, and had three witnesses who corroborated her story. Biden had torn apart the Republican witnesses. To, at that point, put on Wright - whose statement that she had not been harassed....
@JoeBiden 25...and her letter to the former supervisor at EEOC, and the testimony of why she was fired for using a slur, the greatness of the Hill testimony - and its bulletproof nature - would be buried under a much more controversial witness who would be portrayed by GOP as vindictive..
@JoeBiden 26...and homophobic. The hearings would have descended into chaos, completely overshadowing Hill's presentation. Given the time limits, the inability to conduct a more comprehensive investigation of Wright allegations, and the stellar nature of Hill's case, *I* would not have...
@JoeBiden 27...called Wright. It would have been a bigger loss than an advantage. I am not saying Wright did not tell the truth. I am saying this is about a SCOTUS nomination, and using Wright would have given many many reasons for GOP to attack entire hearing....
@JoeBiden 28...you may agree or disagree with that decision. But you cannot claim that it was reached in animus or without concern for this issue. Biden's team would not have found and interviewed so many people who backed up Hill - and got them to testify - if they didn't care about it...
@JoeBiden 29...I know some people will remain unconvinced. Certainty of belief always outweighs original documents these days. And I am not making a case for Biden. I *AM* saying that reality matters, that truth matters, and before you say something online - research it with an open mind.
