Crazy: Sarah Palin the New Clarence Thomas

My take on the Palin pick via a comparison to Clarence Thomas...

Clarence Thomas

Pander. On July 1, 1991, President George H. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to fill a seat on the Supreme Court that would soon be vacant due to the retirement of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

Ideology. The selection of Thomas preserved the existing racial composition of the court, but it was seen as likely to move the ideological balance to the right.

Unqualified. At the time of his nomination, Thomas was 43yo and had a resume about as thin as the sheet of paper it was written on. He had served as Chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1982 to 1990, which as you can imagine, under the Reagan Administration wasn't the most active Commission in the government during that period of time. His crowning achievement up to that point was as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to which he had been appointed by Bush only one year earlier. The American Bar Association's rating for Judge Thomas was split between "qualified" and "not qualified."

Abuse of Power and Judgement. During his confirmation hearing numerous witnesses, including Anita Hill who worked for him at the Department of Education, testified that Thomas had engaged in sexual harassment. Thomas denied all allegations. His nomination was sent to the full Senate without a recommendation from the Judiciary Committee. He was confirmed by the Senate by a 52-48 vote.

Record. The record of Clarence Thomas since his confirmation is one of a Supreme Court justice who is clearly not up to the intellectual rigors of his lofty position which is reflected by his virtual silence on the bench. February 22, 2008, marked the two year anniversary of Thomas's failure to utter a single word or pose a question from the bench during oral arguments. For a Supreme Court Justice this is unheard of (no pun intended).

Postscript. Ironically, Joe Biden was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time and as such ran Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing.

Sarah Palin

Pander. On August 29, 2008, 17 years after Clarence Thomas' nomination, John McCain announced 44yo Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Palin in her coming out speech stated:

"I can't begin this great effort without honoring the achievement of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and of course, Hillary Clinton, who showed determination in her presidential campaign," Palin said. "It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."

It's clear from Palin's remarks that McCain believes that in selecting Palin he can attract a large number of female voters who are (were) angry about Hillary's loss to Obama. To put it in stark terms she was selected because she's a woman.

Ideology. A few examples of Palin's views...she is anti-choice, believes that creationism should be taught in public schools, doesn't think global warming is man-made, and is a card carrying member of the NRA. In short, in addition to her gender Palin was selected based on her very conservative ideology and largely to mollify the religious right.

Unqualified. Palin has been governor for less than two years of a state with 600,000 people and before that she was mayor of a town with 6,000 inhabitants. She has zero foreign policy experience, no understanding of the intricacies of various foreign policy issues, and see above for her views on global warming and creationism. To paraphrase Obama, she seems "nice enough" but Palin certainly is not qualified to be one heartbeat away from a 72-76 year old President.

Abuse of Power and Judgement. From talkingpointsmemo.com...Palin is embroiled in her own scandal in Alaska. In short, she's accused of using her pull as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired as a state trooper. The brother-in-law is embroiled in an ugly divorce and custody with Palin's sister. After his boss wouldn't fire the brother-in-law, she fired the boss. Palin originally insisted there was nothing to the story. More recently, she was forced to admit the one of her top deputies had pushed to get the guy fired. The results of the investigation are to be released the first week in November, just prior to the election.

After the firing of the boss mentioned above, Palin replaced him with a guy who'd recently been hit with a credible sexual harassment accusation (echoes of Clarence Thomas). Palin later admitted that she knew about the complaint in advance but denied that she knew of the letter of reprimand he'd received. He lasted two weeks on the job.

Record. To be determined.

Thomas and Palin

Clearly no one can say how Palin would perform if she were elected VP or if she were to take over as President. Nonetheless, the similarities between Clarence Thomas and Sarah Palin are striking:

• both were selected because of their ideology;
  
• both were chosen to pander to specific demographic groups;
  
• both are extraordinarily unqualified for their positions;
  
• both exhibited an abuse of power;
  
• both exhibited poor judgment related to sexual abuse;
• both are within one year of each other in terms or their age; and
• Joe Biden is (has been) an adversary of both Thomas and Palin
  

Bottom Line

I watched Hillary throughout the primaries and am very familiar with her resume. As such, I can say unequivocally, Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton! Clarence Thomas has turned out to be what many suspected he would be, an awful, disinterested, un-intellectually curious Justice. I fear that should Palin become VP or President the same or worse fate is in store.

For George H. Bush to nominate an unqualified ideologue in Clarence Thomas to the highest court in the land because he was black was and continues to be insulting to African Americans, the Supreme Court, and ultimately to every citizen of the United States. For John McCain to choose an unqualified ideologue for the second highest position in the United States government solely because she is a woman is insulting to the intellect of every female voter in this country, to the office of the Vice President, and ultimately to every citizen of the United States.

In doing so, McCain's cynical calculus led him to put his own political interests above the best interests of this country. In McCain's own framing, such an act is treasonous.

- I'd very much like to hear your comments on this post.
RANdom