Re: deja' vu' by pk

I shall identify myself only as a female aide to a Republican senator. It is also relevant that I have long nurtured a keen interest in psycho-history, the process by which a nation's direction is interpreted as an extension of the psychological makeup of those individuals who govern it.

Without going into specific detail, let me simply state that on October 5, 1991, I happened to hear part of a conversation among Judge—now Supreme Court Justice—Clarence Thomas, Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Alan Simpson. The three were meeting informally one week after the Judiciary Committee voted, first 7-7, then 13-1, to recommend the confirmation of Judge Thomas, and one day after the full Senate indicated that he would be confirmed.

The conversation I happened to hear had to do with those charges brought by Anita Hill and ignored by the members of the committee, both Democratic and Republican. At that point in time I still thought this was an appropriate response, because the alternative would have been to hold an executive session, and Judge Thomas would then have had no practical choice but to resort to heavy denial. Now, however, these men were, in a jocular fashion, acknowledging the truth of what would turn out to be Professor Hill's allegations.

Senator Simpson was saying, "Y'know, Clarence, I've seen some pretty raunchy porno movies in my time, but I never did see one where a lady was having sex with an animal."

"I'll never forget it," Judge Thomas replied in his riveting sonorous tone. "They were in a barn. Except that the inside of the barn was like a theater."

Senator Hatch interjected, "Summer stock, eh? No pun intended"

"There was a stage at one end," Judge Thomas continued his description, "and the stage was facing rows and rows of wooden folding chairs. There were haystacks piled up on the stage, and in front of the haystacks there was a beautiful, buxom, blond woman—and a donkey. Well, the woman began disrobing and she started stroking the donkey to arousal."

"Doesn't sound at all sleazy to me," Senator Simpson said.

"Actually, it had Beethoven piano sonatas playing in the background," Judge Thomas said. "Well, when the woman was fully disrobed and the donkey was fully aroused, they began copulating, right there in front of those haystacks on the stage of that barn. Slow and sensual. Then bumping and grinding away, accompanied by passionate moans and wild braying. You've never seen a sight like this, I promise. And then the camera panned slowly toward the audience ... and the audience consisted entirely of donkeys."

The Senate office shook with raucous laughter, especially that of Judge Thomas. His booming guffaws rang like huge gongs in a church belfry. And, I must admit, I had to suppress my own laughter. I had been totally caught by surprise, but I appreciated getting the insight. Homo sapiens is, in reality, the only species that has a need for pornography.

When the group's laughter finally began to simmer down, Senator Hatch said, "I suppose that movie was one of the demands of the animal rights people."

"That's correct," Senator Simpson added. "Saving animals' lives is no longer enough. They need culture."

I felt like I was imprisoned in the boys' locker room, but I was getting ready to force myself to leave anyway, and it would have ended right there for me if the subject matter hadn't returned to Anita Hill.

"I'm glad nobody considered calling her to testify against me, even for a closed-door session," Judge Thomas said. "But you fellas will really love this. Anita Hill was a very opinionated young lady. Actually, she and I once had an extremely animated discussion on the decriminalization of abortion. Can you imagine what the Democrats would've done with that?"

And that was the precise instant I made the decision to leak Professor Hill's statement to the press. Although I have constantly been sexually hassled, I have never really been harassed in the legal sense of the word. However, I have had an abortion, and I was totally outraged by the blatant hypocrisy I'd overheard. I had never leaked a document before, but my anger overshadowed my fear.

I chose Nina Totenberg because I had come to trust her reporting about the Supreme Court on National Public Radio. I honestly had no idea what leaking the affidavit would accomplish. I certainly did not envision that it would literally embarrass the Senate into delaying the vote until public hearings were held, though that probably was my secret desire.

But Judge Thomas testified under oath that he had never discussed the subject of abortion. However, in response to a question by Senator Hank Brown, Professor Hill testified that she had disagreed with Judge Thomas in a discussion about Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, then-Senator Joseph Biden quickly interrupted her.

'That is not the subject of these hearings," he said.

Personally, I feel quite disappointed about that particular aspect of the testimony, but I have not the slightest regret over leaking Anita Hill's affidavit, and I would gladly do it all over again.

I certainly set a higher moral standard for myself than did the staffer for Senator John Danforth who wrote Judge Thomas's statement that began, "Nobody helped me with this."

great