Presidential contender Joe Biden is under attack from fellow Democrats for how he treated Anita Hill in 1991, after she accused future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of harassment.
#MeToo advocates are warning that Biden had better apologize if he wants the women’s vote in the primaries. Biden’s an expert panderer. He is already expressing contrition for how he, as chairman, handled the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Hill’s accusations. “I believed her from the very beginning,” Biden told ABC Tuesday, “but I was chairman. She did not get a fair hearing. She did not get treated well. That’s my responsibility.”
Sorry, Joe. That’s rewriting history. The hearing was fair.
Hill’s testimony was full of holes and devoid of evidence to back up her claim that Thomas harassed her by talking about porn and other vulgar subjects at work. Thomas categorically denied it. When testifying, she flip-flopped on a key question between her morning and afternoon testimony. She had to backtrack on repeated statements that Thomas asked her to his apartment to watch porn, finally admitting it was an “inference” she drew.
At first, she denied initiating calls to Thomas after leaving her job with him, but she had to recant and admit she made several. The hearing and an FBI inquiry failed to demonstrate Thomas did anything wrong.
Last week, Biden expressed regrets that he had allowed senators to ask Hill “inflammatory questions.” Justice required nothing less than tough, piercing questions. Hill’s accusation threatened to wreck Thomas’ life, but her claims didn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Now, 28 years later, Biden is struggling to appear sympathetic to Hill. On “The View,” he asked: “How do you stop these character assassinations?” He meant Hill’s character, but it was Thomas whose name was dragged through the mud without evidence.
The public, watching on television in 1991, believed Thomas over Hill by a 2-to-1 margin, according to Gallup polling. Yet following Thomas’ confirmation, Democrats turned Hill into a feminist icon and made believing her a litmus test.
Last year, liberals doubled down, insisting they believed Christine Blasey Ford, who accused future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of groping her when both were teenagers. Never mind that Ford couldn’t even say where or when — or provide any corroborating evidence.
Senate Democrats, including presidential wannabes Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, declared they believed her even before hearing her testimony.
Hill herself piled on Kavanaugh, demanding that the “burden of persuasion” should be borne by him, not his accuser.
Now Hill wants an unambiguous apology from Biden for what happened in 1991. Caving to Hill will get Biden points with the far left but not with most people, not even most women. They have fathers, sons, brothers and husbands they don’t want skewered by the #MeToo movement. One accusation of sexual harassment can cost a man his education, job or entire future, even if the accuser has no proof.
Unfortunately, top Democrats couldn’t care less. One of the biggest differences between Republican and Democratic politicians right now is their attitudes about #MeToo. Republicans value time-honored principles like due process and the presumption of innocence. Democrats have no patience for these.
Voters need to keep that in mind in 2020. America doesn’t need a #MeToo president. We already had one — Barack Obama. His policies stripped college men accused of sexual harassment and assault of their rights in campus kangaroo courts rigged to benefit accusers.
Fortunately, President Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is reversing the Obama policies and restoring due process protections such as the right to cross-examine one’s accuser. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are resisting these reforms.
Trump says that “it’s a very scary time for young men in America” — because they can be accused for no reason.
If it happens to you or to the men and boys in your life, know that most of the Democrats running for president, including Biden, won’t have your back. Sexual harassment and assault are grave matters, and accusations need to be taken seriously. But both the accused and the accuser deserve fairness. Sadly, that ancient principle is not on the Democrats’ agenda.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.