(In)Justice Clarence Thomas says progressives are as bad as southern racists

[jefferson_dem]

"These people who claim to be progressive … have been far more vicious to me than any southerner," Thomas says, "and it is purely ideological."

Thomas talks about the virulent racism he encountered growing up in the segregated South, when blacks were considered second-class citizens and kept separate from whites by law, and he equates those attitudes with the stereotypes he believes people hold today.

"People get bent out of shape about the fact that when I was a kid, you could not drink out of certain water fountains. Well, the water was the same. My grandfather always said that, 'The water's exactly the same.' But those same people are extremely comfortable saying I can't drink from this fountain of knowledge," Thomas says. "They certainly don't see themselves as being like the bigots in the South. Well, I've lived both experiences. And I really don't see that they're any different from them."

He says his critics — the people who question whether he is smart or qualified to be on the Court or who suggest he merely does what a white Supreme Court colleague dictates — are as also as bigoted as the whites of his childhood in the deep South.

"People feel free to say about me what they think about lots of blacks," Thomas said in an interview in his chambers at the Supreme Court. "Because of the heterodox views I've taken, they have license to say it about me with impunity."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3664143&page=1

[JohnLocke]

1. He's a dumb piece of crap.

[lligrd]

2. Thomas Would Be An Ass No Matter What His Skin Color Was

His rant makes no sense at all.

[rwheeler31]

3. heterodox?

[jefferson_dem]

7. Abnormal. Different.

Like he is from those Justices who are actually fit and "weighty" enough to don the black robes and sit on the SCOTUS bench.

To think this little man fills the seat once occupied by Thurgood Marshall is one of the greatest travesties in American history.

[PDenton]

42. heterodox - something other than orthodox

from the Greek "heteros" - other , and "doxia"- speech.

BTW, people with eighth grade educations, an often repeated slander against Thomas, don't know what "heterodox" means.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Don't go there, Clarence

Not with me.

I certainly don't loathe you for the color of your skin.

[Bluebear]

5. He needs to drink more from the knowledge fountain and rewrite this paragraph:

"People get bent out of shape about the fact that when I was a kid, you could not drink out of certain water fountains. Well, the water was the same. My grandfather always said that, 'The water's exactly the same.' But those same people are extremely comfortable saying I can't drink from this fountain of knowledge," Thomas says. "They certainly don't see themselves as being like the bigots in the South. Well, I've lived both experiences. And I really don't see that they're any different from them."

===

Because as it stands it makes no sense!

[jefferson_dem]

10. It's no surprise the dipshit never asks questions from the bench or authors opinions.

n/t

[JI7]

17. has he ever been asked why he never does this ?

i mean, how the fuck do you get on the supreme court and just sit there without saying anything.

[PDenton]

44. I understood what he was saying perfectly

He is accusing elites of creating a seperate body of orthodoxy that blacks must "drink" from.

I'm not sure it is a perfect analogy but I can understand what he is saying. What he is really saying is he wants the ability to hold opinions of his own, even if they are ones that are suppossedly "white", eg, to be a conservative.

[provis99]

6. oh Thomas

Only in his twisted little mind would people that tried to ensure blacks had equality with whites were worse than whites that would have been happy to drag him from the tailbumper of a pickup truck. Does he really believe his own shit, or does he just want to sell books like Ann Coulter does?

[demigoddess]

32. I think he actually believes it. He has that syndrome where the oppressed

identify with the oppressors, so as not to feel inferior.
Plus, listening to him, I never get the impression that he really knows what a progressive is.

[yardwork]

8. What an asshole.

[baldguy]

45. You must be a bigot if you point out that he's an asshole.

Or that he's a hypocrite, or that he's a liar, or that he's a fool.

[BlooInBloo]

9. That may be true - but he's still a intellectually bankrupt piece of shit....

... And they'll never, ever like you, Clarence. Never.

[Forkboy]

14. Ooo...details?

How may that be true?

[BlooInBloo]

15. eh?

[Forkboy]

19. You said that Thomas' charge "may be true".

I'm just curious as to why you think that.

[BlooInBloo]

20. Because it may be - I haven't the slightest. But it doesn't matter, since it's...

... irrelevant to his worthlessness.

Methinks you're reading WAAAAY to much into the word "may". But it may be that you're not.

[Forkboy]

21. Well, with your endless love of DUers and the left one can never be sure.

So I thought I'd ask.

[BlooInBloo]

24. Don't equate "left" with "stupid".

[Forkboy]

26. Good advice...hope you take it.

;)

[defendandprotect]

11. Shirley, this book is an example of why Clarence is unfit for the Supreme Court . . ..

and the American Bar Association didn't see that he was fit for it either --!!!

"Unqualified" then . . . . "unqualified" now --

[mrreowwr_kittty]

12. Affirmative action for him, but no one else. Dumbass. n/t

[spacelady]

13. Well, all the progressives who fought for equal rights and

opportunity had nothing to do with him having the chance to sit on the Supreme Court. I guess we progressives were perhaps too successful.

[Prophet 451]

16. He's right

It is idealogical. It's because he's an extreme right boot-boy.

Clarence Thomas was picked for teh SCOTUS purely to give a black face to extreme-right views. He is possibly the only person still living in denial of that fact.

[Hekate]

18. This midget stands on the shoulders of giants & thinks he himself is 20 feet tall

The very idea that he was seen as the "replacement" for Thurgood Marshall is ludicrous.

Sorry Clarence, I've devoted years of my life to working for equal opportunity and affirmative action, and it's YOU I don't like. It's definitely not the color of your skin -- I judge you by the content of your sexist and ultra-conservative character.

Hekate

[TheMadMonk]

22. I don't know the bloke, and from comments I probably don't want to.

However, the basic sense of what he appears to be saying is correct.

There is very little to tell between a hate filled bigot, and a progressive do gooder with your best interests at heart. Because whilst that do gooder may not hate you, he often does still consider you as "less" than he is as a human being; unable to fend for yourself without his (often unasked for) advocacy.

Both are bigots. But the first is at least honest. Wrong, but honest about his feeling. The second is neither honest, nor right.

[tabasco]

28. As a blanket statement that is utter horseshit.

The very reason progressives fought and died for equal rights for blacks is because progressives considered them equals. Your statement is just as stupid as Thomas'.

[TheMadMonk]

36. As a blanket statement about all progressives it is indeed horseshit.

My statement however was not about ALL progressives.

It's the many "self appointed progressive watchdogs" who will "do what's best for me" whether I want it or not. The sort who think they are doing so much good, and still use phrases like "your/their kind".

[qdemn7]

37. There are plenty of self-styled Progressives

Right here on DU whom are quite Authoritarian. Who think THEY know what is best for OTHER people. Concerning say Pornography, Guns, Drugs. The notion that all Progressives are enlightened and / or free-thinkers is utter horseshit.

[0007]

46. That's a heavy duty statement

'The notion that all Progressives are enlightened and / or free-thinkers is utter horseshit.

[PDenton]

47. not so fast

Did every "progressive" out there favor equal rights because it was the right thing to do, or simply because it was expedient and beneficial to their own interests?

Moreover, I think Clarence Thomas isn't oppossed to equal rights, he's oppossed to Affirmative Action, for reasons that are clear, but disputable. Assertions that he cannot critique affirmative action because he benefits from it himself are nothing but extensions of the ad hominem tu quoque fallacy.

[lligrd]

40. Crap, Pure And Simple nt

[EFerrari]

23. No, it's just you, Clarence.

:rofl:

[Disturbed]

25. Several black women accused him of sexual harrasment but

he spins that as racism. The Congress of mostly cowards voted for him because they were afraid of being
accused of of racial bias if they refused his appointment. The irony!

[EFerrari]

29. I think that appointment was near the beginning of our national insanity. nt

[lligrd]

41. Yep! nt

[MnFats]

27. what a twit. stay home and masturbate, Clarence.

I hear there's a successor to long dong silver in action now.

[countmyvote4real]

30. Thanks. I'll echo that.

I didn't know what to say as I scanned the responses. And then you said what was formulating in my mind.

I would like to add an "eat me" as if that would ever happen from Long John Thomas.

[silverojo]

31. Put a pubic hair on another can of Coke, retard

We really need a sexist pig like Clarence Thomas lecturing us about our morality. :puke:

[KingFlorez]

33. Uh, progressives don't really take to fascists

Clarence Thomas is a bitter, crazed, delusional man who needs to retire.

[madrchsod]

34. one of the most dangerous guys in the usa

we are in big trouble when tony thinks he`s nuts...roberts is the most dangerous guy in the usa-his court overturned a ruling from the late 1800`s. he`s going after every "liberal" ruling since the new deal.

[undeterred]

35. Isn't he the supreme who has to copy off someone elses paper

because he has nothing intelligent to say?

[KharmaTrain]

38. MLK Must Be Rolling Over...

I have never seen an attack on this scumbag based on the color of his skin. Doesn't this shit stain recognize who stood with his brothers and sisters to eliminate Jim Crow laws and "separate but equal"? Was it his buddies like Strom Thurmond or Trent Lott? Hell, while I consider Joe Lieberman lower than low, at least he headed south like many in the 60's to fight against the blatant racism that considered his father 3/5th of a human. Where was he during the 60s?

[charlie]

39. Haha

He's still dumb as a post. Still doing that "racist progressives drove me to the 'Racism, what Racism?' Party" schtick.

Maybe if he hadn't insisted in his confirmation hearings that he'd never, not once, had a serious discussion with anyone about Roe v Wade, people wouldn't say he was dumb. Which is after all, the charitable conclusion, the other being that he's a fat fucking LIAR.

20 years of squalling about racism with the likes of Rehnquist and Thurmond by your side, it's been an embarassing spectacle. Way past time to get over it, Clarence.

[Rex]

43. The Life of a Lucky Idiot.

[alphafemale]

48. On the bright side though, in the past few days he's used up his quota of words for the next 16 yrs.

Going by his silence on all things over the past 16, that is.

[moondust]

49. Sellout.