European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday october 13,1991 the stars and stripes b Page 13 commentary George will Washington wallows in trashing the truth now at last perhaps even Washington which is usually the last to learn even about itself will at least dimly understand the Radical damage done to Public life by the Robert Bork confirmation scandal when that Campaign turned political differences into occasions for moral assaults and was crowned with Success the downward Ratchet of civility clicked Many times. Watching the stomach turning spectacle of the ruining of Clarence Thomas americans far from their sick capital must be wondering a How did it come to this a  came to this when the anti Bork mob obtained from a Washington movie rental firm records of Bork a rentals hoping to find embarrassing stuff and found instead to their bitter disappointment that Bork a tastes run to Fred Astaire. It came to this when planned parenthood and other Liberal lobbies ran anti Bork ads containing mend cities so Gross that had they concerned groceries no newspaper or broadcaster would have used them. It came to this when sen. Howell Heflin a Al who ludicrously has chaired the whitewashing ethics committee does the name Alan Cranston ring bellied saying he voted against Bork because a the history of his life and his present lifestyle indicated a fondness for the unusual the unconventional and the  of course Heflin did not a he could not a provide a shred of evidence for this  if the smearing Heflin dislikes being called a liar let me paraphrase for him Adlai Stevenson if Heflin will quit telling lies about Good people i will quit telling the truth about him. The fact that he is regarded As an ethicist says All that needs to be said about today a Senate in which Ted Kennedy can Wax indignant about disrespectful treatment of women and not be laughed out of the chamber it came to this when sen. John Warnerr a said he voted against Bork because he did not a get satisfactory answers to questions he put to Bork in private. Having waited three months he saw Bork three hours before the vote and talked vacuously for 10 minutes it came to this when the smearing of John Tower was done by leaking confidential reports accusing Tower of among other things drunkenness and sexual harassment at times and places when Tower was not present. Trashing the truth is now so natural so unremarked in Washington that there were Only worldly smirks and shrugs when George Bush began the Thomas Saga by saying two things he and everyone else knows Are untrue a that Thomas is the person Best qualified for the supreme court and that his race was irrelevant to his selection. Then continuing an Exedra 01? vice 01? not Necess a ii oxom amp Ilse ble practice of the Reagan administration Bush put Thomas into the hands of private sector lobbyists. They Are a a experts on everything except anything that should matter such As ideas constitutional Law a stuff like that. These expediters who sell to clients their Access to the White House and Congress do not want to fight for anything because they do not want to fight with anyone wielding Power. After All next month these lobbyists will be lobbying senators about grazing fees or textile imports or whatever else they Are by then being paid to believe in. Soon these Clever philistines had Thomas before the judiciary committee cringing and groveling an to his credit a suffering self loathing As he said under oath such things As he has never even discussed the supreme court s 1973 abortion ruling. Having been coached into apparent inanity or actual dishonesty Thomas made himself vulnerable to the kind of attack under which he now reels. Asking to be judged by his background rather than his convictions a by pin Point ga., rather than his constitutional thinking a he made the vague question of a a character everything which made anything relevant and made him comprehensively vulnerable. This dismal outcome was foreordained when Bush chose to construe the Bork episode the Way most career washingtonians did a As proof that ideas Are trouble and certainly not the sort of thing a a realists fight for. So Bush sent before the judiciary committee an empty suit named David Souter. If what were at stake were the supreme court of Kuwait Bush might fight let us not yet question Anita Hills sincerity in making her charges or question the accuracy of them As memory serves her 10 years after the alleged events. But let us note How late they have leaked into what has become of chairman Joseph bid no a process. Time will perhaps Tell the truth and the importance of the charges. But nothing can still the suspicion that even if the truth docs matter for a moment that moment will be a fleeting aberration in a City becoming increasingly carnivorous As it becomes decreasingly serious about governance. C the Washington Post Waltors group Ellen Goodman committee finally heard voices of women it was her word versus his. Just a he said she said sort of thing As sen. John Danforth had put it dismissing the a october Surprise a the a smear Campaign a the �?o11th hours accusation of sexual harassment that had thrown Clarence Thomas sure thing into full disarray. Who was this a a she anyway the senators who found her a a credible called her professor Anita Hill. The others called her a the woman a or a this lady a or even in the strange Case of sen. Alan Simpson a the lady who was  before Anita Hill stepped into her televised Oklahoma classroom measured and Earnest dignified and strained the Senate a judiciary committee had simply dismissed her. Before professor Hill said a it is an unpleasant Issue. It is an ugly Issue a they Nad decided to Deal with her charges the old fashioned Way. Among themselves. Anyway you Cut it some of these men had known since mid september that the former head of the civil rights enforcement Agency was accused of violating a woman a civil rights. Anyway you run the sequence of events they had known before the committee vote that a supreme court nominee had been accused of sexual harassment As defined by hat court. But like businessmen running a private corporation they handled this a delicate matter discreetly among their own kind. Why Arlen Specter the very Model of judicious Ness had gone to Clarence Thomas in person eyeball to eyeball and gotten a forceful denial. Dennis Decon Cini had a made the judgment right or wrong that he was credible to  it was her word versus his. They took his without hearing hers. They did no to Tell the rest of us. Would it have been better if Hill had gone Public earlier sure although anyone who wonders Why she was reluctant can listen to the messages on her Telephone tape. Did the senators have any legitimate reason for protecting Thomas privacy sure Fri files Are full of scurrilous attacks. But anyone with half an investigative Eye open could have discovered that Anita Hill was a no Kook a As sen. Paul Simon put it. And anyone doing his Job should Nave understood that this is a subject that deserved As much attention As Douglas Ginsburg Stokes of marijuana. This portrait of men in Power is not very pretty. Capitol Hill is not just a place where you can Bounce checks with impunity and discriminate without fear of the Law. Civil rights Laws done to apply there its a place where men can listen to Clarence Thomas straight faced claim that he had no opinion on abortion and then question Anita Hills credibility. If these men kept the lid on the charges of sexual harassment however it was not just to protect Clarence Thomas. To Many Anita Hill is their worst Nightmare. The woman who could come Riding out of the past waving a charge. False of course or maybe True. Women have always lived with a sense of vulnerability. They have been vulnerable to rape to harassment to abuse on the Street at work even at Home. Slowly they have won some tools of self defense. In the shouting match of his word against hers it is not always or Only his that is heard. Date rape battered women a defense sexual assault. With each modest change in attitude and Law there has been a stunning overreaction on the part of Many men. Where women feel vulnerable to male assault men feel vulnerable to a woman a accusation. Rape is still vastly under reported. Twice As Manv men kill their wives As wives kill husbands. Sexual harassment remains As widespread As it is hard to prove. Yet when a Willie Smith is arrested How Many men think any woman could accuse me. When a battered wife who killed her husband is granted clemency How Many think its open season on husbands. And when Clarence Thomas is hit with a charge How Many think you can to even ask a girl out anymore. In real life false accusations Are few maybe even fewer than false acquittals. But in fantasy life they Are the a reverse discrimination storyline of the time the female pit Bull attack on the ankle of innocent Man. Her word is not always the right one. The chore of proving in Public what happened in private remains As difficult As Ever. There is no Assurance that airing Anita Hills charges and Clarence Thomas counter charges would Lead to a Crisp clean Cut Winner. But it was not for the All male Senate committee to silence a her word before it was spoken in Public. At the 11th hour and the 59th minute these senators finally heard loud and Clear the voices of women. The women they represent. His word her word. This is our word to Congress listen up. I Trio oos on g t o