Does anybody seriously think Clarence Thomas will have to pay for his dirty deeds?

[progressoid]

After watching virtually everyone from the last decade of crimes and fuck-ups go scott free, I can't foresee any negative consequences for his actions. With the exception of a couple token wrist slaps, most of them got away with it. Hell, some of these assholes are now commentators on the "news".

Maybe I'm just jaded and tired but it just seems like we're pissing in the wind again.

[Kaleva]

1. Nope

[PDJane]

2. Depends.

If the mostly white oligarchy decides he is dispensible, he'll be thrown under the bus. Otherwise, it will be business as usual.

[firehorse]

3. People think weiner showing his underpants is worse than the multitudes of sins

Thomas has committed. They care more about his underpants than Bush's war crimes.

[lordsummerisle]

10. I find it interesting that

Weiner was really ratcheting up the pressure on Thomas (I'm on Weiner's email list) just before the scandal broke.

Just a coincidence I guess...:puke:

[Liberal Veteran]

4. You aren't jaded. There is probably a good reason why our side doesn't handle scandal so well.

We have sense of shame when we fuck up. It goes hand in hand with our empathy for others.

[Lint Head]

5. There is NO real justice in this country.

[RufusTFirefly]

6. Of course not. It's awe-inspiring to watch the propaganda mechanism in action

I'm certainly not excusing Rep. Weiner. That said, he got stung not because he did something immoral (Newt, Vitter, etc.) or even because he lied (excuse me, but "comfortable shoes"?), but because he was going after Justice Thomas. Otherwise, we'd never know a thing about his sex life. If you're doubtful, check with Eliot Spitzer about this.

Similarly, Oliver Stone's JFK definitely has its problems. But when you stood back and watched the orchestrated response to discredit it, you realized that despite all its imperfections JFK was barking up the right tree.

[deutsey]

17. Yeah, I remember how the smears began before JFK was in editing

It was trashed in the Washington Post.

I agree the film has its problems, but I also agree that it was pointing in a direction that made a lot of powerful people scared.

[Golden Raisin]

7. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld,

Gonzales, Rice, Ashcroft have and will go scott free. They will all make big money on the speakers' circuit, writing memoirs, serving on corporate Boards of Directors, etc. Thomas will get off too and he has the extra-added defense of screaming "high tech lynching", as he already did during the Anita Hill hearings.

[Name removed]

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[Gregorian]

9. He sits on the leeward side of justice, in a land with no political morals.

Contempt of Congress in the case of Plame, went unpunished. I can think of no better example of how justice turns a blind eye to a select portion of our society.

It's twisted and perverse. I'm not sure it has been any other way in history. America is about upholding certain values. Values that oppose just what you bring up in this thread. The kings and the slaves.

[freshwest]

11. Never happen.

[guitar man]

12. If he does, it won't be much

Because dirty deeds are done dirt cheap :P

[leveymg]

13. The GOP Right really knows how to avoid prosecution and how to manage scandal. It helps if the

same corporate suits that own the media own you. One hand covers the other.

We'll never have justice in this country until the big media conglomerates get broken up. That means using anti-trust laws. That won't happen unless the Dems grow a spine and realize that they are an endangered species.

First, we have to take back our own party from the GOP Lite Blue Dogs and corporate stooges in our own leadership, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. No, because they were done dirt cheap.

I'm sorry, I just had to say that.

[Javaman]

15. Naaa, just more kabuki theater to get the hopes up of the concerned masses...

only to be replaced by the next latest outrage.

which I might add has been cranking through the echo machine for the last few days.

effectively pushing whatever thomas sideshow out of the concerned views spot light.

move along, just more faint and distraction.

[deutsey]

16. Hell no. n/t

[Generic Other]

18. Would you consider his being married to a gorgon payback?

Cause he has a doozy of a wife. Aint no government job worth that price.

[donheld]

19. No

[RiverStone]

20. Just because that arrogant fuck got away with his degrading of Anita....

That's means Weiner get's away with also willfully lying to his constituents? Try to explain that to a classroom of 9th graders. I for one don't think just because republican dickheads were too cowardly to own up to their mistakes, that we should lower the bar to an equal level.

[progressoid]

21. I didn't mention Weiner.

I know everyone is comparing the two, but even if the Weiner affair hadn't happened, I don't think Thomas would be facing any punishment for his tax problems.

Considering how many actual crimes have been committed in the last decade by politicians, civic leaders, etc. that have gone unpunished, I can't see Thomas' tax snafu as having any detrimental impact on him at all.