In an interview with writer Anna Sales for WNCY, former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) (1979 to 1997 ) described himself as a bully, and his wife offered up the attorney Anita Hill hearings as an example. At the time, Simpson opened himself up to the disgust of many in the press with his sexist, bullying attacks on Anita Hill.
But in this recent interview, Simpson still scoffed at the idea that watching a bit of your boss’s choice of p*rn whilst he discusses pubic hairs on the Coke bottle was a problem. It’s not like Thomas touched Hill, he tells us.
The Senator admits proudly that he was a “monster”.
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Going back to the Anita Hill revelations of sexual harassment she allegedly suffered at the hands of Clarence Thomas during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Simpson explained how he was a bully.
Here’s the relevant portion of the interview from WNYC.Org:
On questioning Anita Hill in 1991:
Ann Simpson: I said you all came across like a bunch of bullies.
Sen. Simpson: I’d had a wife who’d had much more harassment than Anita Hill. And that’s when I lost my marbles. I thought, what is this? I mean, for god’s sake, what did he do? Well, nothing. “Did he touch you?” “No.” “What is it?” “Well, we watched porn movies together. And he wanted to talk about Long Dong Silver and pubic hair and coke cans.” “Is that it? Is that it?” “Yes, it is.” I wanted you to be aware of his behavior. And so I was a monster. I was just pissed to the core.
Is that it? You don’t want to talk about pubic hair in your Coke can with your boss whilst you watch whatever p*rn he’s into for the day? You, lady, are no person.
If you were a person, you’d never speak to Clarence Thomas again, Simpson puffed back then, as if this were unusual and optional. As if Hill could have gotten a stellar referral from Thomas after rebuffing him, and as if it were up to women to roam the country looking for jobs where a man won’t feel compelled to share pubic hair hee haws with middle aged, married men.
Simpson explained to Anna Sale that since his wife suffered much worse, that meant that Hill’s experience was nothing. Just trying to earn your livelihood (a right for men)? Meh. SUCK IT UP LADIES.
They did anything and everything to shut Hill up back then. And while it was mostly Republicans due to the political affiliations, let’s not kid ourselves — this is a systemic, institutionalized, and cultural problem. The difference (and it matters) is that Democrats won’t continue to support this sort of sexual harassment once they realize it’s out there (see Bob Filner), whereas Republicans will destroy anyone who dares to defend a woman (Hill is still upset that one of her defenders lost his job).
Here’s a bit of the hearing:
Senator Simpson tried to smear Hill at the time by suggesting he was getting tons of letters warning about “this woman.” But it turns out that the mountains of letters equal one letter that the female letter writer claims he mischaracterized. HUH.
And here we get to the point. It’s easy for men like Simpson and Clarence Thomas to feel victimized by “your people” speaking out when their rights are trampled on, as we will see in the following exchange. And this is exactly why majority men should not be making laws that impact women or their health, as too many of them clearly have no clue what they are talking about.
From the New York Times in 1991:
Andrea Mitchell, an NBC News correspondent, said, “You’ve raised this now at the hearings, and you’ve raised it just now on national television. Isn’t this McCarthyism of the worst order?”
Mr. Simpson responded: “Well, not in my mind. McCarthyism in the worst order is to have someone gather up everything on a man for 105 days that has nothing to do with his ability to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Your people (it seems as if Simpson is referring to women here, as he is addressing Andrea Mitchell) have done a magnificent job of that, going into his garage to see what the titles of his books are.”
Your people, you ladies, bullies the lot of you! How dare Anita Hill’s testimony require anyone to question Clarence Thomas on whether or not he regards women as full people. It’s as if you want to know what he reads.
It’s the exact same as Simpson making up scores of letters and mischaracterizing the one he got in order to smear Hill, whose reputation he clearly doesn’t think is worth any protecting — whereas the Great Man Clarence Thomas is entitled to such protection as to automatically assume that Anita Hill should be comfy with a little pubic hair in the Coke or just quit. Nowhere in this scenario of Senator Simpson’s is Hill to be treated as a human with inherent rights and dignity.
This is not the only time the Senator described himself as a “monster”. It seems to be a favorite get out of jail free card for the Senator. A way of minimizing his errors as a bit of mischief instead of really wrong. Way back when he was a juvenile, Simpson told the court he was a “monster” after committing arson and played with guns trying to get as close as possible to his friends without shooting them. “In Simpson’s words to this Court, ‘I was a monster.'”
Simpson was used as an example of why we shouldn’t punish juvenile offenders — look! A Senator! (Do spend a moment imagining if Simpson were black and carrying Skittles or female and shooting for fun at men.)
Ann Simpson sounds like a lovely woman, and she’s right — her husband came off like a bully then, and he comes off like worse now. The worse thing about this is that Republicans haven’t changed. This is highly relevant to what they are trying to do to Hillary Clinton, in advance of her even announcing her 2016 run, in their pathetic and cruel attempts to use Monica Lewinsky against Hillary. Using Lewinsky against Hillary is even worse than what they used to do. Now they’re holding women accountable for the actions of men. What next, hold Ginnie Thomas on charges against her husband?
Note to politician everywhere: Being a monster is nothing to be proud of.
h/t Think Progress
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