■ EDITORIAL
Bush shouldn’t use
situation to censor
Our suddenly sensitive president just announced
proposals for reforming the Senate confirmation pro
cess because, among other things, it shows little con
cern for the reputation and feelings of its subjects
The proposals include censoring Senate access to
confidential FBI reports during future executive branch
nominee background checks, and the investigation of
information leaks.
Offended by the "bruising hearing?” of Clarence
Thomas, the president recently told public policy
groups at the Smithsonian's Museum of American His
lory that he wouldn't stand for special interest groups
practicing the "piranha tardies of smearing the individ
ual and ignoring the issue ..." because the tactics "de
stroy lives and wreck reputations "
It's good tri sere the radiant Bush in .ill his luimani
tarian glory, but there's a group (females) fie forgot to
include The issue — inquiry into Thomas actions,
opinions and character — was not ignored by asking
whether the man committed sexual harassment, but
underscored.
oexuai Harassment nas mr too long ocen regurueu
as unimportant, explaining Bush's assumption that
"the issue" was being ignored when the question was
raised. Sexual harassment is an issue in itself and de
serves to be part of the examining process.
The problem wasn't in addressing Thomas possi
ble committal of this action — that was necessary once
the question came to light, but in the way it was
brought forward and ultimately handled.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Joseph Hulun, with
Democratic Senators Howard Metzenbaum and Ted
Kennedy, knew about Anita Mill's harassment charges
from the beginning, but kept quiet primarily because
she requested confidentiality and no FBI investigation.
After Hill decided to go public. Bidcn blew it. With
the vote scheduled for Sept. 27th. Bidcn didn't brief
his fellow Democrats on the committee until Sept.
26th, giving them barely any time to evaluate Hill's
charges. Some committee Democrats got the statement
lust 20 minutes before the scheduled vote and at least
one was never told of the report
The confusion carried over into the rescheduled
hearings, justifying Bush s "burlesque show" label. His
reprimand of the confirmation process is valid, but it
wasn't the system's fault as much as the participants'.
Bush now wants to discourage future fiascos, at
tributing this one to leaked information, by shutting
FBI files down. But the connection doesn't fit The
damage was done by the leaked statement, not the FBI
report These are two different documents
The embarrassing situation presents Hush the per
fect opportunity to fix things, no questions asked —
but questions should be asked. Limiting access to FBI
files is a serious action, as is closer monitoring of infor
mation leaks.
There's no doubt, the review process needs stream
lining. Censoring information, however, should not be
part of reformation measures.
Oregon Daily
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DOM 'iou GUV.G KUOU f)li UVi bmt ms flEACtfFUUtf
MMENTARY
Reputations based on accusations
By
ISOn Killer
Now tli.it tin luss over CJar
cm i Thomas and Anita
Hill is over, anil their rep
elation* have been demeaned
1 am ausn ol unproven a I toga
lions, perhaps we should take a
■ . oral look at a levs characters
iinsl whom nothing can be
alleged' to demean their i hat
actors As we look at the t'S
Senate it should come as no
surprise that they would i reate
a publh (oruin (or unsubstanti
ated allegations
(liven their public records, I
behove the members of the l' S
Senate decided to lend ere
hence to unsubstantiated alle
gallons as the best means lor
the public to judge public lig
tires, this ts whv thev made
such a fuss over Hill's allega
lions
if we were to judge the Sen
ate on these terms, then no
members of that exalted 1hi.1v
would emerge with their repu
tations intact As every U S
Senator knows, unsubstantiated
allegations are the onlv viable
weapons tins country s point
clans have to ensure their good
standing among their constItu
flits
Lot's begin with Ted hen
nedv Although many nmv now
regard Kennedy as a champion
of the v ictims ol sexual harass
merit, others still remember the
l ed Kennedy of old When Led
Kennedy drunkenly steered Ins
( ar off that bridge at Chappa
quiddtck. ho may have boon
slurring his way through a de
nunciation of sexual harass
ment to the young damsel rid
ing shotgun, hut whether or not
tills was the i ase, we'll never
know
But now the benefit of the
doubt rests with the act used,
we must assume that this was
not the c ase t nfortunatelv, my
unsubstantiated at cusation
igainst le-l Kennedy will not
ret five the endorsement of the
S' '..lie perhaps It Will ere
of ::, the puhiii mind at least,
a m ;v favorable impression of
tie s' : , r senator from Massa
If wo ,irp going to judge
Thomas und Hill un the basis of
unsubstantiated allegations, it's
only fair that we give the sumo
treatment to our nation's sena
tors, for our opinions of them
have for loo long I teen based
upon tlie unflattering revolu
tions of fuels
Hut I ( arinot make allegations
against Thomas s foes alone
What about Strom Thurmond/
One of Thomas's staunchest
supporters, the former segrega
tionist rallied to the defense of
an appointee from un adminis
tration that got ete< led by pan
dering to tlie very same racial
stereotypes that the evil Demo
i rats paraded m front of the na
tion during the past week
Since Ameri< a hasn’t had a
K>«mI dose oi Willie Horton for
so long, the Demis rats thought
it only tair that, this time, they
should hear the burden ol
drudging up the rui ist themes
extolled III the film Bitih ot <1
N.itii i/j
llirtb ol ti Nation is a movie
which depicts the results o!
black political power during
Reconstruction .is being the tri
umph of hedonism and txxiily
excess oyer rational democratic
government It seems as if the
same conclusions were estab
lished during the course of the
hearings
We must commend the Dem
oi rats for upholding the tradi
tion of lending credence to ra
cial stereotypes established by
Woodrow Wilson, a Southern
Democrat who gave a private
screening of Birth of a Nation
and attempted to resegregate
Washington, D C. , during a mo
ment of Southern Democratic
ascendancy in our body politic.
Needless to say, Thurmond,
the king of the Civil Rights Bill
filibuster, was deeply disturbed
by the racism of the Democrats,
mi much so that he gave his
questioning time to his Kepub
lic.tn colleague, Arlan Specter
Although this is just an allega
tion. I think it is fair to say that
Thurmond, shocked and dis
mayed by the potential racial
strife that could result from the
hearings, w as afraid h e
wouldn't bn able to hold back
his tears If he v\as to ask ((lies
lions of Ins good friend from
Georgia Rumor has it that
while Specter asked the ques
lions, Thurmond took the op
portunity to read a few phone
liixiks he never got around to
finishing several dot ades ago
Of course that is an unsub
stantiuled allegation testifying
to Thurmond's commitment to
get to know the names and
numbers of as muny constitu
ents .is he can No other Sena
tor seeks such intimate contat 1
with the good citizens of this
nation We owe Thurmond an
enormous debt of gratitude for
bridging the seemingly msur
mountable gap between the
powers that lie and those they
rule,
finally, we have Senator
Robert Byrd Majority Leader.
Democrat from West Virginia
and former memlier of the Ku
Klux Khin Byrd, initially a
I honias supporter, changed his
mind after hearing Hill's testi
monv He was outraged at
Thomas's remark that the Sen
ate investigation was a "high
tech lynching " Byrd said
Thomas blackmailed tire coin
in it lee with charges of racism,
and the committee shamefully
hacked down
One might speculate that
Byrd thought it u shame that
his fellow Dixiocrats I mean
Democrats would hack down
from a black man making a
charge of racism. Perhaps Byrd
had grown too accustomed to
situations where many white
men would level allegations
(such as rape) against one black
man. and these white men
would never back down. Signs
of defiance by such black men
were summarily punished
What sorrow Byid must have
felt us the tables turned, and
the nation watched a single
black man defy the accusations
of a concert of white men, who
withered in their seats as that
black man accused them of at
tempting a high tech lynching
Ttirn APPI Panft ^