Patterico's Pontifications

1/4/2008

Review of “My Grandfather’s Son” by Clarence Thomas

Filed under: Books,General,Judiciary — Patterico @ 12:01 am



Over the Christmas vacation I read Clarence Thomas’s memoir “My Grandfather’s Son.” I recommend it highly. The people who most need to read it are the very people who never will: the leftists who have bought off on the idea that Thomas is a conservative bogeyman who is evil and never should have become a Supreme Court Justice.

I began reading Justice Thomas’s book as I waited in line to meet him at Chapman University, and my overwhelming impression of the first 20-30 pages was: “Man. This guy was poor.”

Some of the stories in the book were already familiar to me from the reviews I had read, such as the inspiring story of his training for (and running) a marathon:

A young black Marine was handing out water to the exhausted runners. “God, this is hard,” I told him. “That’s what you asked for,” he replied without a trace of sympathy. I shook off my self-pity, picked up my pace, and crossed the finish line three hours and eleven minutes after I’d started.

But many stories were new to me. For example, at Yale Law School, Thomas lost his wallet one day, and learned that it had been turned in by John Bolton. That was the beginning of a friendship with Bolton. Thomas also relates that Lani Guinier helped him get a job with a black civil-rights law firm.

Yup, Thomas wanted to work for a black civil-rights law firm. He was something of a leftist in his younger days.

That leads me to another story I hadn’t heard until I read the book: Thomas applied to and was accepted at Harvard Law School. But after visiting the school, he decided to decline the invitation to attend, even before he had received his answer from Yale. You see, after visiting Harvard, he decided it was too conservative.

Thomas also voted for McGovern — although he did so with misgivings, believing that McGovern was too conservative a candidate.

Thomas’s intellectual movement from angry black radical to conservative Republican is an important part of the book. He describes reading the words of Thomas Sowell for the first time: “I felt like a thirsty man gulping down a glass of cool water.”

One thing that people might not know about Thomas is how tight money was for him. While at Yale, he had no idea how he was going to repay his student loans, so he signed up for a “tuition postponement option” — which he clearly needed, as he was living in roach- and rat-infested surroundings even during his tenure at EEOC. This led to one of the more amazing tidbits of the book. The emphasis is mine:

I didn’t know what else to do, so I signed on the dotted line, and spent the next two decades paying off the money I’d borrowed during my last two years at Yale. I was still making payments when I joined the Supreme Court.

Wow.

Thomas has some choice words for the media. He describes how an Atlanta reporter investigated his home life during his nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The reporter got a personal tour of Pinpoint from Thomas’s mother.

The reporter later told me that his doubts were laid to rest that day, but his editor refused to let him say anything favorable about me in the piece that finally ran.

The slanders against Thomas during his confirmation hearings are too numerous to list, but here is one good example. While working for the Attorney General’s Office in Missouri, Thomas wanted to make a point to a colleague about race. So, returning from one of his trips to Savannah, Thomas had brought back “a miniature Georgia flag — the same one that had been adopted in 1956, with the Confederate flag and the Georgia state seal displayed side by side — and asked him to try to imagine how he would have felt growing up under a flag like that had he been black.” When Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court, this turned into a story that he had kept a Confederate flag on his desk.

The media, of course, jumped all over the story, tracking down so-called experts who’d never met me and inviting them to sound off about the psychological implications of this nonevent.

The cynicism of Washington politics that Thomas describes isn’t particularly surprising, but readers may be taken aback by the cheerful openness with which some politicians admitted to him the naked political calculations that governed their decisionmaking. In interviews during the Supreme Court nomination process, Thomas says:

Bob Packwood, on the other hand, was direct: he said that he liked me, agreed with many things that I had said, and thought that I would be a fine member of the Court, but that he couldn’t vote for me because his political career depended on support from the same women’s groups that were opposing my nomination. Al Gore was equally candid when a friend of mine approached him, saying that he’d vote for me if he decided not to run for president.

You might think Thomas would be appalled by such crass political considerations, but he says he appreciated those politicians who gave such honest answers “instead of making up some transparent excuse.”

One man who didn’t pass the honesty test was lyin’ Joe Biden, who promised Thomas that he would open the hearings with some softball questions to set Thomas at ease — and then asked a blatantly dishonest question right out of the gate. (Biden ripped a Thomas quote out of context to suggest that he supported judicial activism, when the full quote in context showed Thomas making the exact opposite point.)

Thomas’s treatment at the hands of the Democrats turned his mom off of Democrats for life:

Never before had I seen her as angry as she was in the fall of 1991. All her life she’d assumed that Democrats in Washington were sensible leaders — but now she saw these men as single-issue zealots who were unwilling to treat her son fairly. “I ain’t never votin’ fo’ another Democrat long as I can draw breath,” she told me as we walked out of the Senate building on what should have been my final day of testimony. “I’d vote for a dog first.”

Heh.

I gained new respect for a couple of people besides Thomas reading this book. Larry Thompson, whose name was batted around as a possible replacement for Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, was one of those people. Thomas relates that Thompson attended the University of Michigan Law School, but left his race off the application. Thompson proved to be a reliable friend when Thomas needed help during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Thompson was working at a law firm in Atlanta when Thomas called him for help:

“Larry, I need your help,” I said.

“I’ll be there on Monday.”

“It’ll all be over by then.”

“Then I’ll be there in the morning.” And that was that.

Now that’s a stand-up guy.

I also gained a new respect for Juan Williams, whom I had always thought of as the rather soft-headed liberal on Fox News, who regularly gets beaten up by Brit Hume for being so utterly clueless.

But it turns out that, whatever his faults, Juan Williams is an honest guy who writes accurate columns with truthful quotations. The first big splash Thomas made in Washington was when Williams reported some off-the-cuff remarks Thomas had made to Williams about race. Thomas (rather naively) hadn’t realized his statements to Williams would be printed in the paper — but when they were, he says, he saw that Williams “presented my opinions accurately and fairly.” (They still created something of a firestorm. It was not popular for blacks to publicly say what Thomas had said.)

There is some anger in the book reserved for the bigots who attacked Thomas during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. This anger makes for some of the better quotes in the book, so I’ll give you a taste of a couple of them.

The mob I now faced carried no ropes or guns. Its weapons were smooth-tongued lies spoken into microphones and printed on the front pages of America’s newspapers. It no longer sought to break the bodies of its victims. Instead it devastated their reputations and drained away their hope. But it was a mob all the same. And its purpose — to keep the black man in his place — was unchanged.

And this:

As a child in the Deep South, I’d grown up fearing the lynch mobs of the Ku Klux Klan; as an adult, I was starting to wonder if I’d been afraid of the wrong white people all along. My worst fears had come to pass not in Georgia but in Washington, D.C., where I was being pursued not by bigots in white robes but by left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony.

In case you’re thinking that Thomas is the only one who feels this way, let me quote Juan Williams, to show you why I have such new respect for him:

To listen to or read some news reports on Thomas over the past month is to discover a monster of a man, totally unlike the human being full of sincerity, confusion, and struggles whom I saw as a reporter who watched him for some 10 years. He has been conveniently transformed into a monster about whom it is fair to say anything, to whom it is fair to do anything. President Bush may be packing the court with conservatives [a joke of an argument given what we know about Souter — Patterico], but that is another argument, larger than Clarence Thomas. In pursuit of abuses by a conservative president the liberals have become the abusive monsters.

Nicely said, Juan — and as true today as it was in the early 1990s.

Luckily, the public mostly saw through the Democrats’ smoke and mirrors. Thomas tells the moving story of finishing his Anita Hill testimony and going to a very public dinner at Morton’s of Chicago in D.C., joined by Robert Bork and his wife, Ted Olson and his wife, and Orrin Hatch. Thomas says that “though I briefly felt exposed and uncomfortable,” he had an enjoyable dinner, capped by this:

When we rose to leave at the end of the evening, the entire restaurant erupted in a spontaneous standing ovation. We also found out later that several patrons had offered to pick up our very substantial tab, but Senator Hatch had insisted on paying.

I’m sorry I wasn’t there for that. But I recently got to participate in another standing ovation for Justice Thomas, at Chapman University. And that was pretty good.

I hope readers of this site will buy this book (or borrow it from the library) and read it. If you do, please let me know.

63 Responses to “Review of “My Grandfather’s Son” by Clarence Thomas”

  1. Have read the book (in fact, am rereading it now). Justice Thomas is a personal hero of mine. Read it as soon as it came out (in fact I couldn’t wait to bring it home; read it right in the bookstore a few days after its release; the cafeteria staff probably hated me).

    The whole book was fascinating but read w/ particular interest the part about the slanders surrounding him wrt Anita Hill.

    IIRC Justice Thomas had not spoken so publicly of his day to day personal reactions to the slanders so much in detail before. What strength of character in a situation where lies and machinations would have broken down a lesser man. Came out admiring him even more.

    Was in a convent in 1991 and we postulants listened to some of the the nomination hearings. To the amusement of some of the sisters I (quite literally) jumped up for joy when that close nomination vote came back: ” ‘Let the heathen rage’, he’s in!” My favorite Supreme Court Justice.

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  2. It’s been on my “get a copy” list since it came out; this is most likely the “review that broke the camels back”.

    mer (ad62dc)

  3. I read the book a few months ago. It is a wonderful journey of an extrroidinary man.
    He has been my favorite Justice for many years, and my hero. Im a white American of Irish heritage and his story has made me a better person.
    I gave the book as Christmas presents to those I love.

    Glenn Beebe (d8c79c)

  4. Why is Thomas a “personal hero” of your’s, no one? What dog do you have in this fight?

    I’m sure I’ll get to it eventually but reading Thomas’ memoir is about as appetizing a prospect as seeing The Great Debators.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  5. David

    No personal heroes yourself? Cannot fathom why someone would find another person’s life, struggles and character worthy of admiration?

    Or just that you don’t think anyone to the right of your worldview is even worthy of drawing breath?

    Darleen (187edc)

  6. I’ll have to make time for this one after I finish my current project. Sounds absolutely fascinating.

    Techie (ed20d9)

  7. David, your post would have been better written:

    “I don’t care to read the trussed-up memoirs of a fascist darkie woman hater…but I might read it…just like I might read Mein Kampf.”

    At least, that’s the way it came out to me. But then, I’m just putting the “truth” to the words you typed.

    otcconan (13ad0e)

  8. I can “fathom” plenty, Darleen. I was merely asking for specific details. Is that “going too far”?

    “I don’t care to read the trussed-up memoirs of a fascist darkie woman hater…but I might read it…just like I might read Mein Kampf.”

    Works for me!

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  9. I also read it a few months ago, pretty much in one sitting (hey, I work at home). I thought it was outstanding, as did my wife. Part of its strength is that Thomas is brutally frank about his own weaknesses and failings; I can’t think of another autobiography that I’ve read that matches this one for its unflinching honesty.

    And, yes, I’d also count Thomas as one of my heroes. ..bruce..

    bfwebster (2f56b4)

  10. Thanks Patterico, I will definitely read it!!

    And to David, what kind of rock do you hide under on a daily basis. For goodness sake, if you don’t want to read it, don’t. If you don’t wish to discuss it, leave this post alone. No one is forcing it down your throat so please don’t force your hate spews down ours.

    Sue (d324e8)

  11. Love the “forcing it down your throat” meme ! have you though of runnig for office? I’m sure your local Republican party branch would be happy to back you.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  12. Patterico, I am so glad you reviewed this! I was going to email you and ask if you would.

    I finished the book this week. I came away from it with an even greater respect and admiration from a man who at so very many points in his life could have succumbed and given himself over completely to anger and bitterness. Instead, as he struggled and labored intensely to overcome the obstacles and not be crushed by them, I found myself intently hoping and praying every page of the book that he would make it through the blunt hatred and scorn of the liberal left’s destructiveness. And he did. What an amazing man and how poignant it was to see that clearly he is indeed his Grandfather’s son.

    I can quite clearly see where some people like David E. would be afraid of this book.

    Dana (bd7a10)

  13. I got My Grandfathers Son for Christmas and am in the middle of it right now. I think it should be required reading for all young people, especially those prone to the myth that successful people get where they are simply because they were lucky or gamed the system. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in the last couple of years.

    Go_Fish (6d0473)

  14. I came away from it with an even greater respect and admiration from a man who at so very many points in his life could have succumbed and given himself over completely to anger and bitterness. Instead, as he struggled and labored intensely to overcome the obstacles and not be crushed by them, I found myself intently hoping and praying every page of the book that he would make it through the blunt hatred and scorn of the liberal left’s destructiveness. And he did.

    So well put, Dana, and others’ posts too.

    Delighted to see others enjoyed the book also, and find him a hero as well.

    As for the attention hound, who a few days ago repeatedly asked for my IRL name in exchange for answering a civilly worded question I posed, and today ignores two others who also find Justice Thomas to be a hero to them, to ask “what dog” I have “in this fight,” frankly I am beginning to find his addresses to me a bit creepy. Anyway, have already resolved not to give in to the general attention grabs he makes any more.

    But, since I am preternaturally polite /s/ 🙂 , will simply refer the gentleman to Darleen’s post; she puts it so succinctly: Cannot fathom why someone would find another person’s life, struggles and character worthy of admiration? Thanks Darleen.

    And thanks, Patterico, for reviewing this book. Am enjoying the reread even more than the first time around.

    no one you know (1f5ddb)

  15. Read this two months ago when it appeared in an airport bookstore (Hudson’s) as the only volume of possible interest and not just another ghost written volume of self-adulation by some liberal political personality. An excellent read and a real insight into some of the dirtbags in the Wash. D.C elite. I too was surprised by the description of Juan Williams, who I have never viewed very kindly, and was disgusted by the back stabbing behavior of “Slow Joe” Biden. Kind of makes one more appreciative of Biden’s marvelous showing in Iowa yesterday and his disappearance from this year’s circus. I don’t know that I would describe Thomas as one of my heroes but I have a profound admiration for the man, his journey, and what he has endured to arrive at his present circumstance.

    MikeD (861c83)

  16. I keep the book next to my bed and re-read chapters whenever I’m feeling down about MY life. This is the story of one of the most admirable men in American life – someone who has always been actively present in his own life, thoughtful throughout the journey and fully willing to illuminate his triumphs and his tragedies, his successes and his failures.

    I never ever believed word one that Anita Hill said – she struck me then as a stone liar and nothing subsequently has ever changed my mind. Women who LIE about sexual harassment are the lowest form of life and make it difficult for the women who are ACTUALLY abused.

    Gayle Miller (187b6e)

  17. My review is here on Amazon. Too bad David has nothing in his life to match this. Thomas is an American hero and race has little to do with it. There once was a time when poor kids could aspire to great things.

    Mike K (ae3e2a)

  18. Read it in one sitting back in November. Then my wife read it. Then my oldest son. Three kids to go and I’ll start passing it around to my friends (maybe after I read it again myself). Regardless of your politics it is an inspiring story that gives a glimpse into a world and life most of us have never experienced. Does it seem to you that most of those who really achieve something were shaped by hardship and opposition? I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, but I never any challenges like Thomas’s. His book makes me regret the ease of the path I chose.

    Perhaps it’s not too late to stick my neck out and achieve something of significance.

    don (a079db)

  19. “There once was a time when poor kids could aspire to great things.”

    I believe they still can. This is still America and anything is indeed possible. What is missing from the equation is ambition and tenacity.

    The pervasive meme of our culture has unfortunately become one of demanding a handout. The nobility of sheer will and determination is in the death throes of a sickening belief of ‘I am entitled to it’ as opposed to ‘I will work for it’.

    Its a dreadful comment on our culture but fortunately there are still parents instilling in their kids the value of a good work ethic; and even importantly, telling those kids they love, NO.

    Dana (bd7a10)

  20. “Too bad David has nothing in his life to match this. Thomas is an American hero and race has little to do with it.”

    Couldn’t be prouder of the fact that nothing in my life matches up with Thomas. But then you have no clue as to what my values are.

    As your yours, the myth that race “has little to do with it” is why Thomas is such a hero to you.

    I never ever believed word one that Anita Hill said – she struck me then as a stone liar and nothing subsequently has ever changed my mind.

    She “struck” you. Hove very convincing a case you mount against her.

    “Women who LIE about sexual harassment are the lowest form of life and make it difficult for the women who are ACTUALLY abused.”

    Tell it to Anita Hill, Juanita Broaddrick and that other bimbo — you know the one who had an orgasm on Tweety’s show when talking about the way Clinton alleegedly groped her.

    Of course Clinton is guilty of rape, murder and drug-running, right dear? Clarence Thomas is as pure as the driven snow.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  21. David, try not to sound the fool. I like you. I hate to see you play this role. You actually have things to contribute; but this isn’t one of them.

    Mike K (ae3e2a)

  22. Does Thomas give any explanation for his rather dubious 1991 claim that he never discussed Roe v. Wade and didn’t have a personal opinion on it?

    Crunkmonkey (444e9b)

  23. “David, try not to sound the fool. I like you. I hate to see you play this role.”

    You want to call me a fool go right ahead. I’ve been called worse.

    A LOT worse.

    You don’t want to know what I’ve been called. And you certainly wouldn’t be able to take it.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  24. Oh, my. I’m always amused by David E’s ability to claim that no one knows him, but he knows everything about everyone else. But then, it’s all a pose. He is only trying to stir up arguments. Nothing more.

    Lurker (7e375e)

  25. Frankly, its disappointing that a smart & insightful post reviewing the memoir of a brilliant man overcoming immense obstacles through hard learned grace has degenerated, once again, in the comment section with David E the centerpiece. Meh.

    Dana (bd7a10)

  26. Frankly, its disappointing that a smart & insightful post reviewing the memoir of a brilliant man overcoming immense obstacles through hard learned grace has degenerated, once again in the comment section with David E becoming the centerpiece and focal point. Meh.

    Dana (bd7a10)

  27. Frankly, its baffling that a smart & insightful post reviewing the memoir of a brilliant man overcoming immense obstacles through hard learned grace has degenerated in the comment section with David E the centerpiece and focal point. Meh.

    Dana (bd7a10)

  28. You can say that again and again. Three times, in fact. Spot on; that was worth repeating.

    Justice Thomas tells a moving and remarkable story, and with surprisingly little anger or resentment toward others…at least compared to the previous center of attention.

    I’m always amazed by the people who carry on about this topic who have…not…read…the…book. I’m glad I did. And I know that Patterico enjoyed the book, met the author, and found him inspiring and worthy of respect.

    Lurker (7e375e)

  29. Y’know, a cliche but true: Life is pretty much what you make of it.

    If you’re miserable (see above multiple times), you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.

    And trying to bring down everyone else ain’t going to work either.

    SteveMG (5586a5)

  30. Thanks for the review, this one was on my must-read list, but I’d forgotten about it. Now it’s back!

    Rob Crawford (8578d9)

  31. “Y’know, a cliche but true: Life is pretty much what you make of it.

    If you’re miserable (see above multiple times), you’ve got no one to blame but yourself

    Blacks have no one to blame but themselves for slavery.

    jews have no one to blame but themsleves for the Holocaust.

    Right steve?

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  32. Attitude, David. It’s all up to you. And yours says all I need or want to know about you. Have a nice day, David, have a nice day.

    Charlie (8546d8)

  33. ” It’s all up to you. “

    No Charlie, it’s all up to you.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  34. People, look at all the schoolyard responses from David E. Just let him go. After all, he knows you better than you do (LOL).

    And besides, he is worse than simply annoying. He is trivial.

    Lurker (7e375e)

  35. The complaints are becoming legion. And redundant. David this, David that. With all the brainpower here, why does no one exhibit the slightest familiarity with behavior modification? DO NOT REWARD BEHAVIORS WHICH YOU WISH TO TERMINATE.

    No one answers or debates Krazy Kagu, right? Yes, it’s true he doesn’t go away because of that, and no one requests it since people here are generally genial. Observe that no one starts madly flailing at their keyboard with their hair on fire over Mr. Kagu, no matter how outrageous his comment. Notice, too, that the dear Krazy has rarely, if ever, been capable of infecting innumerable threads with attention getting, inflammatory language. The Kagu tosses in his usual single, short, spellcheck challenged comment and careens off into space. Sometimes they even make sense. That worries me when they do.

    Let’s make this simple.

    1. Get out of your chair and sit on your damn keyboard the next time David makes you angry, disgusted, or you smell burning hair nearby.

    2. Throw the keyboard out the window next time you feel the urge to put him in his place with some heartfelt righteous indignation. Hopefully that’s not a laptop headed for the Great Outdoors.

    3. Pet David exuberantly when he comments with rationality and respectfulness. That alone should guarantee infrequent outbursts and fewer invective laced comments, should either be your goal. For some people are not built for calm, rational discourse. And any rewards attached to such behavior are autonomically discounted or systemically neutralized.

    4. First one who caves incurs the Kurse of Kagu. Don’t let it be you. Yes, you. Show some semblance of willpower. Make a New Year’s resolution. Just stop. Don’t make me ring this bell, people. You’ll slobber for hours.

    Deputy Pavlov
    Dept. of Behavior Modification

    Deputy Pavlov (cefe52)

  36. David is becomeing less entertaining than actus. A talking telephone pole who feels anyone that succeeds is morally less than those that remain cursing in the dark.

    Darleen (187edc)

  37. Oh, btw, I’m the descedent of slaves sold out of England and brought to the New World in 1697 to work on a Virginia plantation.

    Wanna send me your share of reperations, David? Where shall I send the bill?

    Darleen (187edc)

  38. David often irritated me before I met him. He’s nice in person, which somehow makes it easy to ignore him if he’s making senseless or offensive comments. I think it’s because I don’t take them personally anymore. I’m working on adopting this attitude towards all commenters who make senseless or offensive comments, at least about me. (Defending others is still sometimes worth it if you don’t get emotionally wrapped up in it.) It usually works out better.

    Patterico (7f81f1)

  39. Patterico, at this point he’s embarrassing himself. Shame someone does not take him aside and explain that to him.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  40. Right steve?

    “It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.”

    SteveMG (5586a5)

  41. “Wanna send me your share of reperations, David? Where shall I send the bill?”

    The fantasy of “reparations” doesn’t interest me. Though they’re obviously of import to a huckster like you.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  42. “Pet David exuberantly when he comments with rationality and respectfulness. That alone should guarantee infrequent outbursts and fewer invective laced comments, should either be your goal. For some people are not built for calm, rational discourse. And any rewards attached to such behavior are autonomically discounted or systemically neutralized”

    “Deputy Pavlov” clearly expects I’m going to be hauled out of here strapped to a gurney like Brittany.

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  43. But David

    You’re all about ‘teh slavery’ translating into contemporary ‘white’ guilt.

    I’m just offering up you a way to assuage yours.

    I’m giving like that.

    Darleen (187edc)

  44. “Deputy Pavlov” clearly expects I’m going to be hauled out of here strapped to a gurney like Brittany.

    a little 5150 might do you good.

    Darleen (187edc)

  45. Hey, Patterico, it is your party. Your website. You can have whatever guests you like (even rude and offensive ones)…and make whatever rules you like. I enjoy reading most of the comments here. Just remember all the offensive comments (here and elsewhere) the person in question has made about Justice Thomas—without meeting the man, nor reading the book.

    But Deputy Pavlov has a point. Except for #3. That’s a lost cause.

    Lurker (7e375e)

  46. I just think it’s sad that David must not be generating enough traffic on his own blog that forces him to troll other blogs looking for attention. He must not be as important as he thinks if he has to pimp himself elsewhere to get the attention he needs.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  47. Getting back to the point, I am interested if Patterico had any further thoughts about Justice Thomas, after reading the book and meeting the man. I am particularly interested in the “conversion” issue (from vaguely left to what is portrayed as hard right), as well as the role that “father figures” played in Justice Thomas’ growing up process.

    Lurker (7e375e)

  48. Have to agree that it would be nice if people would read the book before assuming a bunch of things about the book, and about Justice Thomas.

    The book’s not about “Republican Clarence Thomas;” it’s about the man, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and how he overcame, through his grandfather’s and family’s influence, incredible poverty, others’ jaw-dropping levels of bigotry and prejudice (from many sources, some of which might surprise some on this thread), obstacles and setbacks to become what he is today. Not without much justified anger, but Justice Thomas’ outstanding character and repeated refusal to be a victim of others’ injustice, win the day.

    In horrifically evil situations like the Holocaust or slavery, the victory of the object of the injustice is internal, as the works of Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl amply demonstrated. In places like the United States, deeply flawed but ultimately founded for freedom and equality, the victor can go from extreme poverty and discrimination, to the highest reaches of government in the land.

    An utterly inspiring story, and the title is no afterthought: the whole theme of the book is how his grandfather, through the process of fathering him, loving him and instilling many good values and a kickbutt work ethic, and yes, even being intractably tough with him at times, made him what he is today. Justice Thomas says so, in fact, right on page 2 (“what I am is what he made me”).

    Lurker, I hope Patterico and others have more to add for you about the father-figure theme and what he got out of it, because that’s obviously the main theme of the book.

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  49. what he got out of it = what they got out of it (the theme)

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  50. That is what I took away from the book, too, NOYK. Thanks for your thoughts—and not just because I agree with them. It is nice to see this thread back on track.

    I’m always interested in people who have political convictions that change. Did their adult life experiences change their convictions? Did years add perspective?

    As for Justice Thomas, I well remember those horrific hearings. The thing that I most appreciated in the book was, while he certainly remembered the period with anger and resentment (and why shouldn’t he, particularly in retrospect?), those feelings truly did not rule his life. That is the challenge, maybe: to put the truly bad experiences behind you—you don’t forget them, you don’t forgive them, but you do move on.

    I’m sure Justice Thomas’ grandfather would have agreed with that; a person every bit as remarkable as his grandson.

    Thanks again, NOYK.

    Lurker (7e375e)

  51. Someone asked about the Roe v Wade comment that Thomas had never discussed it. In the book (It’s months since I read it) he says that he was always very busy and had never had an occasion to look into the legal theory or the USSC ruling. Reading about his life I believe him. It’s also interesting that Thomas comments on the fact that he is very dark and often faced discrimination from light skinned blacks. Light skinned like David E, for example.

    Mike K (ae3e2a)

  52. It’s an amazing book – thanks, Patterico, for reviewing it here. One of my great wishes is to introduce my kids to Clarence Thomas someday, so I can tell them “that’s what a great man looks like.”

    Missy (6ac4f3)

  53. I’m sure Justice Thomas’ grandfather would have agreed with that; a person every bit as remarkable as his grandson.
    Comment by Lurker — 1/4/2008 @ 8:49 pm

    I’m sure that’s true – and his grandfather does sound like a remarkable man. Did a lot of good in his life in spite of even greater obstacles than Thomas – and as Thomas said, “Daddy” saw himself as living for the second time, in a sense, through his two grandsons. One of the reasons he was so determined that they grew up successful and of good character.

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  54. “It’s also interesting that Thomas comments on the fact that he is very dark and often faced discrimination from light skinned blacks. Light skinned like David E, for example.

    Oh, I was waiting for that one. Talk about “reverse discrimination” — a white man accuse me of being too white !

    David Ehrenstein (da3648)

  55. Deputy Pavlov–Sensible and makes me laugh! (or is it ‘slobber’?)

    Contributors like him (her) are the other reason why Patterico’s software should put names in front of comments, rather than at the end.

    AMac (7ac280)

  56. […] has a nice review up of “My Grandfather’s Son,” Clarence Thomas’s autobiography. Of note: he […]

    Conservative Donnybrook » Blog Archive » Patterico on Thomas (396f3d)

  57. How do we know Mike K is white?

    SteveG (4e16fc)

  58. AMac #55…names…
    But, then DE would have nobody reading his tripe.

    Another Drew (a28ef4)

  59. Oh, I was waiting for that one. Talk about “reverse discrimination” — a white man accuse me of being too white !

    LMAO!!!!!!! Stop, David, stop! Do you realize how incredibly funny you are when you do this? No one has to mock you, you do a wonderful job all by your onesie.

    Peace Out!

    Vivian Louise (eeeb3a)

  60. Clarence Thomas is inspiring?

    What evidence has been marshaled for this claim, again? Looking at Patterico’s post, here’s what I could come up with:

    1. He was extremely poor.
    2. He’s a Supreme Court Justice.
    3. Many people said alledgedly mean things about him! Waaah!

    The slanders against Thomas during his confirmation hearings are too numerous to list

    That’s convenient, eh? And the examples… Tom had a confederate flag on his desk, and someone accurately reported that fact in an unflattering implied context!! How terrible!

    The most relevant fact about the hearings was that, Clarence Thomas’ past behavior as a serial molester of women was publicly exposed. That’s exactly what is supposed to happen during public hearings for an important public office.

    Everything I’ve read about the man paints him as a boorish, vindictive, hopelessly obnoxious and petty little wad of spite. An impression he has not alleviated by violating an admirable Supreme Court informal convention against self-aggrandizement during office by writing a tell-all memoir that reads like one long enemies’ list.

    Color me totally unimpressed. Thanks anyway.

    glasnost (ac16eb)

  61. Glasnost, try reading for comprehension. I know it’s a bit beyond your ken, you still should try.

    Thomas never had a Confederate flag on his desk. He had this flag in his possession, but it wasn’t displayed on his desk.

    You claim that Thomas was a serial molestor of women. Name two of them. And while you’re at it, define “molestor of women”; I’m betting your definition is pretty wide when it comes to your political opponents and far too narrow when applied to Democrats like Bill Clinton (who really was a serial molestor of women).

    Frankly, glasnost, your style of misrepresenting posts and links is tiresome. You got laughed out of QandO, and you’ll be laughed out of here, too.

    Steverino (e00589)

  62. Take a look at the current issue of California Bar Journal. A “review” of the autobiography claims to find numerous inconsistencies between Thomas’s recollections and that of others who spoke to the authors of the biography that is currently in print.It doesn’t seem to be available online. It’s got the caliber of analysis that we would expect from our state’s bar.

    vcox (065555)

  63. I saw that today and made a mental note to write about it. They compare a quote of his relating to a period of time well before high school, and “disprove” it with a quote from a high-school friend. Did these clowns even read his book??

    Patterico (07bcc0)


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