‘Confirmation’ HBO’s high-tech lynching

The left is masterful at rewriting history. Witness HBO’s TV movie “Confirmation,” which aired Saturday, about Anita Hill’s accusations of sexual harassment 25 years ago, which almost derailed Clarence Thomas from becoming a Supreme Court justice. The drama’s makers claim that they didn’t take sides in depicting Thomas’ Senate confirmation hearings, even as a trailer punctuates close-ups of actress Kerry Washington, who played Hill, with stentorian capital letters: “It only takes one voice … to change history.” Another trailer proclaims, “One woman made a choice … to take a stand.”

Apparently, because HBO didn’t expressly label Thomas as guilty, producers feel they can get away with saying they were evenhanded. One man (Thomas) made a choice and took a stand; where are his plaudits?

“The movie only has credibility if it’s not espousing one point of view or presenting only one side,” “Confirmation” screenwriter Susannah Grant said in The Washington Post. OK, then it has no credibility. “Confirmation” airbrushed out events that do not confirm the left’s revisionist view on the Thomas hearings.

A number of former female staffers who worked for Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — J.C. Alvarez, Phyllis Berry, Nancy Fitch and Diane Holt — testified that they did not believe Hill’s charge that Thomas sexually harassed her and discussed pornographic films at work. Their spirited defense of Thomas was the stuff of drama. But rather than build momentum to a peak of their riveting testimony, “Confirmation” showed a quickie montage of former colleagues defending Thomas. That choice undercut the forcefulness of the women’s spirited defense of Thomas.

Stuart Taylor Jr., who covered the 1991 hearings, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that “Confirmation” also left out Hill’s hard-to-believe story that she followed Thomas from the Department of Education to the EEOC because she feared losing her job. (As an attorney, she had to know she had civil service protection.) The movie also focused on an accuser who chose not to testify.

Then there’s Ted Kennedy, the embodiment of the left’s double standards. A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the late senator had a reputation for hitting on women in the workplace liberally. In “Confirmation,” Kennedy aide Ricki Seidman acknowledges her boss might have a problem leading the fight on “sexual impropriety.”

There was no scene in which Seidman pressed Kennedy about his opportunistic treatment of women. Likewise, there was no recognition that when Bill Clinton entered the Oval Office a year later, sexual harassment lost its potency as a political weapon. Female aides’ willingness to prop up errant male Democrats — that phenomenon did not interest the “Confirmation” team, which stuck to a script that confirmed liberalism’s need to be heroic, especially when liberals are anything but.

Real life didn’t work that way. After the hearings and what Thomas described as a “high-tech lynching,” a New York Times/CBS poll found that Americans who lived through the controversy believed Thomas over Hill by a 2-1 margin. So HBO did a rewrite — and produced a movie that left the women who stood up for Thomas on the cutting room floor. In Hollywood, that’s a happy ending.

Email Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Thursday, March 28

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Initiative promoter Tim Eyman takes a selfie photo before the start of a session of Thurston County Superior Court, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, in Olympia, Wash. Eyman, who ran initiative campaigns across Washington for decades, will no longer be allowed to have any financial control over political committees, under a ruling from Superior Court Judge James Dixon Wednesday that blasted Eyman for using donor's contributions to line his own pocket. Eyman was also told to pay more than $2.5 million in penalties. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Editorial: Initiative fee increase protects process, taxpayers

Bumped up to $156 from $5, the increase may discourage attempts to game the initiative process.

Protecting forests and prevent another landslide like Oso

Thank you for the powerful and heartbreaking article about the Oso landslide… Continue reading

Boeing’s downfall started when engineers demoted

Boeing used to be run by engineers who made money to build… Continue reading

Learn swimming safety to protect kids at beach, pool

Don’t forget to dive into water safety before hitting the pool or… Continue reading

Comment: Why shootings have decreased but gun deaths haven’t

High-capacity magazines and ‘Glock switches’ that allow automatic fire have increased lethality.

Washington state senators and representatives along with Governor Inslee and FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez break ground at the Swift Orange Line on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Community Transit making most of Link’s arrival

The Lynnwood light rail station will allow the transit agency to improve routes and frequency of buses.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Wednesday, March 27

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

An image of Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin is reflected in a storefront window during the State of the City Address on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at thee Everett Mall in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: State of city address makes case for Everett’s future

Mayor Franklin outlines challenges and responses as the city approaches significant decisions.

FILE - The massive mudslide that killed 43 people in the community of Oso, Wash., is viewed from the air on March 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Editorial: Mapping landslide risks honors those lost in Oso

Efforts continue in the state to map areas prone to landslides and prevent losses of life and property.

Burke: ‘Why not write about Biden, for once?’ Don’t mind if I do.

They asked; I’ll oblige. Let’s consider what the president has accomplished since the 2020 election.

Comment: Catherine missed chance to dispel shame of cancer

She wasn’t obligated to do so, but she might have used her diagnosis to educate a sympathetic public.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.