Tales from the Trail

A group of Herman Cain supporters has pulled out the heavy artillery in defense of the Republican presidential hopeful against sexual harassment allegations.

“Americans for Herman Cain” — an outside group not affiliated with his campaign — released this ad comparing the media treatment of Cain to what Clarence Thomas went through during his 1991 U.S. Senate confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. Thomas — who also faced sexual harassment allegations and a media frenzy — denounced his treatment as “a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks.”

The sponsors of the pro-Cain ad reprise the phrase and use video of Thomas speaking two decades ago. It urges Cain supporters not to let the “left” do it again.

Cain complained of his treatment in the glare of the Washington media spotlight in an interview with conservative activist Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Thomas.

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Cain wipes his brow during remarks to the Congressional Health Care Caucus on Nov. 2)

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledges that she made a call to Anita Hill‘s office at Brandeis University last weekend.

An ABC News blog said Mrs. Thomas left a message asking Hill to consider apologizing for “what you did with my husband.”

Hill was the law professor at the center of Clarence Thomas’ 1991 confirmation hearings scandal. She publicly accused him of making sexually inappropriate comments when she was his aide at the Equal Employment Opportunity Office. Thomas blasted  the proceedings as “a high-tech lynching.”

Someone experienced in making hard decisions with the imagination to understand how rulings affect the lives of Americans.

Those words of advice came from Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer as President Barack Obama searches for a replacement for retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Testifying before Congress on the Supreme Court’s budget request, they gave their views about the type of person Obama should select, without getting into judicial philosophy. The U.S. Senate must confirm the nominee.