[Zhang Fei]

[Not the way I remember it.]

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That’s exactly the way it happened. Black fury at Thomas’s “high-tech lynching” at the hands of Anita Hill’s Democratic backers was precisely why 11 Dems ended up flipping and voting for his confirmation. Yes - the Democrats had a 57-vote majority in the Senate. They could have filibustered, blue-slipped, etc. They did not, thanks in large part to Thomas’s political skill, and a black solidarity that crossed party and ideological lines. Some of Thomas’s outrage was real, but a good part of it was probably a pose, given his ideological inclinations. The most important part is that it worked, and it got us the most right wing SCOTUS judge in the face of a 57-vote liberal Democratic majority at the ripe young age of 43.

[x]

Most of the Democrats who voted to confirm Thomas were Southerners who usually voted with the Republicans. Congress and the country were very different back then. It wouldn't happen today.

Some Black men may have felt personal sympathy for Thomas but so far as I recall, they kept it to themselves. I don't remember any groundswell of African-American opinion in his favor.

Politics inside the African-American community can be tricky and shades of skin color and who one is married to play a role. It's often been said that Barack Obama would not have become president if he were married to a White woman (or if he were unmarried), and that's probably true.