I'm thinking that Toobin, a liberal, used that forum to alert the lefty world that their standard 20-year old Clarence Thomas meme needs to change. The Left is particularly fond of the existing Thomas theme--that he's a dumb, shiftless sex maniac/-because it allows them to be as racist as they want to be without any repercussions.
To use another Tolkien analogy, Toobin is trying to light the beacons.
Rush reading this now.