Joe Biden takes 'responsibility' for Anita Hill's treatment at hearing - New York Post
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he takes “responsibility” that Anita Hill was treated unfairly when she appeared before his Senate panel’s confirmation hearing for then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
“I believed her from the very beginning, but I was chairman. She did not get a fair hearing. She did not get treated well. That’s my responsibility,” Biden told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview that will air Tuesday. “As the committee chairman, I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.”
“I apologized for it,” said Biden in the interview that was taped before his campaign rally in Pittsburgh on Monday.
“I apologize again because, look, here’s the deal. She just did not get treated fair across the board. The system did not work,” the former vice president said.
Biden’s acknowledgment of Hill’s treatment before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 when she alleged Thomas sexually harassed her went a step further than his previous comments.
In an interview last Friday on ABC’s “The View,” Biden said he didn’t think he mistreated her.
“If you go back and look what I said and didn’t say, I don’t think I treated her badly,” he told the show. “I took on her opposition. What I couldn’t figure out how to do – and we still haven’t figured it out – how do you stop people from asking you inflammatory questions? How do you stop these character assassinations outside?”
Biden also personally called Hill to apologize.
But Hill told the New York Times that the outreach didn’t go far enough.
“I cannot be satisfied by simply saying, ‘I’m sorry for what happened to you.’ I will be satisfied when I know that there is real change and real accountability and real purpose to correct the issues that are still there,” she told the newspaper in the interview last week.
Biden’s handling of Hill’s testimony and accusations from several women of inappropriate touching have dogged his third run for president.
He has said he would try to be more “mindful” around women, and addressed the allegations again on ABC.
”I’ve always thought that part of leadership, part of politics was listening to people, hearing them, making them feel comfortable,” Biden said. “It’s my responsibility to be more sensitive to whether or not someone wants me to reassure them or wants to say hello or wants to show affection toward. And that’s my responsibility.”
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