Associate Justice Clarence Thomas at High Point University

Nancy McLaughlin of the News and Record provides an excellent report this morning of the commencement address given by Clarence Thomas at High Point University.

It was good that there was no indication of any disrespect shown toward Clarence Thomas at the event.  This is in contrast with some treatment he has received at other colleges and universities to which he has been invited in the past.  He has elsewhere been the object of protests and efforts to silence him.  I am glad High Point University apparently did not follow this pattern.

Nancy did a nice job summarizing his remarks.  Some of the concepts seem to mirror those in his recent book.

The character of the man, and the austere intellectual power of his jurisprudence, is coming into better focus with the passage of time.  He is developing into one of the important historic figures on the Supreme Court.

Footnote: I hope members of the left locally do not take shots at Nancy because she did not take a confrontational, negative approach to Thomas, which would have been inappropriate for the occasion.  Remember that a couple of years ago, Condoleeza Rice visited Greensboro to speak at the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Nancy covered it in a respectful manner-- also entirely appropriate for the occasion.  Some could not resist the temptation to take shots at her for having done so.

Comments

[Anthony]

If I remember correctly, shots were taken at Nancy not for merely being respectful, but for saying to Rice, "We love you here in Greensboro!"

[Joe Guarino]

Anthony, some were wanting her to take a more adversarial approach given the war, etc. I seem to recall you may be right about her comment, but it must be viewed in the context of a religion reporter covering a Christian event.

[Bubba]

"Some could not resist the temptation to take shots at her for having done so."

These are the same people who are the first to whine that any white person who doesn't vote for Obama must implicitly be a racist, regardless of their opinion of Obama's proposed policies and philosophies. Nowhere is this more apparent than on this thread at Cone's:

http://edcone.typepad.com/wordup/2008/05/im-not-a-racist.html

Yet if we implied that those who are so willing to slime Thomas and Rice were "racists" for doing so, the howls of protest would be plenty and pitiful, wouldn't they?

They are also the first to attempt an indefensible rationalization over things like this:

http://mhking.mu.nu/archives/049887.php

We won't even begin to talk about the slime directed at Clarence Thomas, perhaps the worst example of liberal racism of all time.

And of course, there's no use for us to try confronting these hypocrites about their double standard. All we will get in return is the usual babble and the attempted deflection of the issue by irrelevant questions and sophomoric statements.

[Joe Guarino]

You make some good points, Bubba.

I hope that, as the next phase of his career progresses, Clarence Thomas will find some peace from his liberal adversaries and detractors.

[keith]

I am glad to see the respect a Supreme Court Justice deserves .

[Everest]

Joe - the remarkable thing about Clarence Thomas is that he is not bitter, and shows little attention to those on the left that tried to destroy him...I'm not sure many of the rest of us could have handled that as well. He has proven himself to be a thoughtful and brilliant jurist on the Supreme Court, and an even more impressive human being. Kudos to High Point U for an exceptional speaker.

[Joe Guarino]

Keith, yes, it is very good to see respect shown to someone like Thomas. It is unfortunte that we should have to consider it noteworthy.

And yes, Everest, HPU earns some plaudits here also.