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LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Americans must pay attention to challenges to democracy today just as Abraham Lincoln did by fiercely opposing slavery, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told a conference on the 16th president's legacy Friday night. "We are part of something far greater than ourselves," Thomas told more than 300 people at Washington and Lee University. Many in Lincoln's time didn't realize the threat that slavery posed to the principles on which the nation was founded, Thomas said. "What a miserable job he had. He wasn't popular," Thomas said, "but he did what was right." Thomas received a standing...

My Good Freepers, Please help me locate all Black History Month videos featuring children singing the praises of any noted conservative. Just one, please. I'll sit here and hold my breath.

Here is video of conservative Gary Bauer hammering liberals for their selective outrage on "race." Bauer reminded everyone how liberal Democrats treated Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court. Bauer said the liberals are not "pro-Black." They are "pro-liberal blacks," as long as "they stay on the plantation." Below is video of Clarence Thomas firing back at his liberal inquisitors during the hearings . . . (VIDEOS)

One of the favorite places for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and wife Ginni to grab some sleep is in a Wal-Mart parking lot, Mrs. Thomas told National Public Radio on Wednesday. In fact, the Washington power couple spends each summer touring the United States in a mobile home, she said. The justice and his wife have cruised through 27 states since buying their used recreation vehicle in 1999.

Commencement Justice by: Deborah Lambert, June 18, 2009 Just when you’d given up on the quality of this year’s commencement speakers, right triumphs in unexpected places. Take Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg Maryland, where Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was this year’s commencement speaker. It all started when Justice Thomas, a football diehard who’s married to a Nebraskan, ran into one of Quince Orchard’s top jocks, Terrence Stephens, on a return flight from a U. of Nebraska recruiting session. He began a conversation that amazed Stephens and his fellow student Jason Ankrah, because “this guy knew so much...

WARNING: Viewing the accompanying video could cause a dangerous rise in blood-sugar levels. When Clarence Thomas was approaching his confirmation hearings, we all remember the touching, sentimental segments the networks ran on his challenging childhood. Or not. On today's GMA ABC's Claire Shipman took a sentimental stroll down memory lane with Juan Sotomayor, Sonia's likable younger brother. At one point, viewing a display about his sister in their old high school in the Bronx, Juan gets choked up. And there's Claire, shown not once but twice reaching out a comforting arm to console the Sotomayor sibling. View video here.

Two Gaithersburg high school football players made friends with their travel companion on their flight back from Nebraska — not knowing their seatmate was a major Huskers fan. When they started chatting, Terrence Stephens and Jason Ankrah, star football players at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, didn’t have a clue they were holding court with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. “I was amazed this guy knew so much about us as football players and as people,” said Stephens. “That was shocking. I felt honored to be known by someone of his caliber. He was just a regular old...

Neither Clarence Thomas nor Sonia Sotomayor lacks the brains to sit on America's highest court.Liberals incensed this week by the personal attacks on Sonia Sotomayor have two options: bite our tongues until they bleed or make wild counterclaims about the relative judicial fitness of Justice Clarence Thomas. Let's opt for the former. Attacks on Thomas aren't just unfair and unseemly; they also obscure the fact that nobody knows who might become a great justice—which is precisely why Sotomayor should be confirmed. I know. It's hard to keep your blood pressure down when you read E Pluribus Unum's shocking rant about...

Justice Thomas -- who otherwise never misses court -- skipped a SCOTUS session to speak at the graduation of his travel companions. High school seniors Terrence Stephens and Jason Ankrah, star football players at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Md., were sitting on a plane returning from a recruitment session at the University of Nebraska when they struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to them. Their seat-mate just happened to be a major Cornhuskers fan. When they started chatting, Stephens and Ankrah didn't have a clue they were holding court with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas....

Apparently being dirt poor is only a virtue if you are a Democrat!Shortly after President Obama announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayer to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by retiring Justice Souter the "news" media chirped in cheerful chorus the line about Sotomayor's "compelling life story." With all the gushing going on in the liberal media over Sotomayor's modest upbringing it's no wonder they didn't find the time to explore her background and inform readers and viewers about Sotomayor's controversial views and decisions. Conservatives may recall how the "news" media ignored the dirt poor story of Clarence Thomas or...

“Imagine a judicial nominee said ‘my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman,’” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., blogged today. “Wouldn't they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism. A white man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw.” He also tweeted similar comments, in so doing joined the ranks of conservative voices such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh accusing Judge Sonia Sotomayor of being a racist for her 2001 comments. The conservatives are decrying a comment made by Judge Sotomayor in 2001,...

Between now and the final confirmation vote, how many times will we hear of Sonia Sotomayor’s “moving personal narrative”? But as Pat Buchanan, Joe Scarborough and Ann Coulter pointed out this morning, touching personal tales meant nada to Dems when the minority judicial nominee wasn’t a liberal. Clarence Thomas and Miguel Estrada each had moving stories of their own. But that didn’t stop the Dems from savaging the former and filibustering the latter when Republican presidents nominated them to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, respectively. View videos of Coulter and Morning Joe here.

One day in the early 1990s, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas telephoned Leah Ward Sears to introduce himself. She was a rising star in Georgia's legal community, a relatively liberal black woman on the state's conservative Supreme Court. Thomas had read about political attacks against Sears and called to say he didn't like it. "It affected her that he would take the time to comfort her in that situation," said Bernard Taylor, an Atlanta lawyer and longtime friend of Sears, now chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and a potential nominee to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David...

Dennis Prager is on. Clarence Thomas is his guest.

Are only liberals fitting nominees to a traditional “black seat” on the Supreme Court? Did the nomination of the conservative Clarence Thomas somehow kill off the “black seat” tradition? Chris Matthews seemed to suggest as much on this afternoon’s Hardball. Along the way, Matthews analogized Thomas to Abe Fortas, a nominee who ultimately withdrew his name when ethical issues arose. Matthews made his murky comment while discussing the prospects for David Souter’s replacement with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). View video here.

For the first time, a U.S. Supreme Court justice is offering some legal insight about the so-called Fairness Doctrine, suggesting the off-the-books policy could be declared unconstitutional if it's revived and brought before the bench. In written discussion on yesterday's ruling cracking down on indecent language on television, Justice Clarence Thomas called the policy "problematic" and a "deep intrusion into the First Amendment rights of broadcasters." The doctrine requiring broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints on controversial issues was brought to an end in the 1980s under the direction of President Ronald Reagan's Federal Communications Commission.

Justice Clarence Thomas has not asked a question from the Supreme Court bench since Feb. 22, 2006. He speaks only to announce his majority opinions, reading summaries in a gruff monotone. Glimpses of Justice Thomas in less formal settings are rare. But he turned up in a Washington ballroom the other night to respond to questions from the winners of a high school essay contest. His answers and the remarks that preceded them provided a revealing look at Justice Thomas's worldview these days.... The event, on March 31, was devoted to the Bill of Rights, but Justice Thomas did not...

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas addressed students at Washington and Lee University today in Lexington, Virginia. "It seems that young people today are asking not what they can do for themselves, or what they can do for the country, but what your country can do for you." I wish I had the whole speech...unfortunately, this 2 minute news report will have to satiate your hunger for common sense.

Talk about thorough research. Taylor Headley, a fifth-grader at Lakeview Elementary, didn’t just read a biography about the nation’s second black U.S. Supreme Court justice. She didn’t just Google him. She interviewed him. The assignment from teacher Denise Golden: Read a biography of a famous black person as part of Black History Month. Then write a speech, dress up as your subject and give the speech as if you were him or her. Originally, Taylor wanted to be Ella Fitzgerald, mostly because she had a beautiful new dress for church she thought would make a very fine Ella costume. But...

The harebrained lawsuit demanding disclosure whether President elect Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen or not was laughed out of New Jersey courts in October. A few weeks later Supreme Court Justice David Souter gave it just as short shrift. He denied a stay to get Obama removed from the ballot in that state. But that didn´t end the matter. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas saw to that. He took the almost never heard of step of reopening the issue by agreeing to put the matter to a conference vote. Thomas´s ridiculous lone wolf effort to arm twist the justices...

Since we're not in the chambers (or wherever the deliberation is going on), we don't know when the judges are going to come to a decision on whether or not to follow up on Barack Obama's eligibility to be POTUS. But the vitriol from some black websites is growing (if such was even possible). Sadly, it was the despicable "Justice" -- he gives a bad intellectual odor to this term -- Clarence Thomas who decided to even have this non-issue and non-case considered. So the question is why is Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas taking the lead here?

WASHINGTON – You can make sure the Supreme Court justices have a piece of your mind when they review a case Friday challenging the eligibility of Barack Obama under Section 2, Article 1 of the Constitution, which stipulates the position can only be filled by "a natural born citizen." Because the Supreme Court justices do not accept faxes, e-mails or telephone calls, there is only one way to make your voice heard in time for Friday's preliminary hearing – overnight delivery of your letter. To make that process simpler, more convenient and less expensive, WND has devised a plan to...

The Obama "conspiracy theory" is reaching new heights beyond anyone's comprehension...or at least the comprehension of those that voted for this dynamic man. Dynamic in the sense that our Supreme Court on December 5th, will either put this all to rest and the voters will continue to believe in their messiah, or it will turn this country upside down. With many lawsuits backing-up and Justice Clarence Thomas now coming forth to unravel the dynamics of this conspiracy, our constitution is in crisis, but this is also an opportunity for the "World President" Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Soetero, Dunham or whatever...

Why are so many in conservative media so wilfully ignorant regarding the most significant challenge(s) to Barack Obama's status as a presidential candidate?  The question keeps getting asked and perhaps there are numerous answers.  Here are the answers right out of the horse's mouth, from one conservative pundit. I'll post below a running email conversation I've had with a conservative talk radio host, since I let him know about the "Ron Polarik, PhD." allegations about the Obama BC and about Leo Donofrio.  He is a local broadcaster, somewhere in the United States.  I'll call him "Chip Program." It is astounding...

A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over his citizenship has been scheduled for a "conference" at the U.S. Supreme Court. Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. This case is set for a conference Dec. 5, just 10 days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet to make formal the election of Obama as the nation's next president. The Supreme Court's website listed the date for the case brought by Leo C. Donofrio against Nina Wells,...

"Today, we live in a far different environment. My generation, the self-indulgent "me" generation, has had a profound effect on much around us. Rarely do we hear a message of sacrifice -- unless it is a justification for more taxation and transfers of wealth to others. Nor do we hear from leaders or politicians the message that there is something larger and more important than the government providing for all of our needs and wants -- large and small. The message today seems more like: Ask not what you can do for yourselves or your country, but what your country...

When John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country," we heard his words with ears that had been conditioned to receive this message and hearts that did not resist it. We heard it surrounded by fellow citizens who had known lives of sacrifice and hardships from war, the Great Depression and segregation. All around us seemed to ingest and echo his sentiment and his words. Our country and our principles were more important than our individual wants, and by discharging our responsibilities...

I thought Sarah Palin did more than fine on Saturday Night Live. In particular, during her Weekend Update appearance she displayed a speaking poise and polish exceeding that of any of the other candidates on either ticket. But Republicans who agree to appear on such shows put themselves in the laps of the liberal media gods. And those lesser deities abused their power, choosing to run a nasty joke at Clarence Thomas's expense during Weekend Update shortly before Palin appeared. The set-up was the fact that, in a dissenting opinion published this past week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts...

Rush Limbaugh, in today's show, referred to Clarence Thomas' book "My Grandfather's Son" to reveal Biden's slippery approach during Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Here is what Claremce Thomas wrote about it in pages 235 and 236 of that book. Senator Biden was the first questioner. Instead of the softball questions he’d promised to ask, he threw a beanball straight at my head, quoting from a speech I’d given four years earlier at the Pacific Legal Foundation and challenging me to defend what I’d said. ”I find attractive the arguments of scholars such as Stephen Macedo, who defend an activist...

** EXCERPT ** The controversy over Sarah Palin may be a matter of history repeating. It's possible that the next two months could this be a replay of Clarence Thomas' nomination fight of 17 years ago all over again, with gender replacing race and a national electorate standing in for the cloistered world of Congress. You will recall last week when GOP pundit Peggy Noonan was caught on an open mic in St. Paul saying that the Republicans were going to push narrative in this campaign instead of experience. That, in a nutshell, was the White House strategy after Thomas...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that African-Americans are better served by colorblind programs than affirmative action. Thomas, addressing leaders of historically black colleges, said affirmative action ''has become this mantra and there almost has become this secular religiosity about it. I think it almost trumps thinking.'' A longtime opponent of race-based preferences in hiring and school admissions, Thomas said, ''Just from a constitutional standpoint, I think we're going to run into problems if we say the Constitution says we can consider race sometimes.''

It appears to me that Sarah Palin is the new Clarence Thomas or Robert Bork. Someone who is off the reservation and threatens the DemoRats and their media allies by her ideas and character. They don't want and need to prevent her from winning the election anymore than they really just wanted to stop Clarence Thomas from joining SCOTUS they need to totally destroy her and everything she holds dear. I really feel sorry for her and her family as the media allies and the other weasels and worse that are out there on the left go after her and...

When Senator Barack Obama mentioned last week at the Saddleback Church faith forum that he wouldn’t have appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court bench, perhaps he had already been reviewing the presiding role that his now running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., played in the judge’s confirmation hearings long ago.

"I think that the only reason Clarence Thomas is on the Court is because he is black" IS THOMAS ON THE COURT ONLY BECAUSE HE IS BLACK? BIDEN: "I think that the only reason Clarence Thomas is on the Court is because he is black. I don't believe he could have won had he been white. And the reason is, I think it was a cynical ploy by President Bush."

Far too many folks on the Left just point the finger of generalized bigotry at their critics, in a sort of moral version of a skunk's spray attack. That skunk smell of race baiting just hangs in the air for days afterwards. Random accusations of racial bigotry have poisoned our national conversation for decades. They are truly the last resort of a scoundrel. So  let's just compare the moral seriousness and intellectual heft of three black heroes: Barack Obama, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Lt. Col. Allen West. A white liberal friend of mine is sure in his own mind that...

At the recent Forum on the Presidency, Pastor Rick Warren asked Barack Obama which Supreme Court justice he would not have nominated. Obama replied, “I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don't think that he, I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretation of a lot of the Constitution.” He then added that he also wouldn’t appoint Justice Scalia, but that there is no argument over his “legal brilliance.” In other words, the black guy is dumb....

This week, Barack Obama's challenge is to select a running mate who's young, hip, and whose accomplishments in life don't overshadow Obama's. Allow me to suggest Kevin Federline. The only thing we can be sure of is that Obama will choose someone who is the polar opposite of all his advisers until now. In other words, it will be a very, very white male who was probably proud of his country even before being chosen as Obama's running mate. Obama's got a lot of ground to make up following that performance last weekend at the Saddleback presidential forum with pastor...

Politics: Sen. Obama joins the high-tech lynch mob that still thinks Clarence Thomas is unfit for the Supreme Court. The ex-state legislator with no accomplishments to his name dares to question Thomas' experience.The issue of Supreme Court appointments had faded into the background until Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren at a weekend forum asked the presidential candidates which sitting Supreme Court justice they wouldn't have appointed. What Barack Obama answered should rally the GOP base and scare the rest of middle America. "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don't think that he was an exp . . ....

RUSH: This is the one that has a lot of people simply outraged. This is from Rick Warren's Civil Forum on the Presidency on Saturday night. The question, "Senator Obama, which existing Supreme Court justice would you not have nominated?" OBAMA: I would not have nominated, uhhh, Clarence Thomas. (applause) Uh, I don't think that he's -- uhhh... uhhh... I -- I -- I -- I -- I -- I -- I -- I -- uh -- I don't think that he was an exper[ienced] -- uh, I -- I don't think that he was a -- a strong enough...

Clarence Thomas, the only black member on the Supreme Court and a highly respected jurist, was demeaned and insulted for political gain by Senator Obama in Saturday's forum. As a conservative nominee, we well remember the "high tech lynching" that took place by Democrat senators and operatives at Thomas's hearing because he had the gall to be a black conservative who also believed that abortion is wrong. Using a playbook that was originated at a previous hearing for Judge Bork, Thomas was smeared and lied about and private detectives went through his garbage.

The Wall Street Journal has an absolutely brilliant editorial today here entitled "Obama on Clarence Thomas". It offers a view into what I and other bloggers have long been saying -- that beneath that well-scripted "post racial" veneer, Obama is a typical left-wing ideologue. When left alone, without a script, these real beliefs seep to the surface, painting a pretty divisive picture. In answering a question on judicial appointees in a Town Hall style debate where he and John McCain appeared together (but not at the same time), Obama took a huge and demeaning swipe at the lone black jurist...

WSJ Editorial Obama on Clarence Thomas August 18, 2008 Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a centrist politician who wants to unite the country, but occasionally his postpartisan mask slips. That was the case at Saturday night's Saddleback Church forum, when Mr. Obama chose to demean Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Pastor Rick Warren asked each Presidential candidate which Justices he would not have nominated. Mr. McCain said, "with all due respect" the four most liberal sitting Justices because of his different judicial philosophy. Mr. Obama took a lower road, replying first that "that's a good one," and then...

A former law clerk for Clarence Thomas is leading the pack of critics saying Barack Obama’s comments about the Supreme Court justice reveal the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s ignorance and misunderstanding of the Constitution. The weekend event at the 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., was meant to give both candidates a chance to address questions of importance to the large evangelical community. Church Pastor Rick Warren, known for his bestselling book “The Purpose-Driven Life,” posed the series of questions to each candidate, which were aimed at getting to their personalities, foibles and leadership styles.

Barack Obama likes to portray himself as a centrist politician who wants to unite the country, but occasionally his postpartisan mask slips...Pastor Rick Warren asked each Presidential candidate which Justices he would not have nominated. Mr. McCain said, "with all due respect" the four most liberal sitting Justices because of his different judicial philosophy.Mr. Obama took a lower road, replying first that "that's a good one," and then adding that "I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas. I don't think that he, I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that...

The roughest way to learn to swim is to be thrown in the deep end of the pool, and have to dog-paddle your way to the side if you want to keep breathing. My parents never did that to me, I know only one person who actually experienced that. But, metaphorically? Now that’s another matter. This column is about Clarence Thomas, Paul Carre, the University of Detroit, and the Boy Scout Motto. Begin with Clarence Thomas. I have just finished reading his autobiography, My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir. It is a gripping tale that would be utterly unbelievable, except that...

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 41% of voters give the Supreme Court good or excellent ratings. Just 19% give it a poor rating. While over half (52%) of Republicans rate the Supreme Court good or excellent, just 39% of Democrats do the same. Among unaffiliated voters, 35% say the Justices are doing a good or excellent job. A separate survey found that Republicans consider judicial appointments a more important voting issue than the War in Iraq. The survey also found that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is the most well-known out of the nine active justices....

Controversies Crop Up Around Commencement Speaker Selections by Jamal Watson May 5, 2008, 22:24 Earlier this year, NAACP chairman Julian Bond journeyed to the U.S. Supreme Court to interview Justice Clarence Thomas. The event was somewhat historic, in part because Bond — a staunch supporter of affirmative action and other social programs — has long been a critic of the policies and positions espoused by Thomas. But now, both of these historic figures in Black history are the subjects of much scrutiny as they prepare to deliver commencement speeches this month at two East Coast universities. A group of conservative...

An Ohio man has been indicted on charges that he threatened to blow up the U.S. Supreme Court and attack well-known black men, including an associate justice on the court, according to an indictment filed Wednesday. David Tuason targeted black men known to affiliate with white women, well-known white women who had relationships with black men, and children of mixed-race parents, federal authorities said. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg confirmed that a threat was made against Clarence Thomas but refused further comment. Thomas is the only black justice sitting on the court. FBI spokesman Scott Wilson declined to name those...

Perhaps the most obvious way McCain could upend the normal dynamics of this year’s election would be a bold vice presidential choice. He could pick a hawkish and principled Democrat like Joe Lieberman. He could reach beyond the usual bevy of elected officials by tapping either David Petraeus or Raymond Odierno — the two generals who together, in an amazing demonstration of leadership and competence, turned the war in Iraq around last year. He could persuade the most impressive conservative in American public life, Clarence Thomas, to join the ticket. There are other unorthodox possibilities.

An honest disagreement is one thing, but there is a phenomenon going around the internet, mostly at the expense of conservative bloggers like me, known as baiting. These are liberals who get some kind of perverse pleasure by visiting conservative blogs and trying to harass them or tie them in knots. Their favorite technique is to seize on some trivial point or side issue and argue with it, completely disregarding the main point of the article. Another technique is to hunt for some reference that disputes something you have said – easy to do in a world where the liberal...