In an Oct. 7 NewsBusters post, the Media Research Center’s Tim Graham repeatedly portrayed Anita Hill as a liar during her 1991 testimony about Clarence Thomas. Graham claimed that Hill was ” part of a lie-manufacturing left-wing conspiracy,” further asserting that a Washington Post article about Hill “completely sidestepped whether she was lying her face off.”
Just one problem: Graham offers no evidence Hill lied about anything.
At best, it’s a he-said, she-said situation, and it’s likely nobody will know the real truth outside of the two parties involved. Tellingly, Graham does not consider the possibility that Thomas is the one who’s lying. He also doesn’t mention that Hill reportedly passed a polygraph test telling her version of events.
Graham goes on to whine about “Hill’s millionaire payday,” a reference to “million-dollar-plus book deal with Doubleday.” Graham does mention that this book deal was made in 1993, a full two years after her testimony, but he’s too invested in the smear to notice that the two-year lag pretty much shoots down the quid-pro-quo argument he’s trying to make.
Plus, as the Washington Post article that set of Graham’s tirade points out, Hill’s book under that book deal wasn’t published until 1998, which destroys Graham’s cashing-in meme even more.
Funny, we don’t recall Graham dismissing Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey for being in it for the money, even though they certainly tried to cash in on their Clinton-era infamy.