While marking the death of longtime New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter on Friday, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell shared her favorite memory of the Democratic lawmaker – when Slaughter and several other liberal House members attempted to derail the 1991 confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Talking to Slaughter’s friend and colleague, Democratic California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Mitchell proclaimed: “All of us who covered the Hill admired Louise Slaughter. The loss of Louise Slaughter. She was elected in 1986....the loss of this extraordinary pioneer.” After Lee shared her thoughts on Slaughter’s passing, Mitchell decided to tout how the late representative tried to block Justice Thomas:
...there was a day in October of 1991 when Louise Slaughter and Pat Schroeder and Nita Lowey, they marched, those House women, all Democrats, marched on the Senate. Unheard of. And we were all stunned at this protest against the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee meeting proceeding, ramming through the confirmation of Clarence Thomas.
Mitchell acknowledged the failure of the political stunt, noting that they only “slowed it down a bit” and how Thomas was confirmed “a week later.” However, she still hailed the move: “But they just marched right over to the Senate and interrupted the Senate lunch, the Tuesday lunch. It was remarkable. And they just came right over....Slaughter was just right there in the middle of all that. And it was very brave.”
Taking to Twitter before her noon ET hour show, Mitchell similarly gushed: “I will never forget the day #LouiseSlaughter and 6 other House Democratic Congresswomen marched to the Senate to demand that the all-male Senate Judiciary committee delay a final vote on Clarence Thomas October 8 1991. She lost that battle but was a fighter to the end. RIP”
It’s one thing to offer some kind words when someone passes away, it’s another to use a person’s obituary as an occasion to tear down someone else. Bringing up the Thomas hearings from 27 years ago was gratuitous and completely unnecessary.
Here are portions of the March 16 exchange:
12:44 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: Now, I do want to talk to you about your good friend, and our condolences. All of us who covered the Hill admired Louise Slaughter. The loss of Louise Slaughter. She was elected in 1986, she was 88 years old. This was sudden, she went into the hospital after a fall and did not survive. And the loss of this extraordinary pioneer.
(...)
MITCHELL: I just want to say, I – my memories of her, not just in hearings and in the corridors – and we were all “honey,” as you point out – but there was a day in October of 1991 when Louise Slaughter and Pat Schroeder and Nita Lowey, they marched, those House women, all Democrats, marched on the Senate. Unheard of. And we were all stunned at this protest against the all-male Senate Judiciary Committee meeting proceeding, ramming through the confirmation of Clarence Thomas.
They slowed it down a bit, he wasn’t confirmed until a week later. But they just marched right over to the Senate and interrupted the Senate lunch, the Tuesday lunch. It was remarkable. And they just came right over. And Patsy Mink was there and Eleanor Holmes Norton and Louise Slaughter was just right there in the middle of all that. And it was very brave.
Let’s just – you tweeted out a picture of her, a wonderful picture of Louise Slaughter. Let’s finish our conversation and go to break on this wonderful picture of this great lady, Louise Slaughter, ever there.
REP. BARBARA LEE [D-CA]: That’s Louise.
MITCHELL: A fighter to the end.
(...)
