Today's Washington Post carries the story, "Justice Thomas Lashes Out in Memoir." The article focuses on Justice Clarence Thomas's memoir "My Grandfather's Son" and begins:
Justice Clarence Thomas settles scores in an angry and vivid forthcoming memoir, scathingly condemning the media, the Democratic senators who opposed his nomination to the Supreme Court, and the "mob" of liberal elites and activist groups that he says desecrated his life.
The piece later notes that "Thomas has particularly caustic comments about the Democratic senators who opposed his nomination."
Settling scores. Angry. Scathingly condemning. Caustic comments.
It all sounds pretty mean-spirited, to use one of the liberals' favorite adjectives.
Compare this article to the Washington Post's appraisal of former President Clinton's "My Life." The June 28, 2004 review by Walter Isaacson noted:
His (Clinton's) life is too fascinating, his mind too brilliant, his desire to charm too strong to permit him to produce a boring book. The combination of analytic and emotional intelligence that made him a great politician now makes him a compelling raconteur.
Mr. Isaacson writes that the former president "treats folks such as prodigal pollster Dick Morris and political doppelganger Newt Gingrich with notable gentility."
It's not that Clinton didn't use his own memoir to excoriate his opponents. According to a June 19, 2004 New York Times article on Clinton's book:
The book's length gives the former president plenty of room to settle scores, and he does so with his customary élan. He takes the whip to Republicans in Congress; Louis J. Freeh, the former F.B.I. director; the National Rifle Association; and even the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in 1997 that Paula Jones's sexual harassment case against him could go forward while he was in office. . .
He reserved special venom for Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who chased him for years in one of the most expensive government investigations in the nation's history. He writes that Mr. Starr was the tribune of an organized right-wing cabal that was determined to destroy his presidency because he was a personal anathema to them and repeatedly defeated them on policy grounds.
Going back to the Washington Post review, it ends by calling Clinton's book "a fascinating reflection of the tenor of our times."
The Washington Post will never describe Justice Thomas's memoir as fascinating. Maybe if he possessed the customary élan of the impeached former president. . .
