Joe Biden's handling of Anita Hill's harassment allegations clouds his presidential prospects
WASHINGTON - As he moves toward formally entering the Democratic presidential race, Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed regret for how he handled one of the most consequential challenges of his career in the Senate - the 1991 hearings into Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
But he has not put the decades-old issue to rest.
Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, has rankled rather than reassured many critics by portraying himself as powerless to have conducted the hearing differently.
"To this day I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved, given the courage she showed by reaching out to us," Biden said, speaking of Hill at a charity event in New York in late March. "I wish I could've done something."
His critics call that excuse flimsy,
