In a video posted on Twitter, the 77-year-old Clyburn is walking to an elevator with Congressional Black Caucus chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.), when asked “Other men in other industries have faced similar accusations … and gotten out of the way, resign, stepped down, far faster than he has, right … Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer?”
That was followed by another question, “So it’s different because he’s elected,” but the elevator doors closed before Clyburn might have responded.
Many comments critical of Clyburn have been posted on social media. Among them, people are questioning his logic, asking him to resign – in delicate and powerful terms – and calling him a poor representative of South Carolina.
A writer for The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic tweeted that Clyburn invoked the name of Susan Smith, South Carolina’s infamous child murderer, in his defense of Conyers.
“James Clyburn compared Conyers’ accusers to the child murderer Susan Smith, who initially claimed a black man had abducted her kids. Clyburn said, these are all white women who’ve made these charges against Conyers,” Robert Draper tweeted.
When asked if that comment was true, Draper said he verified it through two sources, adding “Clyburn has used the Susan Smith parallel more than once, to members & staffers.”
Classy stuff – Clyburn is smearing Conyers’ own former staffers as murderers and crypto-racists; never mind at least one of them telling AP she “felt honored” to be attending a Congressional Black Caucus event with Conyers:
Serving as a deputy chief of staff at the time, Deanna Maher, 77, said Conyers stripped in front of her in a Washington hotel room in 1997.
“I was absolutely shaking, and he took off his clothes,” Maher told CNN. “Then I figured out, ‘Oh my god, what did I do? How stupid at my age that I walked in and got myself into a situation like that.'”
Maher, who was in her 50s at the time, told the Associated Press she “felt honored” to attend a three-day Congressional Black Caucus event with Conyers, but later discovered they would be sharing a two bedroom hotel suite.
“He sat there eating sandwiches and then he stormed out and slammed the door,” she told the Associated Press. “He didn’t put his hand on me, but the message was loud and clear.”
Maher also described two other incidents of unwanted sexual contact from Conyers.
Conyers allegedly touched “all over” Maher’s abdomen during a car ride to the airport in 1998, and a year later he allegedly stuck his hands up her dress and whispered, “You’ve got great looking legs,” on stage during a town hall, Maher told CNN.
Maher also alleged that Conyers’ office promoted bad behavior and that a male staffer forcibly kissed her. CNN reported she filed complaints to the FBI and House ethics committee following the incident.
Hasn’t Clyburn’s race card gotten awfully maxed out by now? Here’s a flashback to Jim Treacher in 2010 on “A Brief History of Racism: The Clyburn Files.”