Kennedy played an integral role in Bork's defeat, but he was relatively quietly during the Thomas hearings when the subject of sexual harassment was examined. During a brief break in yesterday's hearing, the Republican National Committee circulated an 11-page memo hot off the presses. At Tuesday's hearing, Bond lashed out at Kennedy for distorting Ashcroft's record. Bond also took issue with Kennedy's fundraiser for Nixon, whom Bond accused of taking a harder line on desegregation in the Missouri schools than Ashcroft. Yet Senator Kennedy himself hosted fundraisers for Attorney General Nixon when he ran against me for the U.S. Senate in 1998.
Senators have a lot of latitude on the questions they ask.
Specter was one of 58 Senators who voted against Bork. At Tuesday's hearing, however, Bond returned Kennedy's venom.