SEN. DOLE: Mr. President, I want to do that to indicate the Senate's not going to indicate over this vote. There's been a lot of talk about the process, a lot of talk about the Senate, a lot of talk about perception about the Senate. Tomorrow we'll be on something else. Some who are on opposite sides today will be on the same side tomorrow or next week. And I just wanted the record at least to indicate that generally we try to accommodate one another here. This is a very critical vote.
It seems to me that if we had the votes -- which I couldn't have said last Tuesday at this time -- and I indicated at that time there were about 41 for Thomas, 41 against Thomas, there were a pool of about 18. And it seems that after the delay -- which some Senators said that before they could vote for Thomas they'd have to have a delay to check into these allegations. I think that was the right decision from the standpoint of the future of Clarence Thomas. Had we not had the delay and had we had the vote last Tuesday, in my view, he would have been defeated, his nomination would have been defeated. It seems to me now that there's been hardly any defections.
So despite all the dramatic events of the weekend, as I look at my little scoresheet and try to count votes, the pool we had last week is pretty much intact. The Senator from West Virginia indicated he was voting no, but he wasn't in the pool. Other senators have indicated they were voting against Judge Thomas but they were not in the pool we were looking at as potential Thomas supporters.
So I would suggest that after all is said and done and after all the drama and after all the things that have happened over the weekend -- many of us watched every moment of the debate with the exception maybe of 10, 15, 20 minutes -- or the proceedings -- it seems to me that we're now in a position to make a judgment, having had the delay, having had the additional information from Professor Hill, from Judge Thomas, from supporting witnesses on each side.
It also seems to me that it boils down to a question of credibility. This is not a referendum on sexual harassment. If a referendum on sexual harassment, the vote would probably be 100 to 0 or should be 100 to 0. This is a referendum on Clarence Thomas and his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Bush. We'll have plenty of opportunities in the future to address the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace or anywhere else for that matter, and I believe that you will find most senators, regardless of party, regardless of philosophy, are going to be supporting the appropriate position in those cases.
We are back now where we were a week ago when a majority of us, Republicans and Democrats were prepared to say that Judge Thomas was qualified to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. I guess the one question that I have is how much of a burden we placed on Clarence Thomas? How much of a burden will he carry for the next six months, or year, six weeks, who knows how long, with last minute allegations fully aired to million and millions and millions of Americans, and will it have a lasting impact when he reviews various kinds of cases, including cases of sexual harassment.
In my view this will make Judge Thomas even a better judge, a stronger judge, than earlier indicated. Having gone through another test of his strength and his character, in my view he is in a stronger positon. Let me also take time to pay tribute to my colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee (to something they didn't ask for ?). We agreed on the delay. Anybody could have objected by unanimous consent and once we agreed on the delay we had a couple of courses to follow.
We could have had executive committee hearings, could have called Judge Thomas, Professor Hill before an executive committee without staff, with members only, without press. That might have been the preferable route to go. But once the decision was made by the distinguished chairman of the committee and the ranking member, Senator Thurmond, the Judiciary Committee, in my view, proceeded the only way they could and I want to commend the chairman of the committee, Senator Biden, the ranking member, Republican member, the leading Republican member, Senator Thurmond, and particularly thank my colleagues, Senator Specter and Senator Hatch, you had the lead role on the Republican side in making a case for Clarence Thomas and in looking at the credibility of Professor Hill.
Having said that, let me just suggest that in the final minute I have -- and I want to yield the last five minutes of my time to the Senator from Missouri, Senator Danforth -- and particularly thank Senator Danforth for his steadfastness and his loyalty -- and around this town loyalty means a great deal. And I'm prepared to say on this floor at this time had it not been for the steadfastness and the intensity of Senator Danforth's support for Clarence Thomas, there might be a different outcome after the vote today.
At noon today, we paid tribute to Senator Danforth with a standing ovation, the Republican members, because of his stalwarth support of someone he knows better than anyone else in this body. And I would think that a number of members are prepared to take Senator Danforth's word if there was any doubt -- if they had any doubts at this point.
And finally, I want to make one final point. I remember the eloquent statement made by the Chairman, Senator Biden, Saturday night when he said if there was any doubt the benefit of the doubt should go to the nominee, Clarence Thomas. And I would just ask my colleagues if three or four or five are still undecided out there, maybe they haven't made up their mind, maybe they'll do that on the way to the floor. Keep in mind that following the Chairman's advice, if there's any doubt, you give the benefit of the doubt to Clarence Thomas.
Now, a great majority of the American people don't have any doubt, according to polls. A great majority of people calling my office don't have any doubt, people from Kansas and other places around the country -- about 3 to 4 to 1 for Clarence Thomas. Still some doubt, not much doubt, but I think we ought to give the benefit of the doubt to the nominee, Clarence Thomas, who for 107 days has been hanging out there twisting in the wind while every effort conceivable, every effort ever known to man was used to discredit him and defeat his nomination.
He has withstood the test. He is a stronger person because of it. And he will prevail and he should prevail. And I urge my colleagues, if you still haven't made up your mind and you're on your way to the floor and you're having one last thought about Clarence Thomas, give him the benefit of the doubt. He deserves that much and more.