The Real Clarence Thomas

When you watched the 1991 confirmation hearing of Supreme Court designate Clarence Thomas, did you think you were seeing the real Clarence Thomas?

In a way, you might have been, if you accept what Thomas Sowell says in Real Clear Politics today. It depends on how you interpret Sowell's writing.

Sowell says he has known Thomas for nearly 30 years, that he has been a principled jurist and that he has an astonishing sense of humor.

Sowell also says that, contrary to his image, Thomas is not "a lonely and embittered man, withdrawn from the world" after his experience before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The truth, Sowell says, is that Thomas meets people in a low-key way during the summers -- not "grandstanding," as others do, but driving his bus around the country and mixing with middle class folks in "truck stops, trailer parks and mall parking lots."

The man of the people has just published a book about his life, My Grandfather's Son, which is out in bookstores now.