My obligatory Monica Lewinsky post
Why Monica, why now?:
After 10 years of virtual silence (“So silent, in fact,” she writes, “that the buzz in some circles has been that the Clintons must have paid me off; why else would I have refrained from speaking out? I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth”), Lewinsky, 40, says it is time to stop “tiptoeing around my past””and other people’s futures. I am determined to have a different ending to my story. I’ve decided, finally, to stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past. (What this will cost me, I will soon find out.)”
With a curiously old-fashioned air (“parapet”), Monica comes out of her self-imposed hiding/silence and tells her side of the story. Since it’s behind a paywall I haven’t read it. But I’ve read summaries and excerpts, and it doesn’t sound as though it breaks any new ground.
Of course, everyone’s real angle on the story is: is it good or bad for Hillary? I think it’s so early in game that it’s not especially one or the other—her article will blow over (as it were) by the time it might matter. Lewinksy’s getting it over with now because it’s almost inevitable she’ll be pursued by the press if Hillary runs. But in general, the Lewinsky episode itself is a net negative for the Clintons, because—although for some, it engenders sympathy for Hillary—it reminds America of Bill’s sordidness.
Lewinsky’s article is a net positive for Hillary, due to timing and content.
It is reasonable to suspect that Hillary and Bill encouraged (bribed?) Lewinsky to come forth at this time and with this content. However, such a thing will never be proven, therefore it is sort of useless to speculate on it, except in passing.
I haven’t read much bout it, but it may reinforce the idea that Bill has lousy taste in women.
I think Ms. Lewinsky’s trying to get back at Hillary, but she (Lewinsky) is waaaaay out of her league in the revenge game.
She needs to watch her back most assiduously.
“although for some, it engenders sympathy for Hillary”
Hillary is going to run on the victim platform? Get out the popcorn.
Why would the American people let the Clintons and their sexual dysfunction back into the White House?
Hillary Clinton must be defeated.
Has she gotten old enough to realize that obeying the authority of the Clintons and other political gods in America isn’t so satisfying?
Monica is 40 or about to turn 40. She’s not a kid anymore and wants to get her story out. I’d say she’s due and I don’t care if it helps or hurts Hillary: It’s Monica’s story and she can tell it or not.
If Hillary wants to cast herself as a victim, who in their right mind would think her presidential?
Happened to be watching Lynn Cheney on Fox this evening. She speculates that there’s no way Vanity Fair would run this without the blessing of the Clintons.
Gets the Monica thing out there again, just far enough in advance that it will be “old news” before Hillary’s inevitable campaign.
Yeah, I agree with CV. This is mutually beneficial to Monica and the Clintons in getting journalists to “move on.” The Clintons seem to be moving a lot of people into place, such as getting some of their cronies back in the White House, and others into key media positions.
Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter just lost a stand off with Gwenyth Paltrow, so no way would he risk ticking off the Clintons. Especially when Christopher Hitchens is no longer around to do it properly.
The campaign adviser for H C in 2008 was talking about how so many superdelegates and delegates had been rewarded by the Clintons and promised support to the Clintons, but then up and turned on them to vote for Hussein O. (Magic Negro at work, their god speaks and a light shines down upon them, and they Believe)
Well, HC took that kind of “betrayal” personally.
After 2014, the Whitehouse will go Demo, but it won’t matter as the tea party patriots have already re-establish Legislative power. WE HAVE THE POWER. DON’T FORGET IT.
waitforit, 10:41 pm — “. . . the tea party patriots have already re-establish Legislative power. WE HAVE THE POWER. DON’T FORGET IT.”
I offer an amendment. It is possible, but hardly a slam-dunk, that the Republicans will have the numbers in Congress. But if they do have the numbers, what they do with those numbers is a different story. They’re hardly all “tea party patriots”; many of them would much rather collude with Democrats than cooperate with “tea party patriots”.
waitforit: Boehner just easily won his primary against TP challengers. If there’s one RINO I would love to see shown the door, it’s him. However, the reality is that the establishment GOP seems to have a lock. Our choice seems to be slow death (GOP) or quick death (Dems and Hillary)
The NYT and Washington Post had their female writers do a hatchet job on Monica. They are still supporting Bill. It reminds me of when Clarence Thomas was nominated for the supreme court and Anita Hill said he was mean to her. The National Organization of Women (NOW) was demonstrating in the streets for months against Clarence Thomas. He was a terrible person unfit for office. When the Monica Lewinski story broke the NOW said, what’s the big deal? It’s just sex. Nothing to get excited about. No demonstrations against Bill, only support.
If it was so easy to fix America using politics, there wouldn’t be civil war predictions by people like me.
But as people can see, the Democrat status quo and the Republican status quo power, isn’t so easy to break using diplomacy or elections.
If it was so easy, then it would be easy to fix. But it’s not easy, and thus it won’t be.
All those who say that the Clintons are behind this are probably right; they likely encouraged the feature, as a way of getting it out of the way long before 2016.
And, yet, I confess to feeling terribly sorry for Monica. Yes, she certainly seems to have asked for her infamy; she shamelessly pursued Bill, gladly got on her knees, and still doesn’t see why her life after the scandal hasn’t gotten back on track with her expectations.
But, let’s face it – MANY of us were clueless when young. Many of us engaged in behavior that we would be embarrassed to have others know about, and would find it hard to overcome it becoming public knowledge. She seems to be a reformed sinner, who, not unlike Mary Magdalene, can’t avoid her past being part of every conversation in the present.
The others escaped a lifetime sentence of shame, because they couldn’t definitively prove that Bill was a hound-dog. That blue dress kept her from being labeled a “nut or slut” and a liar, but it also propelled her into the history books. Many will not remember the other women; Monica hasn’t that fortune.
I have an opposite take. Monica Lewinski knows she will be brought up over and over again. So, she is merely trying to get out ahead of it.
BTW, Hillary went very anti gun in the past couple of days. I read that as an indication she will not run. There is little upside (as Obama found out) to being anti gun and a lot of downside.