"Bill Clinton should have resigned"

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Bill Clinton should have resigned
What he did to Monica Lewinsky was wrong, and he should have paid the price.

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Looking back after the election of Donald Trump, the revelations of massive sexual harassment scandals at Fox News, the stories about Harvey Weinstein and others in the entertainment industry, and the stories about Roy Moore’s pursuit of sexual relationships with teenagers, I think we got it wrong. We argued about perjury and adultery and the meaning of the word “is.” Republicans prosecuted a bad case against a president they’d been investigating for years.

What we should have talked about was men abusing their social and economic power over younger and less powerful women.

I have long maintained that we got it wrong with Bill Clinton as well, and were giving him a pass for partisan reasons for behavior that should not have been acceptable.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 17 • Views: 7,047 • Replies: 107

If the current climate for such matters had of been in play at the time, there may have been a different outcome.

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@Brand X,

Dunno, it didn’t stop Trump from gaining office. Negative-partisanship is stronger than ever as well and was deployed as an effective shield (using Clinton’s accusers memorably).

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@Robert Gentel,

In 1999 only Nostradamus coulda figured that we would have this Trump clown for a president and all his dysfunctional cluster of homies making believe they are part of an administration..

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@Robert Gentel,

I don't mean to defend Bill Clinton for his sexual exploits, which are apparently many, but the one situation I question re power issues is that back at the time I had read that Monica's friends said that when she got the job in DC that she had an eye on going after Clinton. I likely read about that in either the SF Chronicle or LA Times. I've no idea of the truth re her having a seduction plan - just that this was reported in at least one west coast US paper. Maybe the friends were fibbers, but at the time I believed that news commentary. I may have commented on A2K about having read that, once the news exploded.
So, if true, it seems like it was a mutual choice.

Anyway, there were other allegations re Bill Clinton, whatever the truth re Monica.

Is hanky panky in the White House never acceptable, even if mutual?

I can't see the quoted article due to my present computer situation, so I'm just explaining my own memory.

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@Robert Gentel,

Concerning Lewinsky, I thought he should have resigned at the time, but I remember thinking that it would be more for abuse of power than sexual harassment (and I wasn't a Bill Clinton fan). Lewinsky has repeatedly said that the relationship was consensual. At the same time, he was the President of the US, she was an intern, the power differential was about as large as possible. What if she hadn't been interested? Was there a quid pro quo going on? (I remember at the time that supposedly Clinton had tried to get her a plum job somewhere.)

I think the bigger concern is Juanita Broaddrick. Her allegation sounds awfully believable.

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@engineer,

Definitely agree about Broaddrick, it’s much more serious and I too find it credible.

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In my opinion, Bill is guilty of some terrible sex crimes against women. It really hurt me to understand this, because I was enthusiastically for him when he first got elected. By the time he ran for reelection, I recall writing my sister and telling her he was not moral enough to be president. I did vote for him, but it is part of the reason I no longer automatically vote the "lesser of two evils."

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

In 1999 only Nostradamus coulda figured that we would have this Trump clown for a president and all his dysfunctional cluster of homies making believe they are part of an administration..

I knew back then that it would only be a matter of time before I got to throw Bill Clinton back in the Democrats' faces and listen to them squeal in rage as a Republican got off scot-free for similar wrongdoing.

Looks unlikely that Trump did anything wrong though. Maybe it'll be Roy Moore.

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@ossobucotemp,

ossobucotemp wrote:

So, if true, it seems like it was a mutual choice.

Anyway, there were other allegations re Bill Clinton, whatever the truth re Monica.

Is hanky panky in the White House never acceptable, even if mutual?

I can't see the quoted article due to my present computer situation, so I'm just explaining my own memory.

Ok so say all that is true - she pursued him - she is 22 and an intern - he is 49 and President of the US. Shouldn't he have enough sense to know this is wrong? He is in a position of power - he should be smart enough.

Now say instead this isn't the President - she is an intern so in college - say the same thing happened between her and one of her professors. Do you think the professor would have been fired?

Yep.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

In my opinion, Bill is guilty of some terrible sex crimes against women. It really hurt me to understand this, because I was enthusiastically for him when he first got elected. By the time he ran for reelection, I recall writing my sister and telling her he was not moral enough to be president. I did vote for him, but it is part of the reason I no longer automatically vote the "lesser of two evils."

Unfortunately this is typically the case in presidential elections.

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@oralloy,

How much money per hit did it cost you to engage in that delirium ?

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@oralloy,

Quote:

Looks unlikely that Trump did anything wrong though

tea leaves or chicken entrails?

1 Reply

@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

Now say instead this isn't the President - she is an intern so in college - say the same thing happened between her and one of her professors. Do you think the professor would have been fired?

given the number of professors I know (and knew) whose 2nd and 3rd wives were their students ... nope. Things may change but it sure hasn't in the last 50 years.

... given what I knew of a couple of the students who became the professors' later spouses I find it somewhat hard to blame on the profs. those guys (all of the ones I know directly are male) had/have no street smarts and had no protection from the students who targeted them. Their first partners were usually people they knew from their early academic days and were no more streetwise. High IQ's don't equate to high EQs.

I judge politicians more harshly since their skillset includes (generalizing mightily) the ability to read and manipulate people.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

How much money per hit did it cost you to engage in that delirium ?

Reality isn't delirium.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

tea leaves or chicken entrails?

Neither. Facts and logic, as always.

It is a fact that collusion, if it even happened, is not in any way illegal.

It is a fact that the claims of obstruction are based on an imaginary statute.

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If Clinton had resigned, we would have been left with Gore. I thought at the time he would make a fine president. I haven't dug into his dealings to learn if he is another corporate shill. That would of course change my view considerably.

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I guess JFK should be lumped in along with the rest of the villains. He engaged in similar reckless and venal behavior — only the press was more restrained back then.

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@hightor,

I know JFK "womanized" but I don't recall stories that anybody was forced into unwanted situations.

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Jewish gay guy calls his mother.

Guy: Mom! I've got news! I'm going to marry a woman!
Mom: Thank G-d! I'll be a grandmother at last!
Guy: Yes, Mom, looks that way.
Mom: Is she Jewish?
Guy: Yes!
Mom! Even better! What does she do?
Guy: She has her own PR company.
Mom: What's her name?
Guy: Monica.
Mom: Monica what?
Guy: Lewinsky.
Mom: What happened to that nice black boy you were dating last year?

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"Bill Clinton should have resigned"

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