Posted on 11/21/2017 1:54:19 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The journalist Joe Klein, a leading Bill Clinton chronicler in the 1990s, said Tuesday that he was an “enabler” for defending the then-president.
Klein said in an interview with the NPR show On Point that he didn’t think Democrats today would stand by Clinton the way they did in the 1990s as the cultural landscape has shifted on sexual misconduct.
“I must confess to having been a Clinton enabler during that time,” Klein told guest host Jane Clayson. “In that I defended him, and we all knew that he was a cad. There's no question about that. But it was the beginning of a period of real viciousness in American politics.”
Klein’s 1996 roman a clef, “Primary Colors,” featured a presidential candidate who — like Clinton — was dogged by a sex scandal. He also wrote “The Natural: The misunderstood Presidency Of Bill Clinton.”
Klein joined On Point, along with Atlantic writer Caitlin Flanagan and Weekly Standard writer Michael Warren, to discuss a new reckoning with Bill Clinton’s legacy.
Clinton was impeached for lying about his sexual relationship with a young White House intern. He was also accused of improper advances on other women, and, in the 1978 case of Juanita Broaddrick, violent rape.
The president was not, however, removed from office — no Democratic senator voted to remove him — and did not step aside.
Klein said Tuesday that whether Clinton should have remained in office was a “difficult question.”
“With Bill Clinton, it’s never easy,” Klein said.
Clinton’s impeachment and sex scandals from two decades ago are relevant again amid broader cultural changes surrounding sexual harassment, assault and violence: Powerful men in the media, in Hollywood and in Washington have been accused of wrongdoing.
The current president, Donald Trump, is among; according to the New Yorker, 20 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, from groping to unwanted kissing to unwanted advances.
Trump himself was caught on tape saying that he grabbed women by the genitals and kissed them without asking; even after the "Access Hollywood" tape, he won the presidency, defeating Hillary Clinton.
You can listen to the whole show here.
CYA spin. He wasn’t a Bill Clinton enabler, he was a skilled propagandist.
Perhaps it's just me, but that phrasing seems to smack of: "Oh, that Bill! He's just a lovable rogue!"
No.
He's a serial rapist.
A violent serial rapist.
And you helped him. Klein says it was the beginning of a period of viciousness in politics? Perhaps that's because the Democrats were running a violent serial rapist for President, and the Republican party was against that idea?
Ah, another perfect proof of the axiom: “If leftists did not have double standards, they would have no standards at all.”
Not to worry, leftists, the guillotine has only one standards.
And we’ll hold YOU to them.
“Clinton was impeached for lying about his sexual relationship . . .”
No, Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about a relevant topic. He was impeached for perjury, a serious felony.
Oops, an MSM mistake. One standard, not one standards.
One would have thought I graduated from a public school filled with NEA members.
No kidding Joe —we’ve been “in the know” since 1997-98 —at least since the time I joined FR.....
Creep.....
now its being called being "cad"....
Trump himself was caught on tape saying that he grabbed women by the genitals and kissed them without asking;
NO HE DID NOT!!!!!!
Subjunctive mood, people. Trump said he (anyone famous) COULD grab them by the genitals. He never said he DID it. He said famous people COULD do so!!!!!
Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That lie jumps out at me every time it is repeated. Laura Ingraham, on her tv show last night, let a false accusation aboutPOTUS pass. She won’t win fans that way.
“You cad! You ripped through my panty hose and raped me while biting my face with your teeth to hold me down! You have cops protecting YOU outside the door. You finished, then raped me AGAIN! You left my lip bruised and swollen and you are the boss of all the state troopers. You silly cad! I ought to swat you playfully with my long white gloves!”
What saved Clinton was an approval rating in the 70s because of the Reagan economy he was riding on
And mighty proud of it he was.
I read Primary Colors when it came out in paperback. It’s amazing that Klein could defend Clinton back then after portraying him as a horny Arkansas boob in the novel. One would think the novel portrayal was how Klein really saw him. The ‘rats sure know how to circle the wagons.
The articles of impeachment against The Bent One specifically charged him with multiple acts of perjury, subornation of perjury, and obstruction of justice. There is no question that Bill Clinton committed high crimes and misdemeanors as POTUS. He was not convicted by the Senate because the enabling disgusting Rat senators held the manority of seats.
I was hoping a similar insider book would have been written about Barry’s campaign called, “Primarily Colored”.
I second that emotion.
These @^%$ people choose to be deliberately obtuse (yes, I know it's redundant) in preparation for the next round of attacks. Don't for a minute make the mistake of thinking this is an oversight.
The point of this article is for the left to move the goalposts once again. In the era of Clinton, "it was only sex!" - no big deal, and all the "right-wingers" were no-good prudes for trying to hold Bill to any normal standards of conduct. Remember, that's how "Moveon-dot-org" got its name - it was time to "move on" from Bill's problems, which, after all, were only "about sex" - not harassment, and not rape, you deplorable right-wingers!
Now the era of Clinton is over, since Hillary lost. Therefore any sexual misconduct is a Big Deal, and even allegations based on lies can end a career, especially if you're on the right. They need to try to keep alive the allegations that President Trump engaged in sexual misconduct, with the goal of destroying his presidency. So the cultural goalposts need to be moved, and lies need to be repeated in the media until they are accepted as the "new truth."
Or as a friend's wife said "He's under considerable stress and has "needs" to release the stress"
So I asked her how she'd feel if her husband was under considerable stress and had similar "needs". "I'd kill him!", she replied.
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