Peter1469
01-06-2016, 10:56 PM
A tale of two Bills: Cosby and Clinton and predatory me (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/05/sexual-assault-bill-clinton-donald-trump-elections-2016-column/78270504/)n
Hillary claims that women deserve to be heard when they say that they are victims of predatory men. But Hillary and her machine destroyed the lives of several women who accused the President of inappropriate conduct, sexual assault, and rape.
Now USA today discusses the issues behind two famous predators.
It was a time when a top Democratic loyalist (James Carville) unabashedly sneered atPaula Jones’ allegations of unwanted sexual advances by then-Gov. Clinton with the infamous quip, “If you drag a hundred dollar bill (http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/resources/1998/clinton.jones/characters.html) through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find." Most famously, there was a young intern named Monica Lewinskysmeared by a senior White House aide (Sidney Blumenthal) as a “stalker (http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/08/clinton.usa).” Blumenthal reportedly also told journalists that the 49-year-old (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm) president of the United States had been “the victim of a predatory and unstable sexually demanding young woman,” age 22. The president went on to become one of the most respected men in the world. Lewinsky’s life was destroyed.
Until fairly recently, this kind of treatment was par for the course, especially if a woman had the particular misfortune of being victimized by a powerful man. Complaining women were far too often cast as the cause of their own sexual harassment and even sexual assault. They would be caricatured as voracious sex monsters, mentally unstable bimbos or gold diggers. Or all of the above.
Just ask the other Bill.
****
This is the backdrop for Donald Trump’s recent broadside against Clinton, in which he chided her for her husband’s “terrible record of women abuse (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681447548133965824).” Whatever Trump’s failings, he understands cultural shifts. We are a society that has a blessedly lower tolerance for sexual assault and harassment than in prior years. This is good news for America, but bad news for the Clintons. History has caught up with them at the worst possible moment.
Hillary claims that women deserve to be heard when they say that they are victims of predatory men. But Hillary and her machine destroyed the lives of several women who accused the President of inappropriate conduct, sexual assault, and rape.
Now USA today discusses the issues behind two famous predators.
It was a time when a top Democratic loyalist (James Carville) unabashedly sneered atPaula Jones’ allegations of unwanted sexual advances by then-Gov. Clinton with the infamous quip, “If you drag a hundred dollar bill (http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/resources/1998/clinton.jones/characters.html) through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find." Most famously, there was a young intern named Monica Lewinskysmeared by a senior White House aide (Sidney Blumenthal) as a “stalker (http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/08/clinton.usa).” Blumenthal reportedly also told journalists that the 49-year-old (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm) president of the United States had been “the victim of a predatory and unstable sexually demanding young woman,” age 22. The president went on to become one of the most respected men in the world. Lewinsky’s life was destroyed.
Until fairly recently, this kind of treatment was par for the course, especially if a woman had the particular misfortune of being victimized by a powerful man. Complaining women were far too often cast as the cause of their own sexual harassment and even sexual assault. They would be caricatured as voracious sex monsters, mentally unstable bimbos or gold diggers. Or all of the above.
Just ask the other Bill.
****
This is the backdrop for Donald Trump’s recent broadside against Clinton, in which he chided her for her husband’s “terrible record of women abuse (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/681447548133965824).” Whatever Trump’s failings, he understands cultural shifts. We are a society that has a blessedly lower tolerance for sexual assault and harassment than in prior years. This is good news for America, but bad news for the Clintons. History has caught up with them at the worst possible moment.