Letters to the Editor
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As a matter of fact
"So, according to you, every man who has a lot of sex with different women, is sexist and misogynist?
Or is it just Bill Clinton?
And all of those women who stay in a marriage where a man has had an affair or several of them, are to blame and additionally, no matter what reconciliation or work on the marriage the couple may have done, are stupid shits for staying in the marriage?
Or does this just pertain to Hillary Clinton?"
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I know this will go against popular culture, but if there is a man who has had sex with a lot of different women and is NOT a sexist and misogynist, I honestly haven't met him yet. I'm a feminist who was around Monica Lewinsky's age when I voted for Bill. I supported him although it bothered me that he didn't seem to do anything to defend her when the media hung Monica out to dry criticizing her weight...her sexual appeal...her Jewishness. This has never really stopped. Monica will probably always be equated with blow jobs and tacky underwear. Does Bill feel bad about this?
I hope so.
The bigger question when it comes to Hillary is why she needs Bill. He is smart, interesting, and in her book she said that life with him was a conversation that hasn't ended yet--but she has leaned so heavily on his legacy in talking about her experience that questions about his term in office have resurfaced in many less than happy ways--this being only one of them.
The G.O.P. had its heydey attacking Bill for assaulting notions of family values (although when it came down to it--they were primarily attacking him for getting away with it). I'm not a big family values person (I came from an abusive family--granted this has skewered my notions of happy family) but I do think that men who routinely choose to engage with women of considerably less power than they have--like Clinton seems to--are sexist. I don't know how you can get away from admitting it, just because he's a liberal.
But how much Hillary should be blamed for enabling Bill's behavior I honestly don't know. If this helps, my father was an abusive man and my mother stood by him. I do blame her for standing by him, even though I have also worked toward forgiveness and reconciliation, I will always consider this "weakness" in her partially a fault.
With Clinton, no not all women who stay married to men who are serially unfaithful are horrible people or should be "blamed" for their husbands' behavior. But at the same time, there was a lot of toxic chaos in the Clinton White House--from "missing paperwork" on Whitewater to Hillary's now campaign manager Maggie Williams reaping in a couple hundred thousand dollars in legal bills. People being fired, accusations of cronyism. I think its sexist to say that Hillary wasn't responsible for any of this chaos--and yet she was part of the team that created his successes?
The marriage is a deal. The good and the bad both come along. I don't think that Hillary was not responsible for helping to accomplish good things for the American people while Bill was in the White House. But the bad comes with the good. It's too bad for Hillary that she appears to bear some piece of responsibility for Bill's chaotic ways; but on the good side she has gotten his brilliant political advice and his political machine. So there's that.
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@emily.jayne
Sorry, emily.jayne, and affair between two consenting adults in the workplace, whether it be between a boss and a subordinate or not, is NOT sexual harassment. Get your facts straight.
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The Republicans have to be loving this
No matter who the nominee is, there ample ammunition here for the general election.
I haven't read every single post, and some that I read I just skimmed over, but I have read most of them closely. I didn't notice a single post that said "I am an Obama supporter and I think what he said was sexist," nor have I seen one that said "I am a Clinton supporter and I don't think what he said was sexist." Not that I didn't miss one, just that I didn't notice one.
The point is, politics seem to be driving the perception here. My guess is that the reality lies somewhere in between. But the fight sure is comical.
I bet John McCain is laughing.
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@farnsworth
On the contrary, the Republicans may be laughing now but considering they take misogynism and sexism as a joke and pretend racism doesn't matter, McCain and the rest of them will probably be stepping right into the deep manure pit of it left and right and end up with it all over them before November even gets close.
And then, who'll be laughing?
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@ @emily.jayne
It's very much frowned upon, even actionable if one of the parties, is a subordinate, as was the case with Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky.
With Bill Clinton, there was always a huge power in-balance between him and the women he chose to have affairs with, or even worse, that he allegedly harassed.
Like most Democrats, I supported Bill Clinton through the whole impeachment thing, largely because I felt that, he shouldn't be removed from office, for his errors in judgement. Especially since the right was out to get him, on whatever pretext they could find.
But the fact that Bill gave them them the ammunition to do him in, is a good reason to give people pause. He did after all, lie under oath, and was disbarred for doing so. What's more, with the whole impeachment thing behind him, he Marc Rich, as a final act of self destructiveness.
That's why Hillary's whole thing about being so experienced, doesn't track for a lot of people. She's asking us to ignore, the whole sordid mess that still characterizes much of her husband's Administration, and only focusing on the good.
It's not very realistic to expect the american people, or the Republican party, to do so, through November.