Actually, Clinton’s mistake was to even engage in the conversation. He should have done what George HW Bush did when a reporter tried to pin an affair on him. Asked if he had had sex with this person, George Bush looked at the reporter and said something like, “I will not answer a scurrilous question like that, and you should be ashamed of yourself for asking it.” I can’t remember the exact response, but that was the flavor of it. Basically, screw you for asking. Next question.
I don’t care if the President gives hummers to goats in his spare time, as long as he does a good job of running the country.
People say “It’s the lie, not the blowjob”. Nonsense. That’s a smokescreen. If Clinton had told the truth from the start he still would have been crucified for the blowjob. The Republicans had been digging for something to destroy him with for years. He stupidly gave it to them.
The American People weren’t clamoring for the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was one of the most popular and beloved presidents of this century. His approval ratings show it. The push for impeachment originated within the Republican elite. They were looking for any club they could find to beat Clinton with. Once they had their hands on a weapon, Monica or Angelina, it would have gone down exactly the same.
I have to admit to being disappointed in Clinton.
A) He couldn’t keep it in his pants.
B) It was an intern (this would have got most CEO’s fire if you think about it)
C) She was not very attractive and I would expect the POTUS to be able to land a hottie.
All that said and showing my shallowness, I think he handled it poorly and was tried on a technicality.
The investigation never should have even gone to that closet and the Damn Blue dress.
Jim
Well, he couldn’t very well have said that in his testimony under oath, could he?
Or, are you saying better to plead the 5th than to lie? If so, then I agree with you. He had to know that the truth was going to get out. He couldn’t possibly have thought that all he had to do was lie, and no one would be able to disprove it. But then, there’s the whole “deny, deny, deny” tactic he was famous for wrt earlier affairs, so you never know.
IMO no real difference in what ended up happening if Monica had been conventionally “hawt” yet still an intern all the same, and had he still lied all the same.
(And BTW, heck yeah, not-conventionally-hot-but-cute-in-a-way-chick who’s ready, willing, and able… well, hot is as hot does…)
Had it been a dalliance with some standard Hollywood Hottie, OTOH, would have probably raised much less of a Big Deal, though still would have likely been an attempt to impeach had he lied about it(*). His popularity ratings would have been even higher among us swine, though. Just as long as there were no Bill Clinton/Pamela Anderson sex videos released as a result; there are some things we’d rather not see, and Slick’s willie is one of them.
(*OTOH, to paraphrase Gilbert Godfried, if I got it on with [insert superhot celeb here] I’d call a news conference.)
I was thinking more of the public pronouncements he made that came back to haunt him, such as his definitive, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”, and he equivocating nonsense about what the nature of ‘is’ is.
If he had stood on principle that even presidents have private lives, and answered any questions about sex with a simple, “You’re out of line, and the dignity of this office demands that I do not tolerate questions of that nature”, then he would have been better off.
As for taking the fifth on the stand, I don’t know. He was testifying in a lawsuit over sexual harassment. The court decided that the issue of his character had merit, and allowed the questioning. Perhaps he should have taken the fifth on the same principle. He probably would have been found in contempt, but if he haada been consistent in his public statements at least he could have said he was just defending the dignity of the office or something.
Frankly, I never understood the outrage, regardless of what she looked like. Francois Mitterand’s mistress attended his state funeral, and no one batted an eye. Much like the assertions that John Kerry’s Vietnam injuries were due to an “assful of rice shrapnel,” this was the best that the republican smear machine could hope for, so they made hay while the sun was shining. Sorry, but if I was having an affair out of wedlock, whether I was President of the United states or a migrant farm worker, the first thing I would do is deny, deny, deny.
Why is it ok for “your guy” to leak classified information for simple political payback, but unforgivable for “the other guy” to get a little something on the side? I just. don’t. get. it.
Americans are funny.
Incidentally, I’ve always thought this was the most attractive photo of Hillary.
Anyway, if Monica had been hot (though I disagree strongly that she’s ugly/unattractive), she’d’ve been even more overexposed in the media, as well as chased afterward for TV talk-show hosting gigs and whatnot.
True love just brings out that glow in some people. The breakup really affected him.
Another vote for Monica as hot.
Heck, Hillary can sometimes be quite fetching. Still don’t want her as Pres.
um, padre, with respect, this is really not your area of specialization…
not the fifth amendment–he did not need to.
The only sanction for a refusal to answer in the civil oontext is, in extremis, the striking of a defendant’s pleading and a finding by operation of law that liability is established.
fine.
Let’s move on now to the damage to your reputation, Paula, you miserable skank…
He could have gotten up in the mdddleof the deposition and told Plantiff’s counsel to fuck himself (they tell me that all the time…)
- there are some things we’d rather not see, and Slick’s willie is one of them.*
at least we’d finally know for sure if he tends to the left or to the right…
disclaimer:hijack coming.
It certainly gives one a warm glow, as an example of the razor sharp function of the mind of the heteroxexual male in contemplation of the truly large issues of our time, that men (such as those here gathered…)who will enthusiastically tear each other a new rhetorical asshole over politics, can lay aside their partisan divisions when called upon to exchange pleasantries on the sexual acceptability of such and such a woman
If you can be held in comtempt for pleading the 5th, doesn’t that kinda defeat the whole purpose?
you can’t.
Contempt in that context arises only after the operation of the amendment has been obviated by a grant of immunity vis-a-vis the issues to which the questions are directed.
Back to the OP, if Monica were AJ, much more than a cigar would have been inserted up her coochie.
Sorry, I didn’t know that. I thought I had read once that a plea of the fifth had led to a contempt charge. On retrospect, it doesn’t seem logical. Forget I said anything!
one would hope…
Let’s have no more of that silly parsing of verbs…
