# Obama will not have a Lewinsky scandal **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 12, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699 "2011-07-12T01:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/21 "2011-07-13T02:26:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe they’ve been quietly told that they will get pardons if they keep their mouths shut. Frankly, that’s the pattern since Ford, isn’t it? Yeah, all them Democrats are all alike. Oh, wait. And didn’t the whole investigation begin because Obama _wasn’t_ willing to make shady backroom deals with Blagojevich? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/22 "2011-07-13T02:32:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And didn’t the whole investigation begin because Obama _wasn’t_ willing to make shady backroom deals with Blagojevich? That was a big part of it, yes. Blagojevich said at one point that he tried to trade the Senate appointment in exchange for a spot in Obama’s cabinet, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/23 "2011-07-13T02:33:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, all them Democrats are all alike. Oh, wait. [Decriptivist theory of names](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptivist_theory_of_names): 1. the man who had an affair with Monica Lewinsky 2. the man who was a member of the Democratic Party 3. the man who was President of the United States for eight years ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/24 "2011-07-13T02:42:32Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > eople don’t base their vote on the likelihood of a scandal; they base their vote on the likelihood that the candidate they vote for will be able to have an effective economic policy during the next four years. I think the majority of voters don’t think this deeply. Most people vote based on an emotional reaction to what they perceive as the general zeitgeist. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/25 "2011-07-13T03:04:34Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Buddy, you don’t know IL politics very well. There are no clean politicians here. Obama started here, there’s dirt on him, and eventually it’ll turn up. Let me clear up a few things you are wrong about. 1. You’re not my buddy. 2. It’s clear from the posts you’ve made on this board you don’t know a lot about politics. Certainly less than I do. All you do is repeat what you’ve heard from far too narrow a circle of sources. 3. It’s clear that these same sources have nothing on Obama. If they did they’d use it. The fact that they resort to making up lies about his birth and religion shows that they have nothing real to pass along. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/26 "2011-07-13T03:18:03Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Buddy, you don’t know IL politics very well. There are no clean politicians here. Obama started here, there’s dirt on him, and eventually it’ll turn up. That it hasn’t suggests the dirt doesn’t exist or Republicans are lazy and incompetent investigators. Or both, why not? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/27 "2011-07-13T05:56:19Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Buddy, you don’t know IL politics very well. There are no clean politicians here. Obama started here, there’s dirt on him, and eventually it’ll turn up. Normally, as a fan of the best sport in town before it became a radio show, I’d agree, but since 2004 you guys haven’t landed the lightest hit on OB. It is as if he were untouchable, no matter what you try. He seems even cleaner than Judy Baar Topinka, who dated my freakin’ PASTOR. Okay, not officially clean, but she was clean for a Republican in office. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/28 "2011-07-13T07:44:00Z")
There won’t be a Lewinski scandal. Have you seen the arms on Michelle? And I’m pretty sure she could take him in a fair fight. Mind you, I thought Hillary could take Bill too… ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/29 "2011-07-13T09:46:58Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Maybe Blago was framed by elves. Back in the real world, at some point someone in the cabinet or the White House will get in trouble for something. How it reflects on Obama depends on what happens and how he reacts. To this point, he hasn’t hesitated to give people a shove when it looks like they will become a liability - we don’t know that he was directly involved with the Shirley Sherrod farrago, but the result made the agriculture department look very stupid. Obama certainly wanted Daschle in his administration, but let him go when the tax thing came up. I’m blanking but I think there was at least one other example. He didn’t stick up for Anthony Weiner, but that’s a wash because nobody did. Back in the real world, that clown is out the door in 2012. Of course, the thing is, since Nixon, the policy has been to let the underling take the hit for the boss. Ollie North, Webb Hubbel, Scooter Libby. Find a sacrificial lamb, send him out to get mauled, everyone moves on. What made Lewinsky different is that Clinton couldn’t blame his actions on anyone else there. He got the hummer in that case, and he lied about it in court. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/30 "2011-07-13T09:51:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Let me clear up a few things you are wrong about. > > 1. You’re not my buddy. > > 2. It’s clear from the posts you’ve made on this board you don’t know a lot about politics. Certainly less than I do. All you do is repeat what you’ve heard from far too narrow a circle of sources.. Naw, I’ve only got degrees in political science and history… and frankly, when you attack the source, it’s usually a sign you’re losing the argument. . > [@](#): > > 1. It’s clear that these same sources have nothing on Obama. If they did they’d use it. The fact that they resort to making up lies about his birth and religion shows that they have nothing real to pass along. First, no one really mainstream is making up stuff about Obama’s birth (why did it take him two years to release his birth cert if he had nothing to hide?) or religion. There’s plenty to bash him on with his record, really. Second, usually, it takes a political scandal quite a while to fester. Monica started servicing Clinton in 1995, and he had been fighting the Paula Jones lawsuit since 1994, but it wasn’t until 1998 that it hit the fan. And again, I don’t think this guy will be around long enough for one of these things that’s under the radar now to emerge. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/31 "2011-07-13T10:02:22Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Normally, as a fan of the best sport in town before it became a radio show, I’d agree, but since 2004 you guys haven’t landed the lightest hit on OB. It is as if he were untouchable, no matter what you try. He seems even cleaner than Judy Baar Topinka, who dated my freakin’ PASTOR. > > Okay, not officially clean, but she was clean for a Republican in office. Well, you see, I don’t buy that. First, the guy was pretty much the accidental senator. The guy who SHOULD have won was Blair Hull. But the Chicago Media sandbagged him by rumaging around his divorce records. So Obama won the primary he should have lost. But then the media gooed all over this clown, so they decided to go digging through Jark Ryan’s garbage, too. And old Judy, that cow, decided she needed to get Ryan out of the way so she could run for governor. I think there is a bit of cowing, too. No one really wants to go after this clown because they don’t want to be called racist. I think he’s played that card out, though. Marley- > [@](#): > > That was a big part of it, yes. Blagojevich said at one point that he tried to trade the Senate appointment in exchange for a spot in Obama’s cabinet, among other things. And oddly, nobody in Obama’s circle reported this to the authorities. Only because Fitzgerald (who let’s not forget, was the guy who investigated Scooter Libby for years after he knew someone else outed Valerie Plame) arrested Blago before a bribe was made. Now consider that. A crime is committed, the potential other party, who is not corrupt, doesn’t report it, but the investigator (who has a history of vindictive, long prosecutions) pulls the plug before anyone gets into trouble. Really? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/32 "2011-07-13T11:22:28Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Now consider that. A crime is committed, the potential other party, who is not corrupt, doesn’t report it, but the investigator (who has a history of vindictive, long prosecutions) pulls the plug before anyone gets into trouble. Really? We know you want it to be true. Unfortunately you have no evidence. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/33 "2011-07-13T11:28:04Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We know you want it to be true. Unfortunately you have no evidence. Sorry. Yeah, okay. So I ask the question. When Blago approached the Obama team about selling the Bamster’s senate seat, why didn’t they call someone at the justice department and report it? I mean, it was a pretty serious deal, right, selling a senate seat… And why did Fitzfong move then, before he could catch Blago in the act? Why not wait to see if anyone was going to try to pay him for that seat? Why did the prosecution NOT call as witnesses people he had tried to sell the seat to? But you’re right. I have no evidence… just what I see with my own eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/34 "2011-07-13T11:32:44Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > I have no evidence. Thank you. The end. ---
**Author:** ![Recovering\_Republican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@Recovering\_Republican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recovering_Republican)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/35 "2011-07-13T11:38:19Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Thank you. The end. Guy, you seem to think the world works that you have to absolutely prove something in court to realize it’s wrong. Hey, you know what, I still think O.J and Casey are guilty, despite what the courts said. And when the foxes are watching the henhouse of justice, I don’t expect there to be many hens left. Fitzfong was protecting Obama because it would be a really embarassing thing if he got caught doing something impeachable before he was even sworn in. Unlike Scooter Libby, where he just kept questioning the guy until he didn’t know what he was being asked anymore. Just keep telling yourself he’s a great president and he’s not corrupt and he swam through the sea of shit that is Chicago politics and didn’t get a fleck on him. Because I know you guys really need to believe that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/36 "2011-07-13T11:48:00Z")
I see flailing, but I don’t see facts. Adding more sarcasm will not make your posts more substantial. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/37 "2011-07-13T14:00:58Z")
Fitzfong … Humiliating nickname to marginalize an otherwise respected public official without ever demonstrating malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance. Absolutely reeks of classic propaganda techniques. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/38 "2011-07-13T14:42:05Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > \ > First, no one really mainstream is making up stuff about Obama’s birth (why did it take him two years to release his birth cert if he had nothing to hide?) or religion. There’s plenty to bash him on with his record, really. > > Second, usually, it takes a political scandal quite a while to fester. Monica started servicing Clinton in 1995, and he had been fighting the Paula Jones lawsuit since 1994, but it wasn’t until 1998 that it hit the fan. And again, I don’t think this guy will be around long enough for one of these things that’s under the radar now to emerge. Your truisms are incorrect. The cliche is that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There isn’t any such smoke associated with Obama, so there isn’t any scandal percolating under the surface with him. As far as the birth certificate goes, the alleged “delay” in producing birth certificate is bunk and shows nothing. The fact that the official certified Hawaii state short form birth certificate was unacceptable to the birthers shows only that the birthers are unreasonable and not that Obama had anything to hide. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/39 "2011-07-13T16:22:37Z")
I was a little disappointed during the 2008 campaign that Obama _didn’t_ make a bigger deal of his Illinois background, i.e. “The Republican Vice-Presidential candidate is fond of claiming I am inexperienced. I’d have to tell her that five years in Illinois politics grows you up a lot more than several lifetimes in the hinterlands of Alaska.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/40 "2011-07-13T16:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course, the thing is, since Nixon, the policy has been to let the underling take the hit for the boss. Ollie North, Webb Hubbel, Scooter Libby. Find a sacrificial lamb, send him out to get mauled, everyone moves on. What made Lewinsky different is that Clinton couldn’t blame his actions on anyone else there. He got the hummer in that case, and he lied about it in court. Or in other words, it’s the Republican policy to let the underling take the hit for the boss. Care to give us any Democratic examples? > [@](#): > > First, the guy was pretty much the accidental senator. The guy who SHOULD have won was Blair Hull. But the Chicago Media sandbagged him by rumaging around his divorce records. So Obama won the primary he should have lost. But then the media gooed all over this clown, so they decided to go digging through Jark Ryan’s garbage, too. And old Judy, that cow, decided she needed to get Ryan out of the way so she could run for governor. In other words, when the media went looking for dirt on all those other folks, they actually found some. Heck, the political media wasn’t even needed to find the dirt on Ryan; Jeri came forward with it herself, and it was all over the Star Trek fansites. So if the dirt was so easy to find on all those other folks, why hasn’t anyone found any on Obama, despite the efforts of half the entire country? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699.md?page=3)