# 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:** 3
**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, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/41 "2011-07-13T17:27:51Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > 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. That explains why you attack the source so often in your arguments. > [@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. Combining a statement that nobody who’s serious questions Obama’s birth certificate with a question about Obama’s birth certificate. You’re making this too easy. > [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > 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. It was an open secret that Clinton was a serial adulterer when he was running for President. The only question was which specific women he had affairs with. You’d think a guy with degrees in political science and history would have heard about all this before 1998. ---
**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, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/42 "2011-07-13T19:20:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It was an open secret that Clinton was a serial adulterer when he was running for President. 'tweren’t even that secret. Gennifer Flowers, and all. ---
**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, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/43 "2011-07-13T20:19:34Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > 'tweren’t even that secret. Gennifer Flowers, and all. There was even a double-secret Sixty Minutes interview about it early in 1992, as I recall. 😃 ---
**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, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/44 "2011-07-13T20:26:49Z")
Clinton didn’t become president until January 1993, so they were obviously flying under the radar by running with that interview so early. I mean, who could possibly be paying attention to an interview of a nobody like Clinton nearly a year before he became president? It just goes to show you how devious the Clintons and the Liberal Media really are. ---
**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 14, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/45 "2011-07-14T01:41:33Z")
> [@](#): > > 'tweren’t even that secret. Gennifer Flowers, and all. > [@](#): > > There was even a double-secret Sixty Minutes interview about it early in 1992, as I recall. That’s the open part. What kept it technically a secret was Clinton never admitted the accusations were true. ---
**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 14, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/46 "2011-07-14T11:29:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > 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.” Yup, he could talk about all the times he voted present. Or when he voted for a bill to allow aborted babies to die in closets. The fact is, as a State Senator, the man was pretty much a non-entity. Hell, I pay about as much attention to State Politics here as a normal person can stand (It’s really depressing) and I never heard of this tool before 2004. The only reason we’re stuck with him now is the media created him. Otherwise, we’d have Blair Hull in his second term doing a respectable job as Senator. Oh, yeah, and he was running against McCain, a guy with Decades of accomplishment in Congress and the Military. ---
**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 14, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/47 "2011-07-14T11:36:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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? Go back to my original statement, where I specifically listed Webb Hubbel. I can also talk about the McDougals, that clown who collected 900 FBI files on prominant Republicans, and what the hell, they tried to call poor Monica a “stalker” and such until she came up with the stained dress. (Oooops). > [@](#): > > 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? First, they don’t WANT to find dirt on Obama. And when something come up, they downplay it, like old Jeremiah Wright. Second , Jeri Ryan didn’t come forward. She fought to keep those records sealed, too. (Probably because she was lying her ass off and the judge didn’t believe her.) The Chicago Media SUED to get access to those records. So they sued to get his divorce records, and dug up Blair Hull’s dirt, but oddly, we never heard about Jeremiah Wright and his crazy anti-American BS, which Obama apparently never heard in church. Really. ---
**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 14, 2011, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/48 "2011-07-14T11:43:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Combining a statement that nobody who’s serious questions Obama’s birth certificate with a question about Obama’s birth certificate. You’re making this too easy. Well, it would be if you comprehended simple English. I said no one was making stuff up about his birth certificate. He refused to release it until Trump called him on it. No one mainstream would actually touch the issue, and frankly it’s kind of irrelevent, because if he had been born in Kenya, he’d still be an eligible citizen through his mother. But you jokers act like this was a plot hatched in the RNC or something. > [@](#): > > It was an open secret that Clinton was a serial adulterer when he was running for President. The only question was which specific women he had affairs with. You’d think a guy with degrees in political science and history would have heard about all this before 1998. Again, the issue was not just his being an “adulterer”. Jones accused him of unwanted sexual advances. (Anyone want to still claim she was lying?) So did several other women. That’s not just having an affair. He then engaged in a plot to suborn perjury and hide evidence. It’s a double standard. Why did it take until 1998 for this to boil to the surface. If it was an “open secret” he has an issue here, then why was every woman who came forward immediately savaged in the press? ---
**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 14, 2011, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/49 "2011-07-14T11:46:23Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > 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. He’s not respected. I think that both Republicans and Democrats in this state will just be happy to see this guy go away. Let’s not forget, this is a guy who locked up reporters for not saying incriminating stuff about people he was after. Great day for freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/50 "2011-07-14T12:06:47Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Let’s not forget, this is a guy who locked up reporters for not saying incriminating stuff about people he was after. Prosecutors don’t lock people up. A few reporters spent time in jail for contempt of court for refusing to divulge sources. Fitzgerald did support that, but reporters have done jail time for contempt before and it will happen as long as there are conflicts between prosecutors and members of the press. Anyway we’re now drifting off the subject of scandals and Obama. ---
**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 14, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/51 "2011-07-14T15:34:53Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Well, it would be if you comprehended simple English. I said no one was making stuff up about his birth certificate. He refused to release it until Trump called him on it. No one mainstream would actually touch the issue “No one is making stuff up about his birth certificate.” Interesting. Are you saying there were no birth certificate stories out there? Or are you saying they’re not made up because they’re true? And Donald Trump was seeking the Republican presidential nomination when he “called him on it”. Sarah Palin and Tom Tancredo also have joined in. So Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates aren’t mainstream? I like Tancredo’s new spin on this. Obama’s release of his birth certificate was some kind of plot to make Republicans look like nuts. Well, duh, of course it was. And the Republicans made it possible by acting like nuts. If the Republicans had been acting intelligently, they wouldn’t have handed Obama this golden opportunity to embarass them. ---
**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 14, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/52 "2011-07-14T17:30:36Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Yup, he could talk about all the times he voted present. Was it a lot? > [@](#): > > Or when he voted for a bill to allow aborted babies to die in closets. Ah, the Aborted Baby Closet Bill. I wager there there were some nuances to it. > [@](#): > > The fact is, as a State Senator, the man was pretty much a non-entity. Hell, I pay about as much attention to State Politics here as a normal person can stand (It’s really depressing) and I never heard of this tool before 2004. So? Had you “heard” of Clinton before 1988? Of Bush43 before 1996? > [@](#): > > The only reason we’re stuck with him now is the media created him. Otherwise, we’d have Blair Hull in his second term doing a respectable job as Senator. I daresay _every_ president has some favorable circumstances in his past which in hindsight looks contrived or unlikely. Heck, your first president could have been Joshua Fry. > [@](#): > > Oh, yeah, and he was running against McCain, a guy with Decades of accomplishment in Congress and the Military. But unfortunately for McCain (and indeed for any Republican candidate in the near future), a significant branch of the party has demands that are not shared by the country. In order to appease this branch and secure the nomination, McCain had to sacrifice the goodwill of the mainstream and thus sacrifice the election. Basically, I’m unmoved by these “the media made him” arguments. Fox News is squarely on the Republican side and if they’re not in “the media”, then I’ll need a better definition of “the media.” ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/53 "2011-07-14T19:01:08Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Basically, I’m unmoved by these “the media made him” arguments. Fox News is squarely on the Republican side and if they’re not in “the media”, then I’ll need a better definition of “the media.” “Media” is a plural noun. In other words, FoxNews is not “the” media. “The media” includes ABC, CBS, MSNBC, PBS, the New York Times, The LA Times, the Boston Globe, NBC, all of whom are solidly on the liberal side. Which partially explains why Obama has not had a Lewinsky-sized scandal (yet). Most of the MSM wants rather badly to look the other way on anything that may embarass Obama, and try to maximize whatever they can find or manufacture to use against the GOP and its’ candidates. See Holder, Eric. Compare and contrast to Burkett, Bill. Regards, Shodan ---
**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 14, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/54 "2011-07-14T19:03:15Z")
Keep sayin’ it and some significant number of people will believe it. If nothing else, I grudgingly admire the dedication and discipline. ---
**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 14, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/55 "2011-07-14T19:17:13Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > “Media” is a plural noun. In other words, FoxNews is not “the” media. Read closer. There’s the crucial word “in” in my original statement. Besides, Fox News regularly brags (or did, anyway - I haven’t been keeping track lately) that they’re the most watched. > [@](#): > > Most of the MSM wants rather badly to look the other way on anything that may embarass Obama Bullshit. Utter unmitigated bullshit. You seriously think NBC or anyone else would hesitate to run a juicy and verified presidential story, on any president? > [@](#): > > and try to maximize whatever they can find or manufacture to use against the GOP and its’ candidates. See Holder, Eric. Compare and contrast to Burkett, Bill. What about them? Holder may have done some questionable things, Burkett probably did (though I don’t expect either will ever admit it). I’m not aware of any media cover-up regarding Holder and Burkett might actually be a useful object lesson - don’t jump on a presidential story without solid verification. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/56 "2011-07-17T20:29:55Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > 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… This is the rare occasion when we agree. She is exceptionally fit and may even have an inch or two of reach on him. I sure wouldn’t want to go up against her. ---
**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 18, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/57 "2011-07-18T02:20:57Z")
On the other hand, Obama is pretty fit, too, as presidents go. Most presidents tend to be old men. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/58 "2011-07-18T02:41:18Z")
They are definitely the youngest, fittest couple to occupy the White House in my lifetime, and I’m pretty confident they share a very good sex life. (JFK and Jackie might have been contenders, but he had that bad back.) ---
**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 18, 2011, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/59 "2011-07-18T10:22:53Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > They are definitely the youngest, fittest couple to occupy the White House in my lifetime, and I’m pretty confident they share a very good sex life. > > () Actually, on Town Hall they call her “The First Wookie”. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699/60 "2011-07-18T14:04:49Z")
> [@Recovering\_Republican](#): > > Actually, on Town Hall they call her “The First Wookie”. Most of those on Town Hall probably couldn’t get a date in a women’s prison wearing a jetpack… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-will-not-have-a-lewinsky-scandal/588699.md?page=4)