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In reply to the discussion: fuck this guy: Trump Slams Hillary Clinton as 'Nasty, Mean Enabler' of Husband's Affairs [View all]pnwmom
(110,254 posts)Why should a feminist get upset about that?
All the other women came with Republican handlers, and both Paula Jones and Kathleen Wiley's stories had problems. Juanita Broaddrick said under oath that she hadn't been assaulted. Years later, she changed her story.
And you're ignoring the fact that men had been behaving this way for EONS, including men at the highest levels of politics, without consequences. We had just seen it happen with Anita Hill.
So it looked awfully hypocritical for the Republicans to suddenly be shocked and horrified. Where was there shock and horror with Anita Hill?
Bill Clinton had been right on many women's issues that the Rethugs fought against. Feminists didn't want to lose the gains we had made under his administration for what had been wrong -- but very common -- masculine behavior. That just a few years earlier the Rethugs had been all too eager to overlook. And we couldn't even be certain of what happened.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Willey
The Final Report of the U.S. Office of the Independent Counsel report noted that "Willey and President Clinton are the only direct witnesses to their meeting, and their accounts differ substantially on the crucial facts of what occurred." It also stated "Willey gave false information to the FBI about her sexual relationship with a former boyfriend, and acknowledged having lied about it when the agents confronted her with contradictory evidence. Following Willey's acknowledgment of the lie, the Independent Counsel agreed not to prosecute her for false statements in this regard."[5] According to Independent Counsel Robert Ray's report, "Willey's [Paula] Jones deposition testimony differed from her grand jury testimony on material aspects of the alleged incident."[6]
According to a book critical of Clinton by Candice E. Jackson, Tripp told Larry King in February 1999 that Willey is "an honest person" who was "telling the truth" about having been sexually assaulted by Clinton.[7] However, Tripp's grand jury testimony differs from Willey's claims regarding inappropriate sexual advances.[8]
Willey has a history of controversial claims including telling the FBI she was pregnant and she had a miscarriage when she did not.[9] On the evening of March 19, 1998, Julie Hiatt Steele, a friend of Willey, released an affidavit, accusing the former White House aide of asking her to lie to corroborate Ms. Willey's account of being sexually groped by President Clinton in the Oval Office.[10] An attempt by Kenneth Starr to prosecute Steele for making false statements and obstructing justice ended in a mistrial and Starr declined to seek a retrial after Steele sought an investigation against the former Independent Counsel for prosecutorial misconduct.[11]