The fury and narrowed eyes when asked about an uncomfortable matter of fact, along with the utter lies (there is not one lie here, but several) is reminiscent of Bill Clinton's recent encounters with unwelcome questions. He hasn't changed. Have we forgotten?
The first New York Times story of this event notes a familiar presence:
Mr. Clinton, who issued his denial with Hillary Rodham Clinton at his side, did not answer questions, and some of his longstanding allies on Capitol Hill said they were not reassured by his remarks.Of course, at this point in time Hillary Clinton believed what Bill Clinton said. She was not a party to this deception, but a victim, or so she says. You wanna buy a bridge in Brooklyn?
A bit of historical perspective for younger readers:
Though asking such questions of a sitting president might seem impertinent, and a lying response entirely excusable, the circumstances of the Clinton administration in January 1998 make the opposite true.
At that time Bill Clinton was being sued in court for sexual harassment in the Paula Jones case (a case which he refused to settle out of court as allegedly demanded by Hillary Rodham Clinton). He had testified in the case 11 days before.
The reason it would be more than uncomfortable for Clinton to admit his dalliance with Lewinsky is that Clinton had just testified under oath that he had never had sex with any subordinate. When asked specifically about Lewinsky during the trial, Clinton testified that “I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I've never had an affair with her." Admitting in public (or even refusing to deny) questions about an affair with Lewinsky opened Bill Clinton to obvious charges of perjury.
Clinton was, of course, charged with and acquitted of perjury in one of the counts of indictment in his impeachment.
3 comments:
How did you let this slide, Harry ?
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Our younger readers will only be more confused by how you tie off this tawdry affair. He may have escaped impeachment on the counts of obstruction and perjury by a party-line vote, but he was not acquitted of the perjury in a court of law and as a result paid a heavy price (from wiki):
On November 13, 1998, Clinton settled with Jones for $850,000, the entire amount of her claim, but without an apology, in exchange for her agreement to drop the appeal...
In April 1999, Judge Wright found President Clinton in civil contempt of court for misleading testimony in the Jones case. She ordered Clinton to pay Jones $91,000 for the expenses incurred as the result of Clinton's dishonest and misleading answers.
Wright then referred Clinton's conduct to the Arkansas Bar for disciplinary action, and on January 19, 2001, the day before President Clinton left the White House, Clinton entered into an agreement with the Arkansas Bar and Independent Counsel Robert Ray under which Clinton was stripped of his license to practice law for a period of five years.
With the inducement of further evidence in the case, President Clinton was held in contempt of court by judge Susan Webber Wright. His license to practice law was suspended in Arkansas and later by the United States Supreme Court. In addition he was fined $90,000. His fine was paid for by a liberal legal fund raised for his legal expenses.
Very good point, flymorgue.
Thanks for providing the supplement.
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