Former president Bill Clinton has spoken out about what happened during his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Among other things, Clinton says Lewinsky is not owed an apology from him and he “did the right thing.”
As reported by CNN, Speaking to Today, Clinton defended his decision to remain in office following the scandal. “A lot of the facts have been conveniently omitted to make the story work, I think partly because they’re frustrated that they got all these serious allegations against the current occupant of the Oval Office and his voters don’t seem to care,” Clinton said, pointing to a series of sexual misconduct allegations against current President Donald Trump, who has denied them. “I think I did the right thing. I defended the Constitution.”
In an essay for Vanity Fair published earlier this year, Lewinsky said she was questioning the narrative surrounding the affair, which played a central role in Clinton’s eventual impeachment. “Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern,” she wrote. “I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot.”
When asked if he owed Lewinsky an apology, President Clinton told NBC‘s Craig Melvin, “No, I do not — I have never talked to her. But I did say publicly on more than one occasion that I was sorry. That’s very different. The apology was public.” Although some may not have taken what Clinton said as an apology, he did publicly acknowledge at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1998 that he had “sinned.”
“I don’t think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned. It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine — first and most important, my family, also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people.”
I’ve always had several thoughts about Clinton and Lewinsky. First and foremost, it is really none of my business. He did what many a man has done. Circumstances, willingness on both sides, led to a romp. I hate to defend him; but hell, if I was married to Hillary, I know and will admit I’d’ve taken advantage of the situation if it offered itself. What a man and/or a woman chooses to do – and I’ll bar any religious sanctions – is private. Or should be. I don’t care what their job is either. Persons in power are found attractive. Period. That’s just human nature. My final thought is that they both should’ve just shut the “F” up and worked it out in private (they being Bill, Monica and Hillary). The whole matter should’ve stopped there; or, in divorce court. The lies told were to me no more than or similar to what millions of men have said when caught.
I have always liked Bill – his way with women is part of his political charm. He is charismatic. Is that a crime?
Powerful men attract women and some of those women are predatory. They set out to snatch the guy and use him for attention or money etc. Washington is full of young women who do this as “interns”.
As you point out, if I was married to Hillary I would do it too. Face facts ladies, a young woman is physically a thousand times more attractive than a washed-up, hen-pecking middle aged woman is. Any suprise men are attracted to younger women who are still thrumming with sexual vitality?
This whole episode should never have been a public issue. Past presidents slept with interns and young women all the time. It is great stress relief. JFK would get interns to blow his advisers and visiting businessmen if they seemed stressed. C’est la vie!
Just glad this POS is not back in the White House.
NOW we need to EXECUTE billy and hilldabeast for the treason they have committed.
along with obama,Holder, Lynch, Comey, learner, struzk, page, mccabe,
EXECUTE every damn one of them for treason!!!
Right; She owes him a great big thank You!!!
Can you say chutzpah?
I think he probably owes apologies to more women than just Lewinsky.
This is a method for allowing ones self to look in the mirror every morning.
It is a mental defense mechanism.
He is an admitted scumbag – what galls me is he did this in America house.
The other thing is that his partner in crime protected and supported him
So much for womens rights – Liberal women are really stupid.
Liberalism is a demented Satanic Cult
Yes jakartaman but now that Kim Kardashian is meeting with Trump in “American House” what do you think will happen? I mean given his past with women and his many sordid affairs. Bill Clinton is a predator for sure but so is Donald Trump.
http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/390597-trump-told-kim-kardashian-that-she-and-kanye-west-are-boosting-his-african
He owes many women an apology….not just Monica. He’s probably lost count…..
Mr. Clinton is wrong to compare himself to the current President: one allegedly had an affair 12 YEARS PRIOR to taking office, the other had that affair while IN office AT the White House.
A second reason he is wrong is that a power differential existed between the most powerful person in the world and a person who was an intern. If Stormy is telling the truth, any monetary transaction negated any power differential.
Saying he was ‘sorry’ worked for Bill years back while an apology is an admission of personal responsibility and Bill, of course, avoids taking responsibility.
I can’t remember either Bill or his wife ever taking responsibility for anything either has done.
(I do remember Bill apologizing for the experimentation the government has done on citizens who gave no consent to such in previous years/decades, but that is way different.).
Saying you are sorry appeases the public, while apologizing implies taking ownership.
Taking ownership is not something one typically does who lives in denial.
Also, he is speaking with forked tongue, in double-speak. Even if Monica consented, the unequal power differential made it akin to taking advantage because of such. She was infatuated with him and he did not maintain his boundary and redirect her, and that’s an observation, not a judgment.
Avoidance of taking responsibility is not healthy. It is not healthy for him, nor for Monica, nor for the people of the United States. He needs to be a person of truth.
We all do. And we need to judge behavior instead of the person, while calling others to accountability.
Drop the power crap! That is the same hopeless argument social justice warriors make. In the power stakes, a hot young woman has WAY more power over the man, not the other way around. Remember: they had CONCENSUAL sex. Bill did not assault her or make her do anything she did not want to do.
They had a fling and in the past that is all it would have been. Presidents and powerful men always have flings. The friggin opportunity is literally laid before them 24/7. It would take a monk with no genitals not to do something.
Flings are fun and in 99% of the cases, harmless. This particular episode would never have gone anywhere if it wasn’t for the Republicans blowing it up into a big deal. Power is not an issue unless somebody is forced to do something against their consent. In the case with most flings, both parties are totally up for it.
It was “blown out of proportion” as you say because he committed a FELONY by lying under oath about it. Sorry if your moral relativism won’t let you comprehend that simple fact.
His having an affair let the nation down by his lack of character but that is all. As the saying goes, “It’s the PERJURY stupid”.
I DID NOT…HAVE….SEXUAL RELATIONS….WITH THAT WOMAN…..MISS LEWINSKY.
Yeah, okay Pinnochio.
and who gives a fuck?
Not that we need that much of a mental image, but I would have been more impressed with someone who plainly admitted to polygamy and penetrative sex — preferably, with a pert, eager, and reproductively-fit virgin.
Cigars, soiled dresses, sloppy, runned-over road whores, with regrets, take all the fun out of it, afaic. Me-too’ers generally have no marketable skills and are not idealized sex partners. She and the gossip-mongers should probably apologize to the successful masculinists, who they were trying to embarrass.
How do excessively-modest people find themselves in situations like these, on accident.
Barack Obama made Bill Clinton look good. Jimmy Carter made a lousy POTUS but was morally superior to both. I care about morals but I care far more about the POTUS making progress on the problems this country faces than any love affairs, as long as they are consensual and both are adults.
Obama was shacking up with a trannie: can you get anymore deceiptful than that? He would blow guys in limos. So what if Bill had affairs? Or JFK or LBJ etc. Women married to powerful men know the score. They know they can’t beat off the chicks who will keep coming around 24/7. Smart women take a relaxed view of the whole thing and look around the palatial home they live in, reflect on the high-flying life they lead and see it in the round: they are lucky.
As if Hillary didn’t know the power game? Come on! Bill’s horny charisma got them both into the White House: she rode that trip all the way and nearly became the Prez. She should have been paying for prostitutes to come visit Bill if she was at all grateful.
He’s right – he does not owe Monica any apology for her wilful act. He owes the nation an apology for his perfidy and perjury.