Is Monica Lewinsky Really Part of Clinton's Legacy?

great post!

Thx Chelsea.

Lora,

Clinton WAS Impeached.

Also, the reason we hear so often of Clinton's legacy as being connected to the Lewinsky affair--instead of Triangulation, NAFTA, NATO/Bosnia, etc--is because of the very powerful Right Wing Attack Machine-Echo Chamber in this country.

Over and over again, they pounded home the scandal and nothing else--so that you forget about the Economic Prosperity, under the two term Democrat.

And, yes, it was a Witch-Hunt.

However, we can't forget that President Clinton "was nabbed" for Perjury--and this is, technically a serious crime.....even if you are lying, simply about sex.

Yes, Newt and the gang did drag him kicking and screaming into a lot of good policies for success. I guess you don't remember what it took, or weren't you around then? Even Clinton respects Newt and knows he helped him have a decent legacy as President. He also knows that Newt only impeached him because it is the job of the Speaker to do so when the special prosecutor demands it.

NEWT GINGRICH!


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!

Yes, she is part of his legacy.

Basically everything Brett C. said
Clinton was impeached. Other presidents may have had affairs but none of them were formally called on the carpet, so to speak.
Clinton lied to the nation (dare I say the world?).
Clinton was already a well-known (alleged) philanderer. I'm from Little Rock. The rumors were around when I was in grade school, when he was only governor. The only person who
got around more than Slick Willie was Sweet Sweet Connie. Google his name & Paula Jones. Deborah Matthis. Lencola Sullivan. Bobby Ann Williams. Gennifer Flowers.
He embarassed the entire country.
The whole affair was sordid and tacky and as a Southerner Clinton should know we don't do tacky.
So yes, *that* is his legacy.

Please, Southerners do Tacky in a big way. From Huey Long to John Edwards, from John Sanford to Wilbur Mills, the list goes on and on.

It transcends party, Southerners do Tacky probably more spectacularly than anyone else.

ALL politicians do "tacky". It's something about the power. They are on both sides of the aisle.

Hopefully the film explains the near impeachment as the witch-hunt that it was.

It was not "near impeachment", Clinton was fully impeached but not convicted.

The "witch hunt" resulted in the conviction of Clinton on felony pujury and he was disbarred from legal practice.
To characterize lawful conviction and disbarment as a "witch hunt" is really lame.

The fact is, he lied about an affair....something that NOBODY except Hillary had any right to question him about.
THAT is a which hunt. It happens to every Democrat. Don't think for a second that the Republicans aren't doing the same thing to Obama now with all this birther BS.

Rubbish. It wasn't a mere "affair." This was some very serious malfeasance.

This man was a predator, and many of his "advances," and his peccadillo's, weren't welcome. Not to mention much of the stalking and terrorising that was done subsequently.

Your BIAS is showing, Lora. You'd be outraged if it were any other man.

:) I am indeed biased when it comes to Bill.
I feel he is unjustly criticized for this Lewinsky thing. Just as I feel Obama is being harassed for no good reason about his birth certificate and his religion.
On the other hand, other Presidents have committed, in my opinion, REAL crimes against society and other countries and those crimes go unpunished and seemingly unnoticed.

Understood; however, we were discussing Clinton's malfeasance, and I was responding to your comment. Some of those Girls were quite frightened, and creeped-out. Tires slashed, Children "adored," Linda Tripp's Chat was actually killed. And again...it wasn't about the "dinging"...it was about Perjury. Can't fool me Lora, but I suppose a lot of air-heads will take your charge as, um, Gospel, if you'll forgive the expression, and overlook the facts. :)

Unfortunately, that is how you Alinsky-worshippers Operate...

Personally, I don't give a Damn who he was banging...but I DO give a Damn about Lying to a Grand Jury, and respect for the Office.

If Obama deserved any, I'd even give it to him.

Regardless, I'd definitely stand in respect were he to enter the room.

Lora,

Clinton used his cabinet and administration to lie to the people and the media. That is plain and simple abuse of office.
He lied under oath concerning the assault on Paula Jones. That is felony perjury.

Why do these criminal acts not matter to you?

Why do these criminal acts not matter to you?
I don't think he did ANYTHING criminal. Other Presidents, have done criminal acts that get no attention.

Why the fascination with Bill Clinton's sex life? Could it be because the opposing politicians were jealous that they could not carry on affairs AND keep a wife too? That's nothing to brag about, but Clinton was able to do it while others failed at two or three or more marriages.

Some of those Girls were quite frightened, and creeped-out.

I'm sorry but I just cannot picture Bill as a sexual predator.

So how come Bush wasn't impeached?

Oh, that's right. Lying about sex is much worse than lying about the reason we went to war.

Clinton's philandering, while not admirable, is between him and Hillary. How many thousands died because of Bush's lies?

Bush should be sitting in Guantanamo right now if Presidents were held accountable -- he could have had Ronny Reagan's old cell because he too should have been impeached for the Iran Contra deal.

Garside, Lora, what do you believe that Bush should be impeached for?

Garside, you're not very informed, are you?

Nearly every Country on the Security Council, and most in Congress, both Left and Repube, voted for Military action. Allies from over 30 Countries joined and fought side-by-side with us. It was the right course of action, and everybody knows it (who is capable of clear thought).

And, Clintons extracurriculars, AGAIN, weren't the grounds for his impeachment, Puddin'head.

Lora, he raped one of the Girls in question. Not consensual.

He sent his goons to the residence of another who threatened to reveal his predatory behaviour; her tires were slashed, they killed her Chat and left it on her porch, and approached her with the favourite quote of the Gangster..."Those are some beautiful Children you have, Lady..."

Lora, nobody cares who he was banging, consensually; or which sluts were angling to spend time "before him" on their knees....however, rape, stalking, and LYING UNDER OATH are, the last time I heard, ILLEGAL...SO, stop obfuscating the real issues.

You DO take a position against RAPE, don't you, Lora? If you don't do a better job of representing your Feminist friends, you might lose your Lib Card...

Garside, Lora, what do you believe that Bush should be impeached for?

What should Bush be impeached for? You're so upset about a President lying -- Iraq was a complete and utter LIE.

Lora, nobody cares who he was banging, consensually

They why was he questioned about it under oath? Witch hunt. That's why. Republicans are threatened by a smart and powerful Democrat.

You DO take a position against RAPE, don't you, Lora?

If he raped anybody, shouldn't he have been on trial for THAT way before he ever got to the White House? There are many opportunistic people that will lie to try to get money from a lawsuit or blackmail or whatever -- and a guy like Bill with a reputation such as his is an easy target.

He should have known better. That is true. I am disappointed that his escapades with Lewinsky got out to the public. I am even more disappointed that an opportunistic GOP hired a special prosecutor and went to the extreme of leveling "impeachment" against him. That is a serious offense and should be best left to SERIOUS matters.

For crying out loud, JFK was involved with a German woman who was believed to be a spy! Nobody put him a witness stand and asked him about it.

Bush flew every single Bin Laden out the country on 9/11 to protect them from harassment here in the U.S. Why were they even here? And better yet, how did Bushie know where to find them so quickly when he couldn't find Osama for 8 more years? Bush protected Osama Bin Laden and had him well-hidden. How much did that cost the U.S. taxpayers?

BTW - I watched this documentary tonight. One person working on his campaign for Congress in Arkansas said there would be 25 women A DAY come into the campaign office looking for him.
They sought HIM out.
Gingrich went after Clinton out of pure jealousy.
Every unattractive Republican man wishes he was Bill Clinton or JFK.

It was the circus after the affair went public. He and his defense team made a mockery of the legal system and the oval office.

"It depends what your definition of 'is' is." That is the most hilarious thing I've ever heard out of any President's mouth.

I use that line all the time in normal conversation. It's always a big hit.

"I use that line all the time in normal conversation. It's always a big hit."

So you play a lot of 5th grade clubs, winston?

You must be playing the same ones.

Oh please... he did it to himself, and it isn't pretty.

Yep.

Both the affair and the antics after it went public.

A total lack of class.

What Clinton did with Lewinsky, whether it involved a cigar or not, regardless of whose dress got stained with what, is not part of his legacy.

What Clinton said in response to questions about what he did with Lewinsky is part of his legacy.

Is it fair? Yes, Kennedy et al did more and often more carelessly (sharing a mistress with a mob boss), but it was a different era and attitudes changed. The press used to have the attitude that those matters were off limits. That changed in 1988 with Gary Hart's infamous liaison with Donna Rice aboard the "Monkey Business". Clinton should have known better.

His great failing as a human being has always been that he can't control his libido. This interfered with his presidency and made it less than it might have been otherwise.

But the hypocrisy of Republicans who were just as bad or worse was even less admirable.

For a society that championed the "sexual revolution" and spawned the modern porn industry, Americans are amazingly puritanical about what their leaders do with whom in the bedroom. Europeans were puzzled by the Clinton/Lewinsky affair's political fallout, taking it for granted that powerful men took sexual advantage of their position.

In Canada we tend to be very unconcerned with our politician's love lives. Gay politicians have run for the leadership of their party, unimaginable yet in America. Rene Levesque, late premier of Quebec and a separatist, carried on an affair with a staff member for years and no one cared even though it was an "open secret". Pierre Trudeau was PM for years before getting married, carried on with famous women all the time quite publicly (including Barbra Streidand and Margot Kidder). After marrying and later separating from his wife Margaret, no one made political hay that his ex was running around with the Rolling Stones and getting photographed without panties on at Studio 54 in New York. We ingored it.

It's always the guilty that casts the first stone.

Yeah, I noticed that too, Rory.

I think it was a newspaper in Thailand that ran an editorial asking why weren't Americans proud to have a such a virile president. I don't think I'd go that far, but I think the writer may have been on to something.

Wow.....

Virile does definitely describe Clinton. :)

The Lewinsky/impeachment saga was the tragedy of the Clinton administration epic tale.

President William J. "Bill" Clinton not only stained the dress of a White House page, he also forever stained his personal and political legacy when he had sexual relations in the oval office with Ms. Lewinsky. As such, he was a far better President and Statesman than some view him to be, choosing instead to see his presidency as being one of a dishonest man who had little to no ethical morals.

Many supporters felt betrayed when his extramarital antics became public knowledge and many others felt embarrassment for our country. Some have forgiven him, some have not, historians and Holier Than Thou bashers never will, thereby casting a cloud of public shame on his long political career.

For me, the real crime committed by Pres.Clinton, was his lying to a Congressional Committee when answering questions concerning his infidelity with Ms. lewinsky and others. However, those affairs were not public issues and therefore, I believe should have been kept a private matter between the President and his wife, out of the media and away from the general public altogether. After all, we are speaking of personal, ethical and moral issues, not a matter of state security and certainly not a matter of an accusable crime of office. Had the matter been allowed to a remain private, there would have been no need for an investigation nor any lying by the President to a Congressional Committee.

Why was the matter brought to the forefront instead of being covered up, as has always been the norm in such previously discovered presidential affairs, the answer is simple. Speaker of the House Newt Gringrich made it his personal vendetta to bring dishonor upon the administration by having the president publically embarrassed before the nation and thereby finding cause for a Congressional investigation with the goal being President Clinton's impeachment.

Speaker Gringrich held a personal distain for Pres. Clinton, harboring a deep resentful grudge after the president successfully won a standoff with the Speaker. This occurred when Speak Gringrich caused the shut down the government by refusing to allow a Congressional House vote on the funds need by the government to operate. The shut down lasted for 28 days during which the American public through their overwhelming support behind the president. This caused the Republican Party to stepin and force the Speaker to allow a vote by the House. A vote the Speaker loss and which proved to be the beginning of the end for his post as Speaker of the House.

I do not personally condone the actions of President Clinton. However, neither do I believe that the actions were suficient to warrant a Congressional investigation which in the end has served no one nor any real purpose.

Very well stated, Scott.

Very poorly-stated, Scott. The American People have the right to know when a President, the one they've Elected, is breaking U.S. LAW.

Mark J.K.

It would be assertion that you are confusing personal moral and/or ethical codes, with those of legally prosecutable statutes of law, in reponding to my posted opinion.

{i.e.}

Private consentual sexual relations/acts between two mentally sane adults under existing law(s), both those of state and federal statutes, is not a criminal nor prosecutable act, even if the interlude occurred within the walls of the oval office.

However, you, as with all Gather News debaters, have a right to your opinion, even if you utilize the wrong reason for your opposition to my opinionated post.

Are you capable of reading anything? With even a modicum of comprehension, I mean???

I've obviously been talking about PERJURY, fool.

Wake the HELL UP.

The whole Monica thing was a set up to throw the public focus off of other issues. Who saves a dress with semen on it??? Set up. Morally, he did no worse than some of the Presidents of the past; some actually had their mistresses living in the White House. Clinton's crime was lying under oath, shame on him. :) He's still one of my favorite Presidents - he was mad cool with his saxophone and he wasn't a bad President either. Love him.

Gloria G

In my post to this article, I left out the fact that during the Congressional investigation, it was discovered that Ms. Lewinsky actually told a close friend that she had been hired as a White House Page and while serving in that capacity, she fully intended, in her words, " To Get Her Presidential Knees" {i.e.} to engage in oral sex with the POTUS. That was the reason she kept the semen stained dress, as proof that she had accomplished her goal. There actually was no conspiracy of any kind found to be at the root of the issue, just a young woman with the idea that she had the chance to do something that millions of others could only dream about.

President Clinton, being the cad that he was, appearently overlooked the fact that Ms. Lewinsky was far to eager to please and allowed his sexual desires to over-ride his good senses.