The scandal over President Clinton's affair with thong-flashing intern Monica Lewinsky erupted 16 years ago. But you'd never know it from what you encounter in the news media these days.
On Sunday, there was Mitt Romney, last seen getting his clocked cleaned by Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, assuring us on NBC's Meet the Press that he didn't think the tawdry relationship would become an issue if front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee in two years.
On Friday, lefty talk show host Bill Maher warned in an interview on CNN that any attempts by the GOP to use the aging saga against Hillary would surely backfire, and that the president's dalliance had in fact attracted sympathy, not hostility, to the wronged wife. Go figure.
And then there was the inevitable Miley Cyrus. During the kickoff of her Bangerz tour in Vancouver Friday night, Cyrus simulated oral sex on a dude dressed up as Bill Clinton, prompting celebrity gossip website TMZ to declare, "Miley Cyrus pulls a Monica Lewinsky...on Clinton impersonator."
So why are we even talking about this? I know retro is in — vinyl records, anyone? — but why are we returning to the unlamented days of Ken Starr and cigars and semen-stained dresses? Are we so scandal-challenged? Is the ongoing tale of Chris Christie and the Fort Lee traffic snarl chopped liver?
In fact, the president and the intern were put back in play by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Appearing on Meet the Press on Jan. 26, Paul said that while Democrats keep pounding the GOP for allegedly waging a War on Women, the media were giving Clinton a "pass" over his "predatory behavior" with Lewinsky. Does that have anything to do with Hillary Clinton's candidacy? Paul at first said that wasn't his message, but quickly added that when it comes to the Clintons, "It's hard enough to separate one from the other."
You think there may be more pressing issues that have something to do! with today, like the economy or climate change? Turns out Paul's wife, Kelley, had raised the matter in an interview with Vogue magazine last year. Thanks, host David Gregory, for remembering that and enabling us to wallow once again.
Obviously, her husband's penchant for misbehavior back in the day has absolutely nothing to do with whether Hillary Clinton would be a good president. But Paul's having-it-both-ways ploy is a way of muddying up Hillary Clinton a little, at a time when she's well ahead of various GOP contenders in the polls. And it's a vivid reminder that we've known these Clintons well for a very long time, and they will be checking in at the the Hotel Presidential Campaign with no shortage of baggage.
Relevant or not, you know that in today's adrenaline-spiked, Politico-fueled media landscape, where no tidbit is too small for a post, Rand Paul's stroll down memory lane was going to get attention. And speaking of media, the actual unfolding of Clinton/Lewinsky in 1998 marked a major media milestone.
The story of the president's Oval Office assignations with a twentysomething was unearthed by Michael Isikoff, then a reporter with then-Newsweek magazine. While Isikoff was pushing hard to have his story published, his editors decided to hold it, believing more reporting was needed. The following morning, Clinton/Lewinsky debuted online on the Drudge Report and we were off to the races.
The era of the mainstream media as gatekeeper was officially over.
There is actually one upside to the Return of the Thong: It's good news for philosophy buffs, who haven't had much in the zeitgeist to enjoy since 2009, when Miley taught us that it was all about the climb.
Now we can go back to contemplating Bill Clinton's classic evasion: What the meaning of the word "is" is.
No comments:
Post a Comment