Model and actress watch: The old sex scandals of Columnist Blow!

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2016

For whom the gong show tolls:
We weren't planning to post today. Then, we read Charles Blow.

Headline included, his column starts as shown below. On display is a twenty-year breakdown on the part of the people we still regard as our journalists:
BLOW (5/30/16): The Ghosts of Old Sex Scandals

We are now being forced to relive the decades-old sex scandals of Bill Clinton,
as Donald Trump tries desperately to shield and inoculate himself from well-earned charges of misogyny.

I say, if we must go there, let’s go all the way. Let’s do this dirty laundry, as Kelly Rowland, former Destiny’s Child, once crooned.

First, multiple women have accused Clinton of things ranging from sexual misconduct to rape. Paula Jones famously brought a sexual harassment case against Clinton. The case was dismissed, but on appeal, faced with the prospect of having to testify under oath, Clinton settled the case out of court.

Clinton has maintained that he had inappropriate sexual relationships with only two women: Gennifer Flowers, a model and actress, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern.

Clinton was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his affair with Lewinsky.

Let’s just say this: Clinton was as wrong as the day is long for his affairs. There is no way around that.

But the problem was that many of the men condemning the beam in Clinton’s eye were then shown to have one in their own.
Other problems occur later on in this piece, as we'll note below. But good lord. Where to begin?

For starters, Blow says that Bill Clinton has been accused of rape, "but the problem was that many of the men condemning the beam in Clinton’s eye were then shown to have one in their own."

That is just a very, very dumb approach and construction. Once you say that someone has been accused of rape, you probably need to say something more about the strength and status of the charge, which extends beyond the claim of having "a beam in his eye."

We offer that as a basic point. Let's move ahead to Blow's account of Bill Clinton's alleged confessions.

Sex addicts, please! Eighteen years later, Bill Clinton has not said that he had a sexual "relationship" or "affair" with Gennifer Flowers, at least not in any normal sense of those terms.

In the testimony to which Blow is referring, Bill Clinton wasn't asked if he had a sexual relationship or affair with Flowers. Eighteen years later, Blow still doesn't seem to know this.

Meanwhile, was Flowers a "model and actress?"

It certainly makes the story that much more exciting! But in 1992, when Flowers published her error-laden claims about Clinton in the tabloid paper The Star, she was a $17,000 per year Arkansas state employee. Before that, she had been a local Little Rock TV reporter during some of the time covered in her error-laden string of charges, for which she testified to having been paid $500,000.

Blow's description is suitably thrilling. We'd also say it's misleading, in the way these journalistic claims have been all along.

That said, let's give Blow some credit. Though he refers to Monica Lewinsky as "a White House intern," he doesn't call her a "21-year-old intern," the erroneous description which dominated press corps accounts during the thrilling year of impeachment.

Addicts, can we talk? Bill Clinton did acknowledge having a relationship/affair with Lewinsky. The relationship lasted several years. During the bulk of that time, Lewinsky she was a 23-24 year old federal employee.

(Lewinsky was already 22—almost 22-and-a-half!—when she first encountered Clinton. Technically, she was still in her last few weeks as an intern, but she had already accepted a full-time job as a White House employee. People like Blow kept calling her a "21-year-old intern" because the erroneous claim about her age made the story more exciting. So does Blow's exciting claim today about that "model and actress." Also, Kelly Rowland! This is exciting stuff!)

Do any of these points actually matter? It's pretty much as you like it. People like Blow will continue to tell these stories in the ways they remember or like to imagine them. Blow's more consequential blundering comes near the end of his piece.

Blow spends the bulk of his piece telling readers that many of Bill Clinton's Republican accusers had "relationships" and "affairs" too. That's interesting, but it doesn't speak to the aggressive claims Candidate Trump and his willing mouthpieces now making about Hillary Clinton, the person who's actually running for president in this particular year.

Blow seems to know what Trump is saying, but he seems to have trouble staying on point. Here's how his sexy-time column ends:
BLOW: Last week, when the Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was confronted on CNN with Trump’s defenses of Clinton during the sex scandals, Cohen responded that at the time Trump was simply trying to “protect a friend.” And yet, this is the same camp lambasting Hillary Clinton as an “enabler” for trying to protect a husband?

It’s all incredibly distasteful, yes, but it also doesn’t jibe. And, aside from the unshakable feeling that there is something tragically off about using a husband’s philandering as a weapon against a betrayed wife, I also doubt the public will have much stomach for these stories, just as it didn’t in the 1990s.

Dirty laundry, done.
Blow seems to know that Candidate Trump and his willing mouthpieces are making a set of rather nasty charges against Hillary Clinton (see his use of the term "enabler"). He also quickly wanders off point. See his instant fuzzy claim that Trump is "using a husband’s philandering as a weapon against a betrayed wife."

As you may know, Trump and them are aggressively claiming that Hillary Clinton behaved in nasty and threatening ways toward Bill Clinton's accusers. Not long ago, we noted the sheer absurdity of one of these claims—the claim that Hillary Clinton savaged Lewinsky. The claim that she threatened Juanita Broaddrick is several times stupider still.

That said, players like Blow will never be bright enough to explain such facts to the public, or to help the pubic see what these facts tells us about the way our discourse has worked for the past several decades. They've run gong-shows throughout the era. Their gong-shows aren't likely to stop.

At present, there are two key parts to this story. Don't expect people like Blow to notice:

First: the specific charges against Hillary Clinton are well beyond moronic. People like Blow will never be able to tell the public this.

Second, and very important: several of the Clinton sex accusers lack almost all credibility. Flowers is one such person.

Good God! By 1999, she was running a money-making web site devoted to pimping the Clinton's many murders. That August, she went on Hardball, then on Hannity & Colmes, to pimp these ridiculous tales at 30-minute length, then for the full hour.

People like Blow never reported that remarkable fact! It wasn't mentioned in real time, not once. It hasn't been mentioned since.

Why did Blow's colleagues avert their gaze from Flowers' appalling, crackpot behavior? Duh. By 1999, Flowers was one of their treasured accusers. People like Blow just kept propping her up.

Today, Blow calls her a model and actress and says she did have an affair with Bill Clinton. As this hapless fellow sells us these claims, you are possibly able to see for whom the gong still tolls.

It's a simple but counterintuitive fact. On the simplest levels of intellect and character, the people we still regard as journalists are remarkably wanting.

Kevin Drum and Jonathan Chait will never be willing to tell you that. Within the guild which feeds and clothes them, it simply isn't done.

Tomorrow, we'll be starting a multi-week series in which we explore an array of such facts. We're still in the midst of a decades-old gong show. Come November, we may be surprised to learn for whom the gong has tolled.

Starting tomorrow: Don't ask, don't tell, don't inform, don't inquire

37 comments:

  1. “At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people.” HRC September 4, 2015

    No wonder it's confusing. HRC is the one who is intentionally confusing the public.

    "On March 10, Clinton claimed unequivocally that there was no classified material on her system. “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.”

    Soon, federal investigators indicated that Clinton’s statement was incorrect: they said there was classified material among the emails. Clinton then changed her story.

    On July 28, Clinton modified her claim to say that the information in question was not classified at the time. “I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received [emphasis added].”

    But then, the inspector general of the Intelligence Community indicated even Clinton’s modified statement was incorrect: her emails did contain information that was classified at the time. Clinton then revised her story again.

    On August 18, Clinton modified her claim to say that the classified material wasn’t marked classified. “I did not send classified material, and I did not receive any material that was marked or designated classified [emphasis added].”

    The implication is that Clinton couldn’t have known the material was classified because it wasn’t marked. However, officials with government security clearances are well-briefed on the fact that material doesn’t have to be “marked” to be classified, and they are trained on how to recognize and protect sensitive material."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cicero, you ignorant slut. There is nothing there, get over it. Your blinders are affecting your judgement.

      Delete
    2. Cicero, if you're going to cut and paste long passages from the work of proven liars, please be so kind as to let us know which one you're quoting. Thanks.

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    3. @Joe,
      The quote from the liar is attributed. Didn't you see HRC's initials?

      Delete
    4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2016/05/23/do-trump-supporters-even-care-about-all-of-his-lies/?postshare=9871464039046496&tid=ss_fb

      Delete
    5. @Mike

      The Trump supporters share the same indifference with HRC supporters. But only one is being investigate by the FBI.

      Delete
    6. >>>But only one is being investigate by the FBI.<<<<

      Not true, but your guy is definitely going to trial for FRAUD, and he is now openly and repeatedly attacking the judge in a despicable racist manner.

      you must be very proud.

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    7. Cicero, here's how i know you're full of shit. You have posted dozens of comments (maybe more than a hundred?) decrying Clinton's (supposed) lies -- specifically her (supposed) lies. Your "joke" above ("...HRC's initials?") continues in this vein. But when it's pointed out that Trump is a liar, all of a sudden the REAL issue is that Clinton's "being investigated by the FBI" (which by the way is not exactly accurate). So you type thousands of words decrying her (supposed) dishonesty, and then when her opponent is measured by the same standard, you suddenly change the standard. It just demonstrates yet again how phony the attacks against Clinton are. You don't actually care THAT much about Clinton's (supposed) dishonesty. You just pretend to be, because of irrational bias against her, and to try to make her supporters out to be blind, unquestioning sheep. Which is ironic, because it's actually you who's blind by your own political bias and an "us vs. them" mentality. http://www.dailynewsbin.com/news/fact-checkers-confirm-hillary-clinton-is-more-honest-than-any-of-her-2016-opponents/24196/

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    8. I have yet to see any accurate and substantial criticisms of Clinton in this comments section. But if such criticisms are ever forthcoming, here is the sensible person's response: yes, but the alternative is Trump. No matter what downsides there might be to Clinton, they could never outweigh the downsides to Trump.

      Also, Cicero, you seem to imply above that you are not a Trump supporter. But for better or worse, there are only two options: Clinton or Trump. So if you only bash Clinton, but never bash Trump, you're essentially supporting Trump by default. Go ahead, make all of our day: explain why Trump is a better choice than Clinton.

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    9. DIVORCE AND MARITAL BREAKTHROUGH

      It all started when my husband cheated on me with another woman unknowing to him that the woman is a wizard, the woman castes a spell on my husband which made my husband change his feelings towards me and the kids and broke our 6 years marriage. i was confused and stressed because of the pains of being a single mother, when i called a friend and explained my marital challenges to her, she instructed and directed me to contact a great powerful spell caster called Dr. Ugo Wonders living in Florida. i contacted Dr. Ugo and explained my problems, he assured me his help and it was 100% guaranteed. i provided the materials for the spell and in 48 hours, after Dr Ugo Wonders of generalspelltemple@gmail.com finished casting the spell, my husband was free from the evil woman spell and he came back home to us a day after begging us to forgive him. i was so shocked and short of words and here i am today happily testifying so the world can know how this great man helped me with his real powerful spell.
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      DIVORCE AND MARITAL BREAKTHROUGH

      It all started when my husband cheated on me with another woman unknowing to him that the woman is a wizard, the woman castes a spell on my husband which made my husband change his feelings towards me and the kids and broke our 6 years marriage. i was confused and stressed because of the pains of being a single mother, when i called a friend and explained my marital challenges to her, she instructed and directed me to contact a great powerful spell caster called Dr. Ugo Wonders living in Florida. i contacted Dr. Ugo and explained my problems, he assured me his help and it was 100% guaranteed. i provided the materials for the spell and in 48 hours, after Dr Ugo Wonders of generalspelltemple@gmail.com finished casting the spell, my husband was free from the evil woman spell and he came back home to us a day after begging us to forgive him. i was so shocked and short of words and here i am today happily testifying so the world can know how this great man helped me with his real powerful spell.
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      Delete
  2. Bobbette F. Lee TroofulMay 30, 2016 at 1:30 PM

    Gennifer Flowers (born January 24, 1950) is an American model and actress who obtained notoriety after revealing a sexual relationship with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. In January 1998, Bill Clinton testified under oath that he had sexual relations with Ms. Flowers. Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, she also posed nude for Penthouse magazine and was an actress in two films and one TV show.

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    Replies
    1. T' Knique Lee AkyuretteMay 30, 2016 at 1:38 PM

      Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist, television personality, fashion designer, and former White House intern with whom President Bill Clinton admitted to having had what he called an "inappropriate relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996.

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    2. Scoopy Leslie AwnistMay 30, 2016 at 1:51 PM

      Bob "Two Decimal Points" Somerby is fudging a bit when he says Lewinski was "almost 22-and-a-half!" when she showed Bill "Feel Your Pain" Clinton she could pull herself up by her thong straps. The then-still-technically-an intern was almost 22-and-a-third!!

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    3. That would be 22.27 in test score terms.

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    4. You realize the point was that Ms. Lewinsky was a full grown adult at the time of her relationship with President Clinton. Too many reports at the the time (and even since) have downplayed her maturity in order to advance a "predatory" narrative.
      Please try to add to the intelligence of the conversation rather than decrease it.

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    5. Ms Lewinsky @ 22 is capable of making big grown up decisions like blowing the most powerful man in the world and taking a cigar to the cooch, but today's college students need safe spaces from the patriarchy and offensive language. Make up your minds libs.

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    6. I think of myself as a liberal and I think the people demanding "safe spaces" are dangerously immature and should not be at a college or university. That said, I'm not one of those who encouraged "helicopter parenting." I tell people all the time they're far more likely to be killed by their spouse than by a terrorist, even if they're single. How is it these kids developed PTSD just from growing up in the suburbs?

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    7. "You realize the point was that Ms. Lewinsky was a full grown adult at the time of her relationship with President Clinton"

      You realize the point was not how old Eve was but that she got mankind thrown out of the Garden of Eden.

      Delete
  3. Contrary to the 1985 Paul Hardcastle song "19" and the "documentary" "Vietnam Requiem," the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam was 22.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why does the average matter? How old were new inductees at the time?

      Delete
    2. Ask the directors Bill Couturié and Jonas McCord of "Vietnam Requiem" and Hardcastle. They promoted the false narrative that teenagers were fighting the Vietnam War to advance the "predatory" narrative of the draft. Except that 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers while 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted

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    3. "How old were new inductees at the time?" They were usually 22 or 23. The volunteers tended to be younger. I was a personnel clerk at the time (later a personnel sergeant). The draftees also tended to be less disruptive and less likely to develop a drug habit.

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    4. Plus, Cicero the Civil War was not really about slavery any more than the Whiskey Rebellion was a rejection of hard drink.

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    5. @Roger

      Developing a drug habit can result from having been wounded and receiving morphine for an extended period. What that would have to do with being a draftee or volunteer you do not explain.

      Delete
  4. We weren't planning on commenting online today but then we read Bob Somerby. On display is the epitome of what has been his self described seventeen "futile years" of filling the web with what Kevin Drum once cuffed aside as "several million more words" from Bob Somerby.

    Other problems occur later on in this piece, as we'll note below. But good lord. Where to begin?

    Bob criticizes Charles Blow for mentioning but not discussing rape charges against Bill Clinton. Of course Bob leaves the rape charges hanging over the ex-President's head himself, just like Blow. He seems to forget how these charges are tied in to the current campaign given Hillary Clinton's statements regarding belief in charges made by rape victims. Not long ago he noted the sheer absurdity of some of these claims. He has written numerous pieces debunking the sexual assult hysteria and other misleading feminist claims like the gender wage gap. But he punts today as if he is afraid the air has been let out of the ball.


    Bob spends time discussing Monica Lewinsky's age and the specifics of what Bill Clinton did and did not admit to doing. Do any of these points actually matter? It's pretty much as you like it. People like Somerby will continue to tell these stories in the ways they remember or like to imagine them. Somerby's more consequential blundering comes near the end of his piece.

    He spends the bulk of his piece telling readers the tawdry things Gennifer Flowers did and how much money she made. That's interesting, but it doesn't speak to the aggressive claims Candidate Trump and his willing mouthpieces now making about Hillary Clinton, the person who's actually running for president in this particular year on issues involving rape, pay inequality, and misogyny.

    Sadly, in reliving this tale of sex addiction and scandal, Bob takes us through the trial that was impeachment and never once mentions that in the end it led to the War on Gore. People are dead all over the world because of this. Bob never once pauses to remind you how their spirits gaze upward at all the liberals who are to blame.

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    Replies
    1. I am not sure what the point of your comment is; it is a bit meandering. But to address some points:

      1) As I said above, Ms. Lewinsky was a full grown adult at the time of her relationship with President Clinton. Mr. Somerby is emphasizing this point which is often elided.

      2) Ms. Flowers has taken President's Clinton's denial (his lie) regarding their relationship, and used it to spin horrid lies (for profit) about President Clinton and Hillary Clinton. I believe this was the point Mr. Someby was making.

      3) Rape allegations against President Clinton were investigated by the special prosecutors and not found to be credible. With this in mind, Mrs. Clinton point that allegations of rape should be taken seriously and not dismissed out of hand is not in the least hypocritical. Taken seriously does not mean that they are automatically truthful.

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    2. @2:53 is the hypocrite. Because of this everything from 2:53 is irrelevant.

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    3. Commenter @2:53 SucksMay 31, 2016 at 10:08 AM

      That is a rather mild judgement @8:46. Instead of saying it is irrelevant, be like Bob. Plan on repeating everything @2:53 said the next time he/she comments, as well as adding a link back to what you wrote about
      @2:53 here. You might also attack other commenters for once saying something nice about @2:53 plus accuse a few random commenters of sucking up by being silent about @2:53.

      Delete
  5. Jerry Brown, Governor of California, has endorsed HIllary Clinton and there is not one word about it at the Huffington Post or in the NY Times, or anywhere else. This is what bias looks like.

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    Replies
    1. Yep, often it is what they choose not to show that best exposes the bias.

      Last week, none of the three major cable news networks — CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC — carried Mrs. Clinton’s speech to a workers’ union in Las Vegas, where she debuted sharp new attack lines against Mr. Trump.

      Instead, each chose to broadcast a live feed of an empty podium in North Dakota, on a stage where Mr. Trump was about to speak.
      Television Networks Struggle to Provide Equal Airtime in the Era of Trump

      Delete
    2. @ 10:25 and mm or:

      Why I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Dumb Bob Fans

      http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/us/politics/jerry-brown-endorses-hillary-clinton.html?_r=0

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jerry-brown-hillary-clinton_us_574d9864e4b0dacf7ad55fa4?utm_hp_ref=politics

      OR ANYWHERE ELSE!!!!!!

      http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jerry-brown-endorses-clinton-california

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    3. The Talking Points Memo article was written by some infantile reporter barely two years out of scribbling for the Wisconsin Badger student paper.

      Delete
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