John Sexton:
You have to give credit where it’s due. In this case, that means giving MSNBC host Chris Hayes credit for saying something that a) very few Democrats are every willing to say and b) really is long overdue: What about Bill Clinton? In a series of tweets today, Hayes pointed out that there is an outstanding (and credible) allegation of rape against Bill Clinton:
As gross and cynical and hypocrtical as the right's "what about Bill Clinton" stuff is, it's also true that Democrats and the center left are overdue for a real reckoning with the allegations against him.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 10, 2017
With politicians saying they’d vote for Roy Moore even if he made moves on a 14-year-old, I’m willing to grant that some of the “What about Bill Clinton?” cries coming from the right may be cynical and hypocritical. But it’s not fair to tar everyone who raises Clinton’s name in these conversations as doing so from a cynical motive.
In fact, you could just as easily turn this around and say it’s actually the left, or that portion of the left that ran interference for Clinton and is still doing so, that is “gross and cynical and hypocritical.” What’s rare on the left is what Hayes is doing here, introducing Clinton’s name into this national discussion and admitting it ought to be reckoned with instead of downplaying and pretending it’s old news.
There are a lot of us who lived through the Clinton era, myself included, who clearly remember the vicious attacks on his accusers (liars and trailer trash). We also remember the general mood of the national media which quickly shifted from taking the accusations seriously into “everyone lies about sex” mode. Bill lied to all our faces and many on the left applauded him for him. He was the victim of the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” It was a disgusting display, one undeniably worse than the one surrounding Roy Moore right now. Why worse? Because in Clinton’s case there was a credible allegation of rape.
Read this account, in light of all we've been hearing and reading this last month, and ask yourself if it's credible. https://t.co/8jymWjFpiF
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 10, 2017
With sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, James Toback, Louis C.K., and many others dominating the news, some of us have been genuinely mystified that the discussion never seems to circle back to Slick Willy. And even when it does occasionally come back to Bill, the whole thing is quickly dismissed and generally just ignored by the national media. That’s true even though the details seem strikingly familiar to some of the stories we’re hearing now:
Does this sound familiar? pic.twitter.com/eCby6bxsGS
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 10, 2017
As Mary Katherine Ham suggested today on CNN, one reason so many Republicans find it easy to dismiss claims like the ones made against Roy Moore is that we’ve seen the national media do something similar for Democrats in the past. Not just Bill Clinton but Ted Kennedy and others. As Ham points out, NBC News just killed a report on progressive champion Harvey Weinstein a few weeks ago.
Bill Clinton Draft Dodger womanizer,traitor flag burner and traitor not as bad as Obama but still terrible
Actually, no matter what Clinton did or how it was treated by the media, if someone of any party commits sexual assault, they should be held accountable. That should not be debatable. Yes, Clinton should be held accountable as well, but what the left’s full-throated support of his actions because he is god and can do whatever he wants means is that their demonstrably fake and hypocritical “outrage” over accusations against a Republican can be shut down easily.
What also matters is that the left treats all accusations against liberals as fake (unless and until they are blatantly obvious or the assailant confesses) while they treat every accusation against a Republican as proof they should resign immediately (as do Republicans, usually), though oddly they are not that interested in prosecution.
Finally, these accusations have become a very popular, frequent and effective political tool, employed mostly by the left. Al Sharpton is famous for employing these accusations for his own fun and profit, but someone from 30 years ago claiming to have been abused, regardless of the inexplicable delay of the exposure, is the most popular style, though liberals like to bring any applicable charge, accusation or indictment that might crater a political bid by a Republican. Liberals also have a nasty habit of simply dropping the matter when the political utility is spent; remember, if you will, the parade of accusers the left, via CNN, trotted out to attack Trump and how they have all reverted back to their day jobs now that it proved useless. However, expect it all to be reanimated when it appears such an attack might have an effect.
In other words, sadly any and all accusations of this sort need to be taken seriously and given consideration. Just as sadly, both from the aspect of accepting the existence of the kind of mentality that uses that as a political weapon and that it is a well-worn political tool, details such as the timing of the accusation, the prominence of the accused and the time stamp on the event, the validity of the accusation has to be evaluated in a short period of time, as usually a decision has to be made on the accused, which might be incorrect. However, we cannot simply condemn a person based on a suddenly surfaced accusation; this would invite them to be utilized even MORE frequently.
When a false accusation is determined to have been made, there should be severe penalties for everyone involved in making the accusation.