Mitt Romney was on Meet the Press Sunday and even he knows that Monica Lewinsky is a bad line of attack for Republicans to take against Hillary Clinton.
The former Republican presidential hopeful schooled David Gregory after the host asked him if we should judge Hillary on her husband’s record – personal and otherwise – saying, “I don’t think Bill Clinton is as relevant as Hillary Clinton if she decides to run for president.”
Heft those rocks, Romney.
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Of course, then Romney launched into Hillary’s “record” as Secretary of State, saying “During that time, did our relations with nations around the world elevate America and elevate our interests, or were they receding?” This is probably not a subject the bumbling Olympics meddler of 2012 should linger upon, but kudos to him for steering the Republican Titanic away from the icebergs of GOP misogyny.
Romney made sure to get in there that Bill Clinton had “breached his responsibility” and “embarrassed” the nation with the Monica scandal. Naturally David Gregory didn’t point out that if it was so embarrassing maybe Republicans, many of whom it turned out were engaged in extra marital affairs of their own at the time, shouldn’t have made it into another hysterical GOP soap opera. It does get old watching them flail their arms around screaming wolf as the nation’s real issues go ignored. But if it’s gossip based drama and hypocritical pearl clutching you’re after, Republicans are the party for you.
In their rather obvious attempt to deflect from their policy driven war on women, Republicans have been desperately trying to accuse Democrats of being anti women by suggesting that former President Bill Clinton was a “sexual predator” and somehow, his wife Hillary is to blame for this. This is their big attack against Hillary for 2016: Her husband cheated on her.
Taking into consideration all of the head-banging misogyny inherent in this attack, it should be a warning that even binders-full-of-women Mitt Romney knows better. And Romney is the guy who blamed single mothers for many of America’s woes.
Bill Maher also warned Republicans about the foolishness of this attack on Hillary to no avail.
None of these arguments against this tactic take into account how this hits women, and what it says about the men using it. The notion that Hillary is to blame for the actions of her husband is not the way to prove that your party is not engaged in a war on women. It screams “1950s.” And it’s really, really stupid. Can you imagine if someone tried to attack a Republican man over the actions of his wife? She cheated so you aren’t a man type attacks?
How about we all get judged on what we have control over instead of a histrionic drama fest over Hillary letting her husband cheat on her because she is such a — read between the dusty, stale lines — manipulative, power hungry woman (but none of them are power hungry). Any woman with an ounce of power is feared. What next, will they accuse her of witchcraft?
Why David Gregory thought he needed to ask Mitt Romney if we should judge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton based on her husband’s record – both personal and otherwise – is beyond me. Is this really up for debate in some quarters? I find that revelation troubling. But perhaps when a party is full of women haters like Rand Paul, whose Senate campaign volunteer Tim Profitt stomped on a liberal woman’s head at a Paul rally while his own son was arrested for aggressive physical force against a female flight attendant and Paul worked closely with a Neo-Confederate secessionist, we shouldn’t be surprised.
Republicans simply have no shame left. In their great effort to avoid taking responsibility for their policy (fact) based war on women, there is no floor to how low they will stoop. They are trying to distract from their legal assault on women’s rights with personal issues.
Even Mitt Romney let it slip when he said he doesn’t think Bill is AS RELEVANT as Hillary, “I don’t think Bill Clinton is as relevant as Hillary Clinton if she decides to run for president.” Good to know that a woman’s keeper may not be quite as relevant as she.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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