Monica Lewinsky Speaks
It’s a late 90’s flashback thanks to an article in Vanity Fair written by Monica Lewinsky:
Monica Lewinsky is taking to the pages of Vanity Fair to address her affair with former President Bill Clinton, writing that she avoided the spotlight for fear of becoming an issue during Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, but adding that the time has come to stop “tiptoeing around my past — and other people’s futures.”
“I remained virtually reclusive, despite being inundated with press requests. I put off announcing several media projects in 2012 until after the election,” Lewinsky, 40, writes in the magazine’s upcoming June issue, according to a press release Tuesday. “And recently I’ve found myself gun-shy yet again, fearful of ‘becoming an issue’ should [Hillary Clinton] decide to ramp up her campaign. But should I put my life on hold for another 8 to 10 years?”
Lewinsky adds that her planned media projects fell through and also denies reports that she had secured a $12 million tell-all book deal.
In the brief excerpts posted by the magazine and the press release from Vanity Fair, Lewinsky dismisses claims her decade of silence was because the “Clintons must have paid me off,” saying nothing is further from the truth and she explains why she has decided to speak out.
“I am determined to have a different ending to my story. I’ve decided, finally, to stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past. (What this will cost me, I will soon find out.),” she writes.
“It’s time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress,” adds Lewinsky, who is lying on a couch and wearing a white dress in the photo with the excerpts.
Lewinsky also addresses the recently released files of Hillary Clinton’s close friend, Diane Blair, in which the then-first lady reportedly called Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon.”
“If that’s the worst thing she said, I should be so lucky,” Lewinsky writes. “Mrs. Clinton, I read, had supposedly confided to Blair that, in part, she blamed herself for her husband’s affair (by being emotionally neglectful) and seemed to forgive him.”
Lewinsky adds, “Hillary Clinton wanted it on record that she was lashing out at her husband’s mistress. She may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate, but I find her impulse to blame the Woman—not only me, but herself—troubling.”
Lewinsky gained national attention in 1998 following news of her affair with Clinton while she was an intern in the White House. She writes, “Sure, my boss took advantage of me,” but adds that she considered it a consensual relationship.
“Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position,” Lewinsky writes.
Lewinsky says that she “deeply regret[s]” the scandal, which rocked Clinton’s presidency after he initially denied the relationship, leading impeachment by the House and later acquittal in the Senate.
“I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened,” Lewinsky writes.
If Hilary Clinton runs for President, it seems inevitable that the Lewinsky story will be the subject of discussion at some point. In fact, it already has. Given that, the cynical side of me can’t help but think that this is Lewinsky’s attempt to find a way to capitalize on that renewed interest in a very old and sordid story.
I have to note that two items of significance on health care (and by extension the ACA) broke yesterday.
1. Gallup reported that the percentage of adults without health insurance had dropped to 13.4 percent
2. Annals of Internal Medicine published a major study yesterday suggesting that giving people health insurance makes people healthier. That suggests ACA could end up saving more than 10,000 lives a year
Number of OTB posts about either? Zero.
But we get to chat about a decades old scandal warmed over (yet again). How fun!!
Wonder if your boy Rand is paying her to do this?
NO. STOP. BAD DOUG.
Thanks for posting this Doug. I agree with Rand Paul that Billy Jeff getting a beej 20 years ago is one of the most important factors in the 2016 election. Plus Benghazi and repealing Oabamacare.
This is basically a clear choice for Americans when they contrast conservatives and the democrat party. Just take one example
Did Dick Cheney ever get a blowjob in office? Of course not. He shot somebody in the face with with a gun, not his wee wee. And that’s leadership the American people can trust. You can take that one to the bank, folks
Palin / Limbaugh ’16
@RaflW:
Doug never posts news about the ACA that further disproves his already debunked theory that the ACA will be a disaster
@RaflW:
Duly noted. I’m sure that Monica has something important to say about those 2 developments.
@Cd6: “Palin / Limbaugh ’16”
I’ll vote for that. They’re moderates deep down inside.
@Cd6:
The misogynist would never ever agree to stand behind a woman.
@Cd6:
I wonder if they plan to hold a few rallies in Philadelphia Mississippi?
Or perhaps Pyongyang?
@RaflW:
1) yes, a full % point below where it was 6 yrs ago. go buy a lollipop.
2) people who will profit from this usually are supportive. the statement is like saying “water is wet”.
3) there’s a blog in here about obamacare(scroll down), hijacking this thread is weak.
@bill:
“go buy a lollipop.”
“hijacking this thread is weak.”
Seems the need of lollipops is pure projection, coupled with a sincere inability to recognize satire. But at least it’s sincere.
In fairness, Lewinsky has conducted herself reasonably gracefully over the last couple of decades. She may be frustrated that her attempts to communicate her side of the story — basically, that she regrets her conduct, but would like to move on with her life — appear to have received almost no traction in public discourse. I don’t think that this VF article is really going to help in that regard, but it doesn’t seem malicious or publicity-seeking on her part.
One of my best friends who owned a record store reported that Monica Lewinsky would hang around the counter, hoping to bed him because she thought his business represented power to her. Later, she sleep with a college professor, because it represented power to her. She horsed around sexually with the president because it represented power to her. – Her whole life was based on sleeping with men in power. Case closed….
She is relevant. She was on Hillary’s staff, and wound up having to take it on the chin.