One clear theme running through the history of Hillary Clinton is her reaction to her husband’s affairs. Her primary reaction is political, not emotional, as she said to George Stephanopoulos: "We have to destroy her story." So it’s funny to read through old Clinton books, where Bill is quoted saying that Hillary’s just an old-fashioned girl who "doesn’t see any sense to extramarital sex."
The book is The Hillary Factor by Rex Nelson (with Philip Martin), and the scene is set in February 1979, as the new First Lady of Arkansas is trying to sell herself with her maiden name as not a hardcore feminist, just an "old-fashioned girl" with "old-fashioned ideas about the work ethic." Nelson and Martin report:
In a television interview later that month, she said the couple’s dual careers "often do not provide enough time for us to lead private lives, to be with one another, to have a family life, to have time to think."
Bill also described his wife as old-fashioned, saying "It depresses her some when she thinks it (the use of her maiden name) is hurting me, but she’s a lawyer, and she doesn’t want to go into the courtroom as somebody’s wife. If people know how old-fashioned she was, in every conceivable way, they probably wouldn’t do that. She’s just a hard-working, no-nonsense, no-frills, intelligent girl who has done well, who doesn’t see any sense to extramarital sex, who doesn’t care much for drink, who’s witty and sharp but without being a stick in the mud. She’s just great."
They will say just about anything to the media, won’t they? Nelson and Martin added no comment of any kind after they unloaded that quote. They just moved on.
