Prior to his emotional interview with KABC radio anchor Leeann Tweeden, CNN’s The Lead host Jake Tapper briefly grilled former Bill Clinton confidant Paul Begala on the late and sudden examinations on the part of the media concerning Clinton’s sexual misdeeds.
Tapper built off of his astute observation on Monday about the media treating the Clinton accusers “poorly” and not giving them “the same respect” that Roy Moore’s accusers have rightfully been afforded.
Here’s Tapper’s question to Begala:
And Paul, let's talk about the re-examination that's going on right now of Bill Clinton because there are a lot of people writing op-eds in The New York Times and talking about it on television about how given today's 2017 [morals], back in the '90s, Bill Clinton, maybe, should not have been able to get away with what he got away with and maybe the media and the feminist community and others should have been more condemning of his behavior.
Begala responded as a tried and true Clinton lackey would, bemoaning how “[t]hat conversation” blasting Clinton “occur[red] 20 years ago” and anyone who doesn’t remember it just wasn’t “around when it did.”
Sorry, Paul, but most political reporters aren’t millennials, so they most certainly were around or at least were able to recall news stories from the 1990s. What was Begala’s evidence? Well, it cited a lone article Tapper had recently shared on Twitter by the late Marjorie Williams from May 1998 in Vanity Fair.
“That conversation did happen at the time. And he didn't get away with anything, right? He was investigated, he was litigated, he was impeached, he had finally, after lying about the affair, admitted it, apologized, multiple times, in a very heartfelt away way, privately as well as publicly, and the country forgave him,” Begala spun.
Begala tried to interrupt, but Tapper appropriately pushed back, noting that much of the so-called litigation and impeachment dealt with one of the women: “But that's one of the many allegations against him. Paula Jones. There’s Gennifer Flowers. There’s Juanita Broaddrick. There's Kathleen Wiley. There's a bunch.”
Ignoring the fact that those allegations were not dealt with and how NBC assisted the Clintons by sitting on the Broaddrick story, Begala reiterated that “all” of those women’s allegations “were investigated, litigated, adjudicated.”
Time out. Full stop. If these claims were examined (as Begala claimed), Clinton would have likely disappeared from the public eye. Alas, that’s not what happened. Remember Hillary Clinton’s vast right-wing conspiracy interview? One could spend a lifetime finding examples of how the media ran interference for the Clintons (as Tapper generally alluded to on Monday).
Begala turned his ire to the fact that the federal government and the taxpayers “gave Ken Starr $70 million and 78 FBI agents in two years, President Clinton is the most investigated person in American history and people arrived where they arrived.”
The man behind the Mitt Romneny-killed-a-woman ad concluded:
And it was not a close call by the overwhelming majority they thought he was a good man who did a bad thing and should remain as our President because he was doing a great job. He left office after all of that, the most popular President in the history of polling. It doesn't mean people approved of that. They condemned it rightfully. But it's because they decided he was a good person doing a good job who did a bad thing and asked for forgiveness. He apologized, he admitted, he confessed, and he begged for forgiveness.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on November 16:
CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper
November 16, 2017
4:16 p.m. Eastern
JAKE TAPPER: And Paul, let's talk about the re-examination that's going on right now of Bill Clinton because there are a lot of people writing op-eds in The New York Times and talking about it on television about how given today's 2017 [morals], back in the '90s, Bill Clinton, maybe, should not have been able to get away with what he got away with and maybe the media and the feminist community and others should have been more condemning of his behavior.
PAUL BEGALA: That conversation did occur 20 years ago. It’s just a lot of people weren't around when it did. You, for example, retweeted a scathing piece Marjorie Williams piece — the late Marjorie Williams — from Vanity Fair tearing into feminists who defended Clinton at the time. That conversation did happen at the time. And he didn't get away with anything, right? He was investigated, he was litigated, he was impeached, he had finally, after lying about the affair, admitted it, apologized, multiple times, in a very heartfelt away way, privately as well as publicly, and the country forgave him.
TAPPER: But that's one of the many allegations against him.
BEGALA: Yes, but all of those allegations
TAPPER: Paula Jones.
BEGALA: Yes.
TAPPER: There’s Gennifer Flowers. There’s Juanita Broaddrick. There's Kathleen Wiley. There's a bunch.
BEGALA: All of which were investigated, litigated, adjudicated. We gave Ken Starr $70 million and 78 FBI agents in two years, President Clinton is the most investigated person in American history and people arrived where they arrived. And it was not a close call by the overwhelming majority they thought he was a good man who did a bad thing and should remain as our President because he was doing a great job. He left office after all of that, the most popular President in the history of polling. It doesn't mean people approved of that. They condemned it rightfully. But it's because they decided he was a good person doing a good job who did a bad thing and asked for forgiveness. He apologized, he admitted, he confessed, and he begged for forgiveness.
