In an interview with The Washington Post Tuesday, Hillary Clinton basically admitted she holds a double standard on when to believe women’s stories of sexual assault.
In the most recent episode of The Post’s podcast, “Cape Up” host Jonathan Capehart sat down with Clinton to discuss her book and all of the accusations against those in the media, entertainment and politics that have been circulating in the past several weeks.
Of course, Clinton has first-hand experience of dealing with women who’ve accused her own husband of sexual assault and rape. She responded at the time by attacking their character and trying to discredit them. And when asked about these women today, she still accuses them of lying, telling a conservative radio host a few days ago that her husband’s accusers were “misremembering or misinterpreting history."
Which makes her “women should be believed” rallying cry to the Washington Post on Tuesday laughably hypocritical.
Clinton spent the first ten minutes of the interview bemoaning how hard it was for women in America due to sexism, before Capehart brought up the recent movement of women coming forward and telling their stories of sexual assault and harassment:
“One of the things we’re all talking about, today is you name the profession there are now men who stand accused, who have lost their jobs, women are coming forward and taking the power in their own hands to stand up to what’s happened to them. I’d love to get your thoughts on what’s happening,” he prompted.
Clinton had her pro-women empowerment message ready, praising those who’ve come forward as “courageous” even in the face of possibly facing persecution for doing so:
I think what’s happening is a moment that we have to make sure becomes conventional wisdom, is accepted and causes changes and behavior. There’s nothing new to these stories, they go back to the beginning of time I suppose. But what is new is that women feel empowered and courageous enough to step forward with these stories. And it does take a lot of courage. Because very often in the past it wasn’t even an option. And today still, although there’s a more receptive audience, it’s not all that clear that there won’t be some form of disadvantage on all these women who’ve spoken up.
Capehart then asked more specifically asked about the politicians who’ve been accused, even including her husband former President Bill Clinton in the mix:
"Does it help what you’re saying--It’s politics and it’s gotten very political, and there are lot of names in this hopper. Whether it’s Franken or Moore, or Trump or Clinton or you name it. Does that make it harder or easier to not have it be a blip, just a cultural moment instead of a cultural change?" Capehart asked.
Clinton didn’t respond to the accusations made against Democrats, of course, choosing to single out Bill O’Reilly and President Trump instead:
Well I think it's important to notice it's also in the media, it's in corporate America….If you’re a high profile person whether you’re Bill O’Reilly (chuckles) in the media or a politician it’s going to be a story. It’s important that there be a recognition that this happens everywhere because right now Jonathan, we’re still dealing with women who have some sense of empowerment.
Think about all the women working the overnight shift in factories, or late-night in restaurants, or cocktail lounges, or just minding their own business in their own neighborhood.
And those women don’t have household names. And that’s what we’re seeing with Roy Moore. These are not famous women. These are women who basically have said, ‘Hey, this is unacceptable. I wasn’t able to talk about it a long time ago, but now others are coming forward [and] I’m willing to do that.' The same with the large number of women accusing Trump of sexual assault and his own confession to it on the Access Hollywood tape.
Clinton again pressed that not only should they be believed, but the culture should “empower” them to share their stories, clearly not taking her own advice in how she’s treated Bill Clinton’s accusers:
"So there has to be a recognition that this cuts across all lines and all kinds of workplaces and all kinds of community settings, and therefore we have to work through that cultural shift and empower the waitress on the late-night shift or the cocktail waitress or the nurse or whoever it may be,” she stated.
