CNN host Jake Tapper set himself apart from the rest of CNN and the wider liberal media by devoting two segments to Juanita Broaddrick and other accusers of Bill Clinton. In a panel segment with Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and former Clinton staffer Donna Brazile, Tapper even asked about how feminism struggles against the Broaddrick allegations of a rape in 1978.
Brazile took that question and twisted it into an Orwellian pretzel, as Clintonistas do. Raising Bill Clinton's past is the "real misogyny," she insisted.
Tapper began: "Donna, let me read this to you from Michelle Goldberg a feminist writer writing in the liberal website Slate. She says, 'Feminists have repeatedly and convincingly made the case that when women say they've been sexually assaulted, we should assume they're telling the truth. Particularly when it comes to the story of Juanita Broaddrick, it's not easy to square the arguments against believing her with the dominant progressive consensus on trusting victims'. What do you think?"
The CNN host left out the next sentence, which signaled Goldberg's unease with the conundrum: "This is a tension that people on the right are eager to exploit." Goldberg began her article: "Donald Trump has all but promised us that in 2016 we will revisit the peregrinations of Bill Clinton’s penis." Tapper knew Brazile would have this take, and more. He was trying to hold the liberals to their own standards.
Brazile began her answer with two usual tropes. First, Donald Trump is the real sleaze: Trump "has built his campaign on mocking women, attacking immigrants, of course, and smearing Muslims. I'm not surprised that Donald Trump has decided to go into what I call the sleaze basket." Whenever you bring up Clinton misbehavior, they pull out the 1992 playbook about "the issues that matter to the people."
Second, claim that the Democrats have an excellent record on sexual matters, ignoring everything Clinton and Ted Kennedy and John Edwards and JFK and RFK and LBJ et cetera ever did. "When it comes to sexual assault, violence against women, I think Democrats and liberals and progressives have a good history on ensuring that women are able to tell the truth and to ensure that there are laws properly on the books to allow victims of these crimes and abuses to have their day. So I don't think there's any contradiction there."
Then Brazile claimed Trump defines misogyny, appealing to a party based on misogyny: "Donald Trump believed that this is one way to silence Hillary Clinton when she brings up his misogyny and his attacks on women, I don't think that's going to work either. Now, I'm a feminist, Jake. I mean, and I know Bill Clinton. And I have a great deal of respect for Bill Clinton. During that time, we all condemned his misconduct. [??!!] I mean, I'm not married to Bill Clinton. I'm sure as a husband and wife issue, there were marital issues they had to resolve."
Tapper then turned to William Kristol about how uncomfortable this whole subject is. After dismissing any notion of supporting Trump, Kristol brought the heat and the facts back to Clinton:
KRISTOL: But here's just a fact, Bill Clinton lied in 1992 about Jennifer Flowers when he's running for president. He lied under oath about Paula Jones. He lied about Monica Lewinsky. Hillary Clinton defended him in each of those cases.
No one and I think maybe in some of those cases that her husband was lying defending him because she thought it was the right thing to do. It is legitimate I think for someone to say, "Is that really the record of someone who stands up for women in all cases?" Is that settles the record of someone? And she in fact had people going out and attacking Monica Lewinsky and calling her crazy and delusional.
While Tapper let her speak for more than a minute, Brazile interrupted Kristol with her dishonest spin:
BRAZILE: I don't know if everything you're saying is true, Bill, but I can tell you this. Hillary Clinton has a lifetime commitment of supporting women and girls, whether it's in through legislation or as an advocate for women and girls. And the notion that for some reason she cannot be a, you know, can run a campaign and talk about these issues without somebody bringing up the misconduct of her husband. I mean, that is in my judgment that is real misogyny.
Brazile is not an idiot. She knows everything Kristol just said is true. She knows the Clinton playbook is always to express that Hillary Clinton is America's Greatest Feminist, so never mind she lied and ordered "bimbo eruptions" to destroy the women accusing her husband. Brazile was so shameless she even denied that ever happened. Never mind George Stephanopoulos and other Clinton insiders admitting it:
KRISTOL: She was part -- she was part of the average effort discredit women who were telling the truth. Monica Lewinsky was telling the truth,
BRAZILE: -- I was there!
KRISTOL: -- Paula Jones was telling the truth. That's just a fact --
BRAZILE: I was there. She was not part of any effort to smear women...
On page 54 in the George Stephanopoulos memoir All Too Human, he tells of Connie Hamzy, who told people she had shown Bill Clinton her breasts at a hotel in Little Rock. Bill enjoyed recalling the story. George and Hillary worked to deny it:
Clinton seemed to take great pleasure in picturing the scene again. Hillary was less amused. “We have to destroy her story,” she said from her seat next to him on the plane. I was with her. Hamzy’s story didn’t sound funny to me either. It was flimsy, but it could do some damage if we didn’t snuff it out fast.
This was Hillary's regular game: Destroy the female accuser. To deny that is to deny reality.
