Linda Bloodworth-Thomason was a TV-producing heavyweight in 1992 – most notably with the CBS hit Designing Women – when she promoted the Clintons with a gushy Democratic convention video. Even then, we thought it was fascinating her show had a big “I Believe Anita Hill” episode as she backed Slick Willie...although it was two years before Paula Jones took him to court.
On Wednesday, Bloodworth-Thomason penned a “guest column” in The Hollywood Reporter titled “Lessons from Witnessing Four Decades of Harassment in Hollywood.” This is the quick-and-dirty summation: Donald Trump is a “sexual predator,” but Bill Clinton was unfortunately tagged for “sexual misconduct…that was none of our business.”
I, myself, was a member of a "Let's Bring Harvey Weinstein Down" lunch club, and I don't even work in features. However, I will be the first to admit that clearly delineated moral choices can still be painfully complex where friendship is involved. One of the best friends I will ever have and a man I love dearly, former President Bill Clinton, has certainly taxed my feminist conscience, but always without diminishing my affection. I even helped write his apology to the nation for his own sexual misconduct, was sitting next to him when he delivered it, and believe to this day it was based on something that was none of our business.
And yes, some may call it hypocritical, but I confess to having had no problem warning at least three top-level Democratic operatives against allowing Harvey Weinstein to host political fundraisers. A warning that evidently (and to the glee of Fox News) fell on deaf ears.
Clinton's televised speech to the nation in 1998 contained some passages that Linda wouldn't imagine offering to Weinstein, like suggesting Paula Jones had been dismissed in her "politically inspired lawsuit". (Jones appealed the dismissal, and Bill settled for $850,000):
I was also very concerned about protecting my family. The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration, too....
Now, this matter is between me, the two people I love most -- my wife and our daughter -- and our God....Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.
Then there’s the part in Linda's column about Trump, where she joke-congratulates him for honesty:
By week's end, his wife had left him, he was fired and heading off to Saint Dick's of the Desert, that all-healing, magical rehab center where Hollywood bad boys go to discover they're really not bad after all, they're just "ill." Truthfully, I would've preferred the simple and more honest explanation given by our president, Donald J. Trump. "Grab 'em by the pussy … When you're a star, you can do anything." Thank you, Donald. I believe you're the only sexual predator, to date, who's told the truth.
Ed Driscoll at Instapundit added this (emphasis and links are his):
How much of a “Clinton confidant” is Bloodworth-Thomason? In 2014, The Hollywood Reporter listed her as being one of five of “Hillary Clinton’s Biggest Hollywood Confidants,” and as they note, “they’ve known each other since the ’80s, when the Clintons were occupying the governor’s mansion.”
This makes Hillary’s Sgt. Schultz impersonation that she knew nothing – nothing! – of Weinstein’s degradations – while taking nearly $1.5 million of his money over the years seem increasingly implausible. Why is Democrat-dominated Hollywood such a cesspit of abuse and misogyny?
Linda also had to throw in her own complaint that the Emmy voters punished her for being feminist:
As for the small screen, I myself was the creator of a man-loving, feminist show called Designing Women. We were arguably one of the most progressive, loudmouthed, female series ever — unapologetically, week after week, we showcased issues involving the objectification of women, violence against women and sexual harassment. Out of 163 episodes, we received one Emmy … for hairdressing. (It might be worth noting that Television Academy voters were 80 percent male.)
PS: If you want to see some Fake News, Linda's 1992 convention video features Hillary's mother talking about how deeply committed Bill and Hillary are to one another, around the nine-minute mark.
