Hillary’s Sordid Hit Parade

The mainstream press is clearly in agony at having to revisit the Clinton scandals of yore, forced into the past by Donald Trump, who is determined to make ostensibly “old news” an issue.

Not only are these and other Bill and Hillary Clinton scandals relevant today, it is the solemn duty of political journalists to rehash each and every one of them.

“The Bill Clinton scandal machine revs back up and takes aim at his wife,” blares The Washington Post, as if the “scandal machine” was a Republican plot and not, in fact, the scandalous Clintons themselves.

“Trump dredges up sordid Clinton accusations,” writes Politico, with the connotation that the sordid ones are the accusers and not Bill Clinton’s own clear pattern of behavior that makes the accusations believable.

“Another low,” says NBC correspondent Peter Alexander about Trump’s decision to revisit “decades-old allegations about sexual misconduct against Bill Clinton.” Now there’s a Freudian slip — in the form of a misplaced modifier. “Sexual misconduct against Bill Clinton” — surely there hasn’t been much of that.

Not only are these and other Bill and Hillary Clinton scandals relevant today, it is the solemn duty of political journalists to rehash each and every one of them — right down to the Vince Foster conspiracy theories — so that the public has the relevant information it needs to make an informed decision about who should be president. Because while, yes, some of this is old news, it must be told to a new audience that is too young to know much about. And even retold for others who are older, who perhaps have forgotten a lot of it and who, from the perspective of age and wisdom, may want to rethink it all.

The press is already digging around in Donald Trump’s past, writing pieces about his alleged misogyny and dealings with Mafia wise guys. Fine, the press should vet the candidates. And that the Clinton scandals are particularly nauseating provides even more reason to size them up again. Journalists need to jettison their “I’m above reporting on such mud” stance, since the Clintons were not above wallowing in it. You have to go where the story is, and with the Clintons, the compost pile is where you’ll find it. And please, my fellow journalists, don’t be so modest as to think you might not break a new story or two. I have confidence in your abilities.

This is especially true since Trump’s detractors — whether in the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or the press — intend to make his character the issue. And so it’s important for voters to understand the character of his opponents.

Yes, opponents. Mrs. Clinton just last week opened the door to a thorough discussion of Bill Clinton’s sordid past by suggesting she is going to put him in charge of the economy. No doubt the former president, with his worldwide Friends of Bill network, won’t be limiting himself to domestic affairs. Never since Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford briefly broached the idea in 1980 has the prospect of a genuine co-presidency seemed so tangible.

[lz_table title=”A Timeline of Bill Clinton’s Alleged Relationships” source=”Outsiderclub.com“]|Gennifer Flowers,1977/1980-1992

Model/Actress

|Juanita Broaddrick,1978

Nursing Home Administrator

|Carolyn Moffet,1979

Legal Secretary

|Regina Blakely Hopper,Late-70s

1983 Miss Arkansas

|Elizabeth Ward Gracen,1982

1981 Miss Arkansas/1982 Miss America

|Sally Miller (Perdue),1983

1958 Miss Arkansas    

|Connie Hamzy,1984

Author of Rock Groupie

|Becky Brown,1985

Chelsea Clinton’s nanny

|Helen Dowdy,1986

Wife of Hillary’s Cousin

|Sandra Allen James,1991

Political Fundraiser

|Paula Jones,1991

Arkansas State Worker

|Christy Zercher,1991/1992

Flight attendant

|Kathleen Willey,1993

White House Volunteer

|Julie ‘Energizer’ McMahon,2001-?

Mother of three children

[/lz_table]

So let’s get down to it.

Sexy Bill
I know you’re above it, but please do some reporting for the millennials wondering whether to support Hillary after ditching Bernie. Tell them, the inventors of the Safe Space Era, all about Juanita Broaddick, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, the use of Arkansas State Troopers to arrange Gov. Clinton’s liaisons, and Monica Lewinsky. Maybe with the passage of time, some new women who have been harassed by the 42nd president might now be willing to come forward. Some of John Kennedy’s gals took decades to tell their stories. And then there’s the question of Hillary’s role in intimidating Bill’s potentially noisy ex-gal pals.

Whitewater
The email scandal is not the first time that there was consideration of charging Mrs. Clinton with a crime. In 1998, the Office of Independent Counsel nearly charged Hillary Clinton with crimes related to fraudulent land and loan transactions in the 1980s and lying to federal officials in the 1990s, during her husband’s presidency, about her earlier activities. Her law partner during the Whitewater business, Webster Hubbell, was eventually sent to jail on another matter. Let’s talk about it.

Travelgate
Mrs. Clinton was allegedly a key figure in the first major Clinton White House scandal, the firing of career travel office employees and the contracting out of the White House press corps’ travel arrangements to business to friends of the Clintons. The independent counsel who investigated decided that while Hillary’s statements about the matter were false, there was insufficient evidence to indict.

Fat Cat Hotel
The Clintons used the White House as a de facto fundraising operation, inviting potential donors to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom, stop by for coffee, and so forth. They were then hit up later for cash. Guess what? According to Slate, some of them are STILL GIVING, donating to Hillary’s current presidential campaign.

We’ve only scratched the surface.

I know this isn’t easy for you, journalist. You don’t want to do this because you are a liberal and in your heart, you support Hillary. Were this a Republican, it might be a joyful trip down memory lane. And even if you do have the true creed of a responsible journalist, you know that your colleagues will snicker behind your back that you must be a closet member of the right-wing conspiracy.

There will be no Pulitzer Prize awaiting you at the end of this. But there will be a public well-served, and the knowledge that you have done your job well.

Keith Koffler is the editor of the website White House Dossier.