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When Bill Clinton faced impeachment more than two decades ago, commentary from the Republican side of the aisle was very different than today’s trial against U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We see with this impeachment, when you compare it to the Clinton impeachment, that it seems to depend if it’s your guy in the hot seat,” said Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Roll Call, a website covering U.S. politics.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As more details are revealed in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the multi-millionaire arrested on charges of sex-trafficking girls as young as 14, there are more and more questions. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, who, when he was a U.S. attorney, arranged a plea deal for Epstein, is defending himself and resisting calls to resign. But many want to know more about why Epstein received such a light sentence in that case in Florida, and whether power and privilege played a part.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty. Now, the young women are speaking out – and many Americans are examining a criminal justice system that seems to work differently for rich and poor.
In the Wednesday morning quarterbacking after Hillary Clinton’s unexpected loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, one criticism was that she had not employed that consummate politician former President Bill Clinton enough in her campaign, to speak to “the people” he could connect with and she could not.
But for all the mistakes the Clinton 2016 campaign operation and the candidate herself made — and there were plenty — sidelining Bill was not one of them.
When President Bill Clinton was winning two elections and presiding over economic boom times, his “Slick Willie” nickname highlighted a penchant for wanting to play all sides to stay on top. He was praised for feeling the pain of Americans and rode into a post presidency on a wave of high approval ratings, but the flaws are evident in his latest forays into his wife’s unexpectedly tough presidential primary campaign.
Though Bill Clinton’s telling off protesters in Philadelphia holding signs and interrupting his speech to remind him of the consequences of his 1994 crime bill may actually help his wife win some voters who believe the demonstrators deserve what he dished out, the image of the red-faced former president wagging a finger and dressing down young activists is not a good look. And his “I almost want to apologize” backtracking was condescending and too cute by half.
Rand Paul, the U.S. senator from Kentucky and an all-but-certain contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, is hitting Democratic Party claims to be the party for women with attacks on Bill Clinton’s infidelity with an intern in the White House.
Is it a political maneuver to tarnish top rival Hillary Clinton with guilt by association? Of course. Is Paul taking aim at a popular Democratic Party fundraiser, just as the former president is about to campaign for 2014 candidates, including Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Paul’s own state of Kentucky? You bet.
As Anthony Weiner’s latest admission that he has a sexting problem plays out, it can only help female politicians who have hopes of high office. Enough with these guys, voters might be thinking, as reminders of male politicians who have sinned cross their minds and TV screens.
Will a disgusted electorate decide that it’s time for more women in high office, with one woman in particular coming to mind? If that happens, Hillary Rodham Clinton, tops in polls of potential presidential candidates and already garnering endorsements, would seem the most likely to benefit.
But will the collateral damage of this particular scandal bring more harm to the woman who has a close tie to one of its players?
