Posted on 01/12/2010 6:06:24 AM PST by kristinn
Huffington Post reporter Mayhill Fowler reveals today that she intentionally ignored reporting former President Bill Clinton's adulterous relationship with an unnamed mistress during his wife Hillary's campaign for the 2008 Democratic party presidential nomonation.
Fowler writes she knew the state of the Clintons' marriage had national security implications as she notes that Democratic voters were falsely comforted thinking the former two-term president would be by Hillary's side in bed at the White House when the "3 a.m." phone call came. But that was not enough for her to report the truth so the voters could decide for themselves. Huffington Post, the liberal, supposed alternative to the gatekeepers in the mainstream media became the same gatekeepers that they allegedly detested.
Fowler published the story today at the Huffington Post based on excerpts of her book, Notes from a Clueless Journalist: Media, Bias and the Great Election of 2008, available tomorrow as an E-Book on Amazon.
At the time I covered the rally in Victoria, I had decided not to follow up on another story about Bill Clinton that had come my way--one involving his longtime mistress. I mention the nature of the Clinton story with some specificity now only because months later, after the Democratic primaries, the National Enquirer wrote about the relationship. In Texas, staring this story in the face, immediately I turned aside. If I know all about this woman, then surely every national reporter does and is as wary of the story as I am. Nevertheless, I was careful never to mention anything to anybody at OffTheBus. I rationalized the refusal to follow through by telling myself that Clinton's private life was peripheral to the race. But then there came a moment in the Texas primary when the nature of the Clinton marriage suddenly appeared front and center.
A difference between Election 2008 and preceding presidential races is that only one political ad for TV had as much impact as any of half-a-dozen YouTube videos. The brilliant television ad was the "3 A.M. crisis phone call at the White House" that the Clinton Campaign ran in Texas before the primary. The Clinton team knew Texans--folks obsessed with all things big, including such big prospects as national security. So the red phone ad, as it was sometimes called, was powerful persuasion. If I heard a Texan say it once, I heard it a hundred times: thank goodness Hillary will have Bill next to her at 3 A.M. By late February, a piece that gave depth to this naïve view of the Clintons' relationship was suddenly something to think about. But in fact I never really considered it. Executing such a story could have had consequences for the mistress's children, who were still minors. There was no way I would write something that I knew in advance would mortify a high school student in front of his peers. My mother's outrage and pain at the political sex scandal that had blighted her adolescence was just too vivid a presence.
So I continued to rationalize. I told myself various truths: many different kinds of loving experiences make a good world; no one except partners themselves know what goes on behind the bedroom door. As a woman who has been married for thirty-six years, I appreciate the complicated and forgiving nature of long attachments. Nuance about the dynamic of a successful marriage had been one of the things lacking in the widely-criticized New York Times piece on John McCain's supposed infatuation with a lobbyist. Therefore, I told myself, the presence of a mistress really does not tell us all that much about the rich relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton. But, in the end, I passed on the story for personal reasons. And I came to see that family history, which had always been a penumbra belonging to the dead, was shaping my own storytelling.
I'm calling BS (Barbra Streisand) on her rationalizations. She and the Huffington Post wanted to protect the Democrats and did not want to give conservatives the satisfaction of having been proved right yet again about the Clintons and the Democrat party.
Rave against the Washington machine... the cesspool of humanity.
Her 2nd marriage is now finished so that picture must be old. I wonder if Bill had any role in that series of events?
Just a band of gold. A promise ring.
As in “I promise not to sleep with anyone else but you, unless some backwoods hick, from Arkansas, gives me some “Hope”. Then I will sleep with only you when it is convenient or to keep you happy enough you won’t throw me out on the street like some tramp.
I have repeatedly said that I believe the most definitive thing that has happened to the American culture in my lifetime (6 decades) is the lies told by Bill and Hillary Clinton and, most important, THE LEGITIMIZATION OF LYING that they introduced into our nation’s culture.
At the highest level of the land they made it socially acceptable and even coated it in a ‘the ends justify the means’ philosophy that changed forever the fundamental concept that America is a nation based on principles.
The Clintons, like the Zeros, are evil personified.
IIRC, this was a Jay Leno joke:
"Bill and Hillary Clinton's marriage couldn't be more of a convenience even if their bedroom had a Slim Jim rack and a Slurpee machine!!"
I think that was Dennis Miller’s line.
See, there you have it folks, that's the rational for not covering it.
McCain only had one kid who was a minor, and anyways, she was adopted so it's not like that counts.
Edwards, on the other hand, his mistress had an infant.
Ah--NUANCE! One of the left's favorite words to trot out when the facts are getting in the way. Ronald Reagan was correct when he stated, "There ARE simple answers to difficult questions."
“So I continued to rationalize. I told myself various truths: many different kinds of loving experiences make a good world; no one except partners themselves know what goes on behind the bedroom door.”
The ultimate test is: if the subject of this piece was George Bush, would you have held your tongue, Mayhill? Or would have made snide jokes and blissfully blogged about it?
Fixed.
A lot was covered up about Bill Clinton including his rapes of women. When he was impeached he should have been made to go to jail.
best line in the whole story
“ Therefore, I told myself, the presence of a mistress really does not tell us all that much about the rich relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton. “
The rich relationship. Truly. He’s humiliated her hundreds of times and that makes for a rich relationship.
http://blogs.chron.com/beltwayconfidential/ginabill.jpg
Bill Clinton Affair Rumors
The Enquirer story comes on the heels of a July 2008 Vanity Fair story that suggested Clinton had an affair with actress Gina Gershon. Gershon denies the story, and her attorney is demanding that the magazine issue a retraction and an apology.
See, there you have it folks, that's the rational rationalization for not covering it.
Fixed!
HF
I think that Belinda Stronach was recently being treated for breast cancer. That'll take it's toll.
Old News. I don’t think anyone believed Bill would be next to Hillary in Bed—If there was a 3 am call it would be Bill wanting a ride home from the bar. Bill is known—He could match Tiger Woods in mistresses. The Hillary People knew this, they were not voting for him. I still feel she should have made a better president than the current occupant.
If Bill Clinton didn’t seem completely focused on his wife Hilary’s campaign, there’s a very good reason. He was just coming off a bad break up with a long time mistress. Bill had been seeing millionaire divorcee Julie Tauber McMahon. Now Julie is the daughter of wealthy Democratic Party financial contributor Joel Tauber (that Bill sure likes the Jewish chicks!). Her ex husband also left her a bundle: $30 million in stock options.
Friends with money
The pair first met down in Aspen in 1998. Her father Joel had generously offered Big Bill the use of his 25 million spread, and Bill proceeded to make himself completely at home, if you know what I mean.
Mile High Club Club member becomes a frequent flier
Well the two immediately hit it off. With in the next years, the engaged in a series of international trysts. Julia would make sure that her trips abroad would coincide with Bill’s, and the result was a lot of hook ups in London, New York, Paris and Munich!
reaching new heights while plumbing old depths
Soon the lovebirds were ready to take it to the next level. The Clinton’s bought a home in Chicago, and conveniently located a mere 5 mins from Ms Tauber McMahon’s. Bill went from frequent flier to frequent visitor, and even began playing a mentor role with Julie’s 3 kids. Julie even confessed to her kin folk that she was in love with Bill, and that the big love was in love with her too.
When there’s magic, some one has to disappear
Now that’s often where relationships come to an end. While confessing their true love to each other, Bill supposedly said that he would leave Hilary, if he could. Julie took the hint, and promptly broke things off. That left Bill gutted.
How do you heal a broken heart?
So that brings us up to the Democratic Party Nominee campaign. While Hilary was busy trying to bull doze her way to the top, Bill was nursing a broken heart. Now there’s one sure fore way that Bill can make him self feel better, and that’s with a good old fashioned sex spree! Reputedly, while Hilary was eagerly campaigning away, and looking to her better half for support, bill was on a wild rampage that made the Sex and the City girls look like a convent of nuns. Now Bill’s bad behavior was hinted at by Vanity Fair’s Todd Purdum (Purdum accused Clinton of surrounding himself with a pack of enablers. Clinton responded by calling Purdum a “scumbag”. There’s nothing like an Oxford education for endowing a lawyer with a command of the English language!). Bill hit back at Purdum, calling the article sleazy. Technically this is true, since the article was about him. However sources are saying that Bill was cheating up a storm while pitching in for Hilary on the campaign trail. Basically he was hard at it every chance he got, and when ever the opportunity presented it’s self.
He ain’t heavy, his my significant other
Naturally the Tauber-McMahon people have adamantly denied any of this. Julie herself has said for the record that she is a friend of the Clintons, but that there isn’t any thing to the rumors. However a member of her family has not only confirmed the relationship, but passed a polygraph test on the matter. That means that while Hilary was counting on her husband’s experience as a former president, and his skill as a master campaigner, his mind was focused on other things. So it seems that Wild Bill has let his wife down once again.
When questioned by The Enquirer,
Julie denied being Bill’s mistress in a written
statement.”I am a friend of the Clintons,
but these allegations are completely false.”
A source told The Enquirer,
“It became a running joke in the family,
if Clinton traveled to London, we’d learn Julie was
also visiting london. When Clinton went to France,
we’d discover Julie was also in France.
Julie confided to family members that she loved Bill
and he loved her. Apparently, Clinton once told her,
‘If I could leave Hillary, i would!’”
“Julie finally broke off the relationship because
of family pressure, but she also realized Bill
was never going to leave Hillary.”
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