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Bill Clinton: A Reckoning
The Atlantic ^ | November 13, 2017 | Caitlin Flanagan

Posted on 11/13/2017 3:32:34 PM PST by EdnaMode

The most remarkable thing about the current tide of sexual assault and harassment accusations is not their number. If every woman in America started talking about the things that happen during the course of an ordinary female life, it would never end. Nor is it the power of the men involved; history instructs us that for countless men, the ability to possess women sexually is not a spoil of power; it’s the point of power. What’s remarkable is that these women are being believed.

Most of them don’t have police reports or witnesses or physical evidence; many of them are recounting events that transpired years—sometimes decades—ago. In some cases, their accusations are validated by a vague, carefully couched quasi-admission of guilt; in others they are met with outright denial. It doesn’t matter. We believe them. Moreover, we have finally come to some kind of national consensus about the workplace; it naturally fosters a level of romance and flirtation, but the line between those impulses and the sexual predation of a boss is clear.

Believing women about assault—even if they lack the means to prove their accounts—as well as an understanding that female employees don’t constitute part of a male boss’s benefits package, were the galvanizing consequences of Anita Hill’s historic allegations against Clarence Thomas in 1991. When she came forward during Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and reported that he had sexually humiliated and pressured her throughout his tenure as her boss at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it was an event of convulsive national anxiety. Here was a black man, a Republican, about to be appointed to the Supreme Court, and here was a black woman, presumably a liberal, trying to block him with reports of repeated, squalid, and vividly recounted episodes of sexual harassment.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: anitahill; billclinton; clarencethomas; clinton; juanitabroaddrick; moore; roymoore
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It's too late for liberals to not be hypocrites on Bill Clinton.
1 posted on 11/13/2017 3:32:34 PM PST by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode
So EVERY woman who accuses a man of misbehavior or a crime must be implicitly believed? That’ll sure change our legal system.
2 posted on 11/13/2017 3:38:45 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: EdnaMode

I’ll say...


3 posted on 11/13/2017 3:39:09 PM PST by DoughtyOne (McConnell / Ryan: Why pass Cons legislation when we can pass Leftist legislation for Leftists?)
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To: EdnaMode
It's too late for liberals to not be hypocrites on Bill Clinton

I have a female neighbor who campaigned and voted for Hitlery.

I brought up Bubba's issues and asked how in the heck she could support Hillary, who is an "enabler".

She said she has the utmost respect for Hillary who stood by her marriage and man.

I saw her this week end and asked her what she thought of Roy Moore. "Despicable!!!", she shouted. I reminded her of our previous "Bubba" conversation. She was not amused.

I suspect we are off their Winter Solstice Bonfire list.

4 posted on 11/13/2017 3:48:36 PM PST by llevrok (A group of baboons is called a "congress." Just sayin' .....)
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To: EdnaMode

Liberal: “We want to use sexual harassment as a political weapon. So that pass we gave Bill Clinton - it no longer applies”.


5 posted on 11/13/2017 3:49:39 PM PST by fhayek
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To: EdnaMode

“Yes, I know Bill Clinton is a rapist and a thief and a traitor to this country, but I’m going to vote for him because I hope that he’ll steal for me.”


6 posted on 11/13/2017 4:02:38 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: llevrok

Sounds like you have a very annoying neighbor.


7 posted on 11/13/2017 4:06:38 PM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: fhayek

Nailed it.


8 posted on 11/13/2017 4:10:16 PM PST by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode
we have finally come to some kind of national consensus about the workplace; it naturally fosters a level of romance and flirtation, but the line between those impulses and the sexual predation of a boss is clear

No, it isn't, and no matter how many times it is repeated, it is a lie.

Who has never uttered the phrase "she has him twisted around her finger"?

Who among our cruder female friends has never said, "who did she b*** for that"?

Who has the power, and how it is exercised, in workplace sexual affairs, is quite complex.

I am not speaking of Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey, who are credibly accused of rape, but rather the much more quotidien affairs of which we all know many.

Yes, man proposes and woman disposes, woman opens and man enters. That is nature.

But the transactional aspect of all sex between people who are not married to each other cannot be reduced to bad men and virtuous women.

9 posted on 11/13/2017 4:11:10 PM PST by Jim Noble (Single payer is coming. Which kind do you like)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well, that’s pretty much what Hillary said should happen.

Except for the women raped by her husband, of course.


10 posted on 11/13/2017 4:19:19 PM PST by digger48
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To: fhayek
Leftists need to lock down at least a goodly percentage of the female vote that went for POTUS in 16 - and they need to get this done for the mids.

They don't care about the harassment for sexual stuff - only the potential votes (power)

11 posted on 11/13/2017 4:19:48 PM PST by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
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To: llevrok

I remember my corporate life in the 90s when we had to sit through tedious sessions of sexual harassment training while Bill Clinton was in the news wagging his crooked finger at America with the full support of the feminists who had forced us to endure their politically motivated reeducation.


12 posted on 11/13/2017 4:20:29 PM PST by Baynative ( "If you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu.")
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To: EdnaMode
I guess it's not harassment for a woman to seduce a man that turns her on. One who didn't make any advances. Oh no, that doesn't happen. And even if there is pressure up to and including blackmail, he still has the free will to say no. I never heard of it from a national publication although I forgot about Carol Burnett who was slandered, fought and won but not about sex. But you have to be pretty squeaky clean to fight back or everything you ever did and some you didn't do will be in the national spotlight, broadcast to the whole world. Salaciously and gleefully.

Prostitution causes a huge scandal, too, but is usually viewed somewhat differently.

And just because a man is a Christian doesn't mean he doesn't engage in illicit sex and possibly vehemently deny it. I know some do. The problem is lack of evidence, faulty memory from so long ago and some other factors.

And one more thing. Let's take the Weiner case; we don't like him and what he did was wrong. Does a 14-year-old have no culpability ever? Don't they have a choice to say no? I raise the question because our conventions and legal system hold underage women blameless, but in the eyes of God are they? And yes, an older man would be more culpable in most cases except possibly lying convincingly about their age and entrapment.

What are the laws and customs in other countries? I can pretty much guess Muslim countries, and most other countries.

And one more thing. Obama "meddles" in French politics (and Israel) but Russia is worse. And the French elected Macron, the man Obama endorsed. Oh but they didn't get serious until he was of age. Does anybody seriously believe that?

Oh and whatever Moore did and didn't do, the girl named Leigh walked a couple blocks away to meet him. Girls only do that because they know their parents wouldn't approve I think. Did he really have power over her?

13 posted on 11/13/2017 4:20:31 PM PST by Aliska
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To: Jim Noble

The answer is don’t date women you work with and always have witnesses around. Of course, this creates a burden when you have to work with them. Just don’t say it out loud.


14 posted on 11/13/2017 4:23:48 PM PST by Spok
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To: atc23
The thing that really opened my eyes was how NOW reacted to Bill Clinton. It was about this time when Rush started in my market, so it really hammered it home.

During the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, we we schooled, we were LECTURED about sexual harassment. Not acceptable, EVER, for a man in a position of power to prey, sexually, on anyone, especially an underling. Now, if you accept Anita Hill's story, at its worst, Clarence Thomas told off-color jokes and asked Ms Hill out on a date or two. Thomas was single at the time. Yet, he was vilified as scum of the earth. Then just a few scant months later, Bill Clinton is president. He wasn't talking about pubic hairs on a Coke can, he was raping, exposing, groping, proposition and intimidating everything with two breasts and a vagina.

NOW's response? They backed the predator. I don't even know if NOW still exists, but I never gave them even the slightest credence on anything after that.

15 posted on 11/13/2017 4:31:01 PM PST by fhayek
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To: EdnaMode

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” - Voltaire

I guess we are ruled by women, muslims, minorities, and the LGBTQ(#%*&) perverts.


16 posted on 11/13/2017 4:43:01 PM PST by WMarshal (John McCain is the turd in America's punch bowl.)
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To: EdnaMode


17 posted on 11/13/2017 4:54:12 PM PST by Bon mots (Laughing at liberal tears!)
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To: EdnaMode

18 posted on 11/13/2017 4:57:12 PM PST by Bon mots (Laughing at liberal tears!)
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To: fhayek

If I recall correctly (at my age that gets tougher to do), there was a woman reporter at the time who said she would gladly give old Billy boy a blow job to keep him in office.
If any body else remembers that please let me know.


19 posted on 11/13/2017 5:22:05 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: Jim Noble
Had to look up...quotidien.

Thanks!

20 posted on 11/13/2017 5:27:38 PM PST by Osage Orange (Watch your six.)
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