Juanita Broaddrick is a hypocrite, shameful opportunist and nothing but a shady partisan hack.

[loyalsister]

35. This was a he said she said

We'll never know the truth. It's tricky, but the liberal position is to believe the woman

"There is a crucial tension between "believe survivors" and the "Juanita Broaddrick is lying" position of some Clinton defenders, lacking further information. When Hillary Clinton tweeted during the campaign that "Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported," it’s reasonable to ask if that’s true of Juanita Broaddrick, too."

A more balanced position is to admit that it's he said she an acceptable truth could only be possible if they both shared the same story. It's not going to happen. We don't know.

Yes, the GOP was relentless in trying to dig up as much dirt as possible. In the end, that there was something to find is his own fault. His denial resulted in a horrifying rounds of questioning where Monica Lewinsky had to confirm her voice listening to hours and hours of recordings that she described as her worst self. If that humiliation weren't enough she had to walk through a world where people who saw or talked with her knew embarrassing details that noone would want the public to know. He could have prevented that. Lewinsky takes full responsibility for her part in the relationship. And points out that the victimization came when she was scapegoated and humiliated as she listened to those tapes, and publicly. She had to stand in check out lines where the sold tabloids with her face on the front page. Imagine applying for a job knowing that the HR dept. knows the story. She had no choice but to tell her story and she had to navigate a world that condemned her, while he had a team of supporters who ignored the possibility that it might be a painful ordeal for her, while he went on to be impeached but never lost support of a partisan team.

It's possible to take a second look now that we are beginning to see the frequency of sexual advances and and discomforting suggestive actions without bringing politics into the discussion. The women who are coming forward voluntarily are revealing the protective mechanisms that have permitted powerful men to sexually abuse women. Giving some thought to how system has protected sexual abusers includes re-evaluating our public response to various incidents because it has been accepted as a fact of life.

Bill Clinton could contribute significantly to the challenge to the system that accepted his own behaviors when a woman (who I assume he cared about on some level) contributed to the kind of humiliation he knew she experienced and she still has to live with.

His vague apology didn't mention the women who were dragged into the disaster of his own making. Recognizing that would go a long way towards dismantling to patriarchal arrangement that oppressses women economically and socially.