Fmr. Clinton Adviser Hits Back at 'Hypocrite' Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand For Saying Bill Should Have...

[DonViejo]

Source: Mediate







Fmr. Clinton Adviser Hits Back at ‘Hypocrite’ Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand For Saying Bill Should Have Resigned

by Aidan McLaughlin | 7:27 am, November 17th, 2017


Philippe Reines, the always outspoken former adviser to Hillary Clinton, hit back at Kirsten Gillibrand after the New York senator said President Bill Clinton should have stepped down following the revelation of his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Gillibrand, who occupies Clinton’s former senate seat, said in an interview with the New York Times that she thought Bill stepping down after the scandal broke would have been “the appropriate response.”

That comment did not go down well with Reines, a Clinton loyalist who served as Hillary’s senior adviser when she was secretary of state. He responded with a tweet, referencing investigator Ken Starr’s probe into Bill’s affair that reportedly cost upwards of $70 million:

Link to tweet

Reines noted that despite Starr spending $70 million to investigate a “consensual blowjob,” the Senate voted to keep Clinton in office. He also took a swipe at Gillibrand for turning against her former political allies.

“Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat,” he wrote. “Hypocrite.”

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Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/fmr-clinton-adviser-hits-back-at-hypocrite-sen-kirsten-gillibrand-for-saying-bill-should-have-resigned/

[Blue_Adept]

1. Those attempting to re-litigate what so many of lived through again may not have much luck

Perhaps they may look good in the short term, but there's some long term possible problems in doing so.

Having lived through that period myself - my political "awakening" came during that time when I first got broadband access at work - it's effectively done and over with and those attempting to bring it up are looking to build their own cred and agenda off of it.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. One year of 24 hour coverage.

It was litigated by the pundits and Ken Starr had unprecedented authority to go on a fishing trip and use the law in an improper, authoritarian manner. i.e. Susan McDougal's jail term to try to get her to turn witness.

For those of us who lived through it, we got to see a dead horse kicked to a pulp.

Let's get serious. The times are changing. We will remember this as the Before Trump and After Trump years. If someone committed a crime, then there is no harbor. But, if I recall, there was mutual consent between Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton, so the crime was perjury and the Clintons have paid dearly for it. Let it go.

[Blue_Adept]

13. Oh definitely. The "power imbalance" is brought up but Lewinsky sought him out

And there's a whole host of issues related to it with Linda Tripp and the rest. God damn I really don't want to have to relive all of this. It was a brutal year of coverage that didn't stop for years afterward with a senate run and then coming up again during her 2008 run.

So. Done.

[groundloop]

18. Repubs will have us relive this every chance they get... it's a fantastic diversion

Crazy Roy Moore forced teenage girls to have sex with him and groped them without their consent.

Oh, but Al Franken made a comedic photo pretending to touch a sleeping actress so that proves Crazy Roy isn't so bad after all.

That's what the repukes are great at, creating diversions so their base can feel more comfortable voting for sexual predators.

[gopiscrap]

22. Then let's relive Bob Packwood

btw one of the most prolific serial killer/rapists in the nation's history (Ted Bundy) was pretty high up in the Republican Party food chain and was being groomed by them to run for governor later on.

[iluvtennis]

27. Indeed.

[Marthe48]

14. I'll never forget the camera panning the Senate

all those repressed men almost drooling over the salacious details MK provided. Talk about living vicariously.

[delisen]

2. Better Reply: Clinton impeachment settled by Senate

which did not convict.

I think it is always dangerous for politician to make statement that another politician should have resigned. Best to stick to present-day issues.

[Irish_Dem]

3. She is being foolish. nt

[Laurian]

4. I was so disappointed to read her statement. Why dig back

all those years to reinforce the Clinton haters' argument.

[ChiTownDenny]

8. Hypocracy!

WJC consensual, extramarital affairs -- bad!
JFK consensual, extramarital affairs -- not bad!

[monmouth4]

5. She is toast IMO..n/t

[paleotn]

11. No....

One foolish statement does not the end of a career make. If that were the case, we'd all be out of work. I'm sure she will be told by those around her to step away from the circular firing squad.

[Hortensis]

6. Bill's an undisciplined hound dog who LIKES women, a lot,

who enjoys the company and friendship of and intimate relations with various women too much, but that should have been a problem for no one but his wife.

Absolutely, NO ONE has accused Moore of spending hours chatting comfortably away on the phone with the young girls he preyed on.

All women know the huge differences between hostile predators, shallow opportunists on the make, and men who genuinely like them and enjoy their company.

[Paladin]

7. Gillibrand is a lot less valuable to Democrats than Al Franken is.

Her dredging up the Clinton blowjob matter ought to have consequences for her.

[MBS]

28. " " " " n/t

[KY_EnviroGuy]

10. Dems have enough hypocrisy to deal with....

from millions of Repug voters and politicians, without getting slammed by other Dems.

Repugs function under Reagan's 11th Commandment so why shouldn't we have our own (as in DU's rules of the road)?

[gopiscrap]

23. agreed

[CTyankee]

12. We almost lost a progressive president due to his bad judgment.

Clinton was the most powerful man in the world. He risked his presidency over something he had the power to prevent. We risked losing a progressive Democrat. While I do not judge other people on their private behavior, Clinton imperiled the whole party and the country, IMO. On those grounds, I have to condemn what Clinton did.

[Merlot]

16. I agree, and was very angry that he did those things

But seeing the $70 million the reubs poured into that fiasco was more appaling than anything Bill Clinton did, in my opinion. It showed exactly the lengths the repubs would go to the ruin a democratic president who was popular.

[CTyankee]

17. I just hope Trump gets HIS due!

[Merlot]

20. That would require the repubs to go after one of their own

So unless the Mueller investigation turns up enough evidence, probably won't happen. Even if there is enough evidence still might not happen.

Imagine if repubs put all their focus and energy into pursuing the truth instead of their political opponents.

[R B Garr]

19. They had to commit a felony to uncover "what Clinton did."

So a felony and $70 million on an investigation, and they still could not put him away. Linda Tripp was the one actually indicted for felony wiretapping. Sad.

[karynnj]

34. Had he been kicked out, Gore would Have replaced him.

At that point, they were politically about the same. Gore in his 2000 run was more progressive than Clinton, but neither were considered progressive.

[Blue_Tires]

15. kick

[lagomorph777]

21. Can we be done with the Clintons and move on?

We have a country to take back.

[gopiscrap]

24. thank you

[LakeArenal]

25. Let's remember... Clinton charges...

Were lying and a cover-up to Congress not sex abuse charges. As many have pointed out, consensual between adults, initiated by Bill's adult "victim".

What I thought was low and despicable was President Clinton (still my 2nd fav. prez. of all time) shook his finger in my face and said he hadn't had sex with that "woman". That's what disappointed me. But the rest, should have been between Bill, Hill, and Monc.

[saidsimplesimon]

26. I am embarrassed

for all those in NY that she represents. This unforced error could cost US at the ballot box. The Alt-Right loves it. I am near despair when Democrats damage our efforts to win at the ballot box and every news cycle.

[MBS]

29. " " " " n/t

[Ninga]

30. THIS!!

She is a million times more harmful than Franken.

I'm emailing her immediately. Her pandering is so low, and so obviously tailored to specific voters.

[karynnj]

31. Bill Clinton's behavior with women has come up because it always has represented a descrepancy

from the values Democrats had stood behind even in the years BEFORE Clinton was in office. It was Democrats who pushed the government and large corporations to have sessions where managers were read the riot act on sexual harassment. Bill Clinton's relationship, consensual as it was and initiated by intern, Lewinsky, as it was, would have been seen as completely unacceptable.

As to Gillibrand's comment that he should have stepped down, you have statements by almost all Senators and many Congresspeople in the Congressional record. Years ago, after a JK group friend taught us how to navigate the Senate record, I spent some time going back over old speeches - because they existed as a time stamped opinions of politicians.

Back in 2004 and 2008, John Edwards claimed to have been a key person in defending Clinton and to assess if he really did influence anyone, I looked to see the comments. To put it succinctly, he was not quoted or referenced by his peers. What was more interesting was reading the comments. All Democrats had two main points - the first their reasons for why what BC did was wrong -- and a conclusion, that wrong as lying under oath, obstructing justice, or inappropriate actions were, they failed to rise to "high crimes and misdemeanors". Each of these speeches were clearly carefully crafted and the most interesting part was the part where they described what they found wrong. Here, you got a window on the values of the Senator speaking more than on Bill Clinton. As to the vote, it was party line - nothing surprising or interesting.

My guess is that had Gillibrand been there, she would have followed the pattern of every other Democrat - as did many strong feminists, female and male. In retrospect, Clinton resigning and Gore becoming president in 1998 or 1999 would have changed everything that has happened since then. I heard this speculation in 2001, after Gore's election win was lost at the Supreme Court. No one spoke of this in the years that we were happy to have President Obama. I would guess that second guessing decisions always happens when we are in bad situations. Had Gillibrand been there and had she called on Clinton to resign (something even Lieberman did not do), one response would have been noting that in 1992 and 1996, he was elected and in both years, it was basically conceded that he had not been faithful to Hillary.

I suspect that one thing that is happening is Gillibrand and others are making the point that Democrats really did give up the high ground on this woman's issue. The Republicans used that club - bringing the Clinton accusers (many already debunked) to the 2016 debates to neutralize the very real WORSE allegations on how Trump treats women.

I suspect that the comments on Clinton and the calls for Franken to be investigated or resign on the part of liberals stems from the fact that these actions really are against our values. The problem is that isolated accusations accumulated over years look terrible when pulled into the present -- and it is hard to balance against the good actions and good parts of their personality. There are some on the conservative side (I know a few personally) who have the same consistency, but the election of Trump suggests that they might be more willing than we would be to ignore things like the completely not discountable Access Hollywood tapes.

[jrthin]

32. I called her office this morning

To let her know that I do not appreciate her re-litigating the consensual, per Ms. Lewinsky, affair. If she keeps this nonsense up, I hope she gets primaried. With her initial run, some NYers were concerned about her upstate conservative positions. She quieted our concerns through the policies she supported in the Senate. Still....

[YOHABLO]

33. The Key word: C O N S E N S U A L !! Work with that Gillibrand.

[lunamagica]

35. Yes, she's a hypocrite. She "enthusiastically" Supported Hillary, and took from the Clinton's while

it was convenient for her. Now that she thinks she doesn't need them she didn't hesitate to throw him under the bus.

Shame, shame on her