September 18, 2012

"Lewinsky was 22 — and Chelsea Clinton 15 — when, with the flash of a thong, La Monica turned the commander-in-chief..."

"... into what she called her 'sexual soulmate' in a 'mutual relationship' that lasted approximately two years."
In a weird way, I hope she delivers an honest, introspective account of how she managed to clear away the emotional rubble, if indeed she has, and if indeed our celebrity-train-wreck culture will let her 14 years after her world imploded.
Yeah, Lewinsky has a book to sell, even though she "gave hours of interviews to Andrew Morton, Princess Di’s British biographer, for his 1999 book, 'Monica’s Story,' the same year she spilled her guts along with some tears in a long, unpaid ABC News sit-down with Barbara Walters." She has a book to sell because she's lived through a long expanse of years since the 1999 glossy media blitz that she might have imagined would get her life going on a rewarding new track.

What's it been like being Monica Lewinsky all these years? That's the new story. Monica, The Middle Years. Of course, she wants money, but she wanted money in 1999 when she gave away those interviews. She must have thought it would work out well. Now, she can tell us how she thought that and how it didn't go so well.

And of course, she can retell the old story, with new more honest/more lurid details, and with revelations about all the times she fudged the truth with Morton and Walters, to serve what she believed were her interests at the time.

She's also earned a master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics. That along with the maturity of her advanced age (39) might bring some actual insight to the story of Monica and Bill — which is never going to go away.

IN THE COMMENTS: Rabel notes that the word "unpaid" — seen in the quote I extracted above — no longer appears at the linked article and provides, via Wikipedia, the information that "Lewinsky made about $500,000 from her participation in the book and another $1 million from international rights to the Walters interview."

65 comments:

Expat(ish) said...

It'll go away. We never talk about Huey Long's (many) mistresses or FDR's "driver" etc etc. Heck, we barely hear about JFK's romps.

And Bill won't last long and they'll seal his papers until after we're all dead.

-XC

Christopher in MA said...

She's also earned a master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics. That along with the maturity of her advanced age (39) might bring some actual insight to the story of Monica and Bill — which is never going to go away.

Not that the left won't do their damndest to lie about it until their dying day: "It was only sex!" "Everybody cheats!" "Everybody gets one free grope!"

RonF said...

She was 22, cute (I'm not big on the anorexic type myself) and the most powerful - and thus one of the most stressed-out - man in the world was looking for an outlet. Bill apparently always has an appreciative eye out. She was eager and he was willing. There's worse vices, especially for a man in his position. It doesn't take a lot to figure out what this was all about.

rehajm said...

"...and Chelsea Clinton was 15..."

Not to hijack, but I lost track- at 32 years old, is Chelsea still 'off limits' because she's Clinton offspring? Last I heard, Chelsea could act like reporter on '30 Rock', but you weren't allowed to ask questions...

Larry J said...

Today, we have the Lewinsky Press lining up and coordinating with one another to fellate Obama daily.

Tim said...

What is interesting about Monica Lewinski isn't Monica Lewinski, but Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Monica Lewinski's father, and their behavior around this affair.

bagoh20 said...

We all wish our blowjobs would follow this arc... every one of them. Wouldn't that be grand to be as smart as Bill Clinton - the wise economic genius and statesman.

Shouting Thomas said...

She's also earned a master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics.

So, she still has no marketable skill except for getting down on her knees!

edutcher said...

And the one person who doesn't want that book to come out is Willie.

His rehabilitation was going so well and this will remind people of what a sack of slime he really is.

Known Unknown said...

BOH-RING.

Toad Trend said...

Bill Clinton, the DNC establishment's choice to endorse BHO for a second term.

The OJ Simpson/Hertz Rent-A-Car commercials were fun for awhile, too.

AllenS said...

Lewinski is lucky that we still have a 1st Amendment.

furious_a said...

Ms. Lewinky's former rabbi gave the closing prayer at DNC 2012's second night, right after Pres. Clinton spoke.

39, huh? How time flies.

Tom Spaulding said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RonF said...

What does someone with a degree in Social Psychology do for a living?

Shouting Thomas said...

Monica hasn't really looked into all of her possibilities, has she?

I mean... I don't think she's done a porno. Has she?

Does she still look half decent? She was always a tubby.

Tom Spaulding said...

Some kinds of sexual harassment are A-OK...and how dare you question our morals!

Love,

Bill and Teddy

MadisonMan said...

She's middle-aged now.

Brian Brown said...

the story of Monica and Bill — which is never going to go away.

Ugh.

Sam L. said...

Shouting Thomas, you are so COOOOOLLLLLL!

Darrell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

One unarguably point, Chelsea was brought up with a much better sense of propriety than Monica.

bagoh20 said...

When this subject comes up, I always wonder what it must be like to be famous for blowing the President.

Jokes and slide remarks are just poised and ready to come forth from he lips of everyone around you. As you are talking to them, they are struggling to hold them back, and the vision of you doing it is in their head every time they talk to you. Very few times does your name come up without that event following, if not out loud, then unspoken.

I never want to be famous for anything, I can't imagine if it was that.

Patrick said...

One unarguably point, Chelsea was brought up with a much better sense of propriety than Monica.

One unarguably point, Chelsea was brought up with a much better sense of propriety than Bill.

Fixed that for you.

MadisonMan said...

Patrick, I don't think you fixed it, you just changed it.

Either statement can be argued as true.

kcom said...

"I never want to be famous for anything..."

Watch what you post on You Tube then. Certain government officials will consider it their job to make you famous.

MadisonMan said...

(If you'd really wanted to fix it, you'd've made the word inarguable)

kcom said...

"One unarguably point, Chelsea was brought up with a much better sense of propriety than Monica.

One unarguably point, Chelsea was brought up with a much better sense of propriety than Bill.

Fixed that for you."


One unarguable point...

Fixed that for both of you.

Darrell said...

The thing I love best about the Lewinsky saga was when the story first broke, it was being rumored that she was underaged and they had assembled a Charlie Rose panel (mostly feminists) on that premise who were prepared to defend Clinton on that basis. Luckily, the details about her real age came out just before taping. Some of the panel still gave a glimpse of their prepared defense though and it was as sickening as you can imagine.

MadisonMan said...

...or maybe they can't be, since they're inarguable.

Lyssa said...

I've always felt sort of sorry for her for this. She made a big mistake, I'll start with, by having a relationship with a man she knew to be married. That said, she was, though old enough to know better, still quite young. She's clearly a smart woman, one who surely was planning a bright future, but today her name remains a joke, a synonym for oral sex. What man would bring her home, marry her, introduce her to his parents and friends and suffer the jokes? What employer would hire her for a serious career? She doesn't deserve to be a joke for the rest of her life for a mistake made at age 22.

I guess Mr. Clinton never thought of that when he was making nice with a woman only a few years older than his daughter, but he should have.

damikesc said...

Remember, Clinton is a CHAMPION for women. Feminists say so a lot. Some reporters offered to blow him for keeping abortion legal (as if it was his call).

So, she still has no marketable skill except for getting down on her knees!

A good blowjob is art. Show some respect.

Patrick said...

Patrick, I don't think you fixed it, you just changed it.

Either statement can be argued as true.

(If you'd really wanted to fix it, you'd've made the word inarguable)


Correct. Couldn't find my grammar nazi uniform.

Geoff Matthews said...

Lyssa,

I feel sorry for as well (for the reasons you've listed), but she's also played off of this. Tom Green did a show where he brought Monica Lewinski home to see his parents and told them they were making a big announcement the next day.
The announcement was that they were making hand bags together, but the implication was marriage, and his parents looked horrified.

Lyssa said...

I mean... I don't think she's done a porno. Has she?

She hosted a (terrible) reality show for a little bit. And I think that she had a purse line at one time. Nothing, to my knowledge, that didn't trade on her celebrity (of sorts). I wonder if she's tried, though. I don't imagine that she would have pursued an advanced degree if her only hope was to be this.

Patrick said...

but today her name remains a joke, a synonym for oral sex. What man would bring her home, marry her, introduce her to his parents and friends and suffer the jokes?

If I recall correctly, this point, when brought up by Barbara Walters in the interview, was the only thing that made Lewinsky cry.

It must be very difficult to have made a life defining mistake at that age.

Lyssa said...

Geoff, I wonder, though, if she's had much choice. I'm guessing that traditional employers won't go near her.

(I could be completely wrong, though. I'm only guessing, though I don't really intend to read the book and find out.)

damikesc said...

I felt bad for her --- until I realized she'd still almost definitely vote for the same guy she blew and who tried to defame her behind the scenes while liberals praised him.

Then I didn't feel for her anymore. Idiocy is seldom pretty.

AllenS said...

I've noticed BJ Clinton's endorsement commercial for Obama lately. This thing puts it in a different light.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Monica porn movie?

I nominate "Humidors and Hummers" as a working title.

Geoff Matthews said...

Lyssa,

You have a good point. The way things played out afterwards are the reverse of what I'd have liked. Why isn't Clinton a euphamism for oral sex? I remember a Law & Order show using Lewinsky for that, and couldn't help thinking that they used the wrong name.
The left certainly hasn't been kind to Ms Lewinsky, all for the crime of admitting what happened.

wef said...

Every time clinton's name is mentioned, one should think, "I remember him. He raped Juanita Broaddrick. And the political class didn't care."

john said...

A visual aid in determining the extent of rehabilitation of Monica's reputation.

No, not quite yet.

Roman said...

If a President of a corporation, or the Dean of a University would have conducted himself at our President did, he would be out of a job. Bill Clinton, disbarred and 'disiplined" is a hero to the Democrat party. WTF?

kentuckyliz said...

Did she ever marry? And/or have a child/ren?

Nothing about those topics on wikipedia.

Extensive description of her earnings from the incident.

She was paid well for those BJs.

Just wondering about the LSE master's degree.

Does it require...orals?

Martha said...

I do not see Lewinsky as the victim despite her young age. She was experienced sexually and by all accounts danced the dance of seduction with Clinton knowing full well where it would lead--hot sex with the most powerful man in the world in the Oval Office.

Lewinsky did not foresee being outed or the impeachment but she was no innocent.

Toad Trend said...

Bobbitt
Lewinsky
Sandusky

One must strive to make sure their name never becomes a verb.



Emil Blatz said...

"Of course, she wants money, but she wanted money in 1999 when she gave away those [i]nterviews."

She actually wanted money in 1998 when Bill Richardson held open a staff position in his office, and visited her mother's home in the Watergate complex to interview her (Monica) for the position. I'm sure he went to the home of each potential employee(!)

That staff position at the UN Ambassador's office paid $90k/yr at that time. Clinton was interested in having her take that position and move to NYC, becasue it would take her out of subpoena range of the DC Grand Jury. She felt entitled to more money and didn't take the position.

As to her Master's Degree from the London School of Economics, I know people who have completed such programs, and I get the impressison it is a bit like a prestigious business school granting "Executive" MBA's for an enormous tuition - a real money maker for the school.

Titus said...

Lewinsky and Octomom doing group sex porno might be something she will want to pursue.

I am guessing every 10 years she is going to need some money and will write a book.

At least she knew how to pleasure a guy.

tits.

Mark O said...

One who truly wishes to know the facts will read the Starr Report. There, she was under oath.

The Clintons set out to destroy Starr personally because the facts in the Report depict him in all his shallowness and debasement.

Seriously, she was 22.

Dexter said...

@Ronf,

"She was 22, cute (I'm not big on the anorexic type myself)"

Uh, whut? Monica was plump, not anorexic.

furious_a said...

She doesn't deserve to be a joke for the rest of her life for a mistake made at age 22.

Youth is no excuse -- there are 20-year-old squad leaders in Afghanistan -- but Pres. Clinton could have had the gallantry to send her away. There were more mature women closer to his own age (Nina Burleigh) willing to fellate him NQA.

William said...

She was cold blooded enough to sequester the blue dress, and she chose Linda Tripp as a confidante. I got the sense that she was working out issues from her parents' divorce and this was exactly the denouement she was hoping for. The surprise was that the mess got left on her instead of Clinton.......I've always wondered how some politicians swallow their scandals, and others get swallowed by the scandal. My theory is that the king can be lustful and exploitative, but he cannot be needy. John Edwards was needy. Rielle Hunter exploited him, perhaps more than he exploited her. That was unseemly. Clinton and the Kennedys used women like kleenexes. That was a regal vice.

cubanbob said...

Monica's problem is that everyman that sees her, sees Bill's dick in her mouth. And always will. I'm not saying that is fair but it is what it is. The best thing for her to do is to live as quiet a life as possible.

Meade said...

Ultimately, Bill Clinton's sexual harassment with Lewinsky may have cost the country privatization of Social Security and Medicare. From Wikipedia: "January 1998 – Progress on the reform agreement reached on October 28, 1997 between Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich was derailed by the Lewinsky scandal approximately a week before Clinton was to announce the initiative in his State of the Union address."

Comanche Voter said...

Why yes if I were a marrying age male in Ms. Lewinski's orbit, her past would be something to chew over before proposing.

Rabel said...

Althouse quote from Washington Post:
"the same year she spilled her guts along with some tears in a long, unpaid ABC News sit-down with Barbara Walters."

Washington Post right now:
"the same year she spilled her guts along with some tears in a long ABC News sit-down with Barbara Walters."

Wikipedia:
"Lewinsky made about $500,000 from her participation in the book and another $1 million from international rights to the Walters interview,"

Did the Post change its story?

Thorley Winston said...

Ultimately, Bill Clinton's sexual harassment with Lewinsky may have cost the country privatization of Social Security and Medicare.


I think you may be thinking of Clinton’s (half-hearted) proposal to have the federal government invest part of the Social Security “surplus” in mutual funds with the government (rather than the individual account holder) being the owner. State ownership of private enterprises is kind of the opposite of privatization.

Rabel said...

Fact-checkin' the media. It's the latest thing.

Dan in Philly said...

Compare the media treatment of Clinton to the treatment of Clarence Thomas for a good laugh.

Anonymous said...

@bagoh20 I'd be perfectly capable of talking to Monica w/o the event popping into my head - though I might want to ask her what she was thinking. I think that's a guy thing - and that's what she got at 21 but didn't get at the same time.

I feel sorry for her. She reminds me of a roommate of mine in college. She understood sex is fun and blah blah, and didn't understand she'd be penalized for it by the very same gender that favored her because? Because why? Because of everyone's essential psychological weirdness that isn't going away anytime soon no matter how much people pretend they're beyond it. Women who don't follow that route often have an innate understanding of the repercussions - unfair as they are. And they are. That's why it's called bimming out.

Joe said...

Who the hell cares? Two adults had an affair. Moreover any attempt to turn Lewinsky into a victim in any way, shape or form is ludicrous. (And anyone who links she was "innocent" is a damn fool.)

raf said...

What man would bring her home, marry her, introduce her to his parents and friends and suffer the jokes?

I dunno. Linda Lovelace got married, eventually.

Fen said...

Joe: Who the hell cares? Two adults had an affair

If you grew up being lectured by feminists about sexual harassment in the workplace (Jones), sexual discrimination in the workplace (Lewinsky) and sexual assault in the workplace (Wiley) you certainly cared.

It was the moment the feminist movement got down on their hands and knees and swallowed in exchange for a Clinton veto of a partial birth abortion ban.

True colors revealed.

Thank you Monica.

AllenS said...

Obviously, two adults had an affair, but not that often does the affair involve the president and a cigar. A cigar! I hope Monica tells us about that part of the affair. To some people, it's almost normal.