Are Bill Clinton's extra-marital affairs and scandal fair game?

[BluegrassDem]

After all, he will be back in the White House. The Republicans will bring all of Bill's women such as Monica, Kathleen Willey, Gennifer Flowers, etc., etc., etc., etc. He admitted that he's a cheater and we don't really know if he's reformed or not. Does the country wanna go through another 4 years of a parade of women on the front pages of the tabloids?

If the Clintonistas think Obama's admitted drug use is proper fodder, then how about Bill's admitted adultery? Bill's not running for president, but he'll be the first gentleman and he'll be a public figure living in the White House. He will get skewered just like any First Lady would if they had a propensity to cheat. I don't know if the country wants to endure that again.

[philosophie_en_rose]

1. Objection: Relevancy

Whether Bill Clinton - a potential first spouse - has that in his background does not make any of Hillary Clinton's statements more or less probable.

[Bluebear]

2. 'all of Bill's women such as Monica, Kathleen Willey, Gennifer Flowers, etc., etc., etc., etc.'

All due respect, it sounds as though it irritates you as much as you say it distresses Republicans.

[belpejic]

31. I'm trying to tune out Bubba

It doesn't diminish my respect for Big Dog at all--I think he was a great president, all things considered--but I don't intend to let his views unduly influence mine wrt to this election cycle. And please, do we really want to revisit the Great Clinton Cock Wars? Maybe we should start a branch of the Clinton Cock Militia here at DU. I, for one, don't want to go there. But I still think Kenny Pornstarr was a trip.

[Dark]

3. As far as the republicans are concerned: yes.

The rest of the electorate, however ...

BTW, personally, it's been a DECADE. Let it go, fucking republicans.

[karynnj]

14. Obama's drug use was over TWO Decades ago

and before he went to college! Bill Clinton's offenses continued in the oval office as President. Not to mention if the real concern is that the Republicans could use it, remember that what they use doesn't even have to be true. It might be harder to use drug usage, that Obama was the source on and explained it in context.

[denem]

4. Is Obama's ex-gay fetish fair game?

I knew there HAD to be a reason he billed McClurkin. It's just sex. How low do you want to go? Hillary likes lesbians? Edwards likes anyone with enough cash? The last time I looked, extra-marital sex was not a felony.

[readmoreoften]

6. I don't get the cheatin' vibe off Edwards.

And, boy, I don't get the cheatin' vibe off DK. You want someone who ain't never gonna stray on his woman--DK's your man.

[denem]

9. DK! Agreed.

As for John Edwards, I was not being serious (about sex anyway). I can not see him cheating on Elizabeth.

[gateley]

16. Remember a story about Edwards cheating came up recently, but died a FAST

death. I don't think "they" will try it again since nobody fell for it.

[Heidi]

5. How would this be relevant? Those women were all consenting adults.

How the affair impacted or didn't impact his marriage is between him and his spouse. It's none of our business whether he's "reformed."

For what it's worth, the only thing I had to endure during the Clinton years was my own anger about so many people getting their knickers in a twist over sexual behavior that was none of their business to begin with.

[BluegrassDem]

7. Well the Clinton campaign wants to mudsling and get dirty

They must realize that if they wanna get nasty negative, then Bill Clinton's multiple cheating episodes along with impeachment is valid for attacks from the other side.

[Heidi]

8. Bill Clinton is not a candidate, and I doubt that he's calling the shots

in Sen. Clinton's campaign. I personally do not like to see these tactics used by one Democrat against another, whether it's in a campaign or in a DU discussion. Your mileage may vary.

[oasis]

10. "impeachment". What side were you on during that Republican fiasco?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

28. Boy, it all comes out, doesn't it?

[Perry Logan]

11. There's also the sad fact that many DUers will ally with the Right to help smear the Clintons.

They are already doing so.

[hedgehog]

12. Some day when we've had an effective Democratic President in the

White House a few years, we'll look back at Bill Clinton and shudder. Say what you will, a 50ish executive had an office affair with a young woman from the secretarial pool. The young woman in question had a sexual history suggestive of early emotional and/or sexual abuse. The activity they engaged in can be viewed as placing the woman in a secondary role. Literally and figuratively, it was not a meeting between equals.

Impeachable offense? No, but in any university, corporation or attorneys' firm, Bill would have been out on his ear mighty fast. He might have been given a golden parachute, but he would have been gone. The young woman would have been paid off to keep her quiet.

I am convinced that if we had not been so busy defending Bill from the rabid right, we might have noticed his policies came straight from the DLC.

[amandabeech]

29. I noticed his DLC tendencies when he was running in the primaries in '92.

You are so right that in any other setting he would have been out on his ear. Frankly, I thought that he should have resigned, and I was very disappointed that more Democratic women gave him a pass when they'd been asking for his head in any other setting. Imagine if he'd been president of Harvard. He'd be hiding out in Arkansas in disgrace. Maybe Hillary'd have divorced him.

Impeachable, no. Unsupportable, yes.

Don't forget that he ceased to govern while this was going on.

That guy is so much an addict it's pathetic. I wish that Ford's book got more play on that subject.

[Vickers]

13. After 8 years of no sex in the White House, it'll be a welcome relief.

Oops, I forgot about Jeff Gannon.

[Auntie Bush]

32. lol

so every time the Rethugs bring up the subject of Bill and sex...We should bring up Jeff Gannon and a host of others hypocritical false prophet slime balls that have fallen from grace. No, I don't think we'll have to worry about Rethugs bring up sex and Clinton without getting slammed right back in the head.

[Sparkly]

15. "Fair" and "proper" don't apply to political campaigns.

Rightwingers have been saying what you did ("the country doesn't want to endure that again") for a long time now. Nothing new there.

[Clintonista2]

17. It's not a felony to have an affair

nice try though.

[provis99]

18. No its not illegal. But many voters see it as immoral.

A voter doesn't vote for a candidate simply because he hasn't committed a crime. Morality is an issue that voters also vote on.

[Clintonista2]

24. I have no problem with them bringing up the affairs

Nothing has helped to boost the clintons' popularity ratings then that. But the question was "should it be fair game," not "will it be fair game."

[MaineDem]

19. He's not the candidate!

And you can't blame his wife for his actions.

[blm]

20. Big difference - Bill only admitted affairs under oath as a court action while Obama admitted

his use of drugs as a teen openly without a court procedure.

So, yeah, that means something must be more wrong with Obama. heheh

[Cameron27]

21. Fair game?

Sure I guess, but Clinton was publicly humiliated in Congress for his affairs. He was almost removed from office because of his affairs. How much more punishment should he get? Are extramarital affairs considered felonies?

Oh, and Bill isn't running.

[DrFunkenstein]

22. Did He Admit to Having Sexual Relations?

I know he didn't have the courage to admit that he inhaled, but I was sure how much he confessed to personally.

[Cameron27]

23. Besides his wife, was it anyone's business?

Was it illegal?

[bpeale]

25. as long as it is in the public domain it is fair game

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

26. Anything, and I mean ANYTHING that might affect voters in the general is fair game in the primaries

[annie1]

27. Sure they are. They're old hat and boring, but fair enough.

[MadBadger]

30. Hard to say

My first instinct was absolutely not. But then again, do I want to hear all this stuff all over again? And Id also say absolutely not.