Radio host Laura Ingraham dropped a dose of reality on the Democrats’ “war on women” narrative on Fox News Tuesday night. Filling in as host of The O’Reilly Factor, Ingraham began the show with a segment about Monica Lewinsky, who resurfaced this week to write about her affair with Bill Clinton in Vanity Fair. [Video below. MP3 audio here.]
Ingraham reminded viewers that Hillary Clinton dismissed Lewinsky as a “narcissistic loony toon” in a private letter to her close friend. The Fox News substitute host charged:
The fact remains a young woman was being manipulated by the most powerful man on the planet, and Mrs. Clinton's reaction initially was to write her off as a nutcase, and of course blame the vast right wing conspiracy.
As Ingraham noted, Mrs. Clinton also blamed herself in part for being “emotionally withholding.” It’s interesting that a prominent Democrat, and a woman at that, would blame two women rather than the one man who was clearly the wrongdoer.
Ingraham then went right after the “war on women” that Democrats accuse Republicans of waging. Invoking the Lewinsky saga, the host brilliantly flipped the whole narrative on its head:
Democrats claim to champion women's rights in the workplace, for equal pay, against sexual harassment in the military, and recently against date rape on campus, but the instinct here was to duck, cover, and blame the young intern as a narcissistic loony toon who was obsessed with the president. Monica Lewinsky was used and she was tossed aside. When she became problematic for the Clintons' political ambitions, she was demeaned and discredited by the press and Clinton protectors, including Hillary herself. War on women? You bet. In the 1990s, the Clintons pioneered it.
We can only hope that other mainstream media outlets will be honest enough to make this connection if and when Mrs. Clinton launches a presidential campaign, but we fully expect the "war on women" hobby horse is far too hard for the liberal media to dismount and put out to pasture.
Below is a transcript of the complete monologue:
LAURA INGRAHAM: Hillary, Monica, and 2016. That is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. In a new essay in Vanity Fair, Monica Lewinsky acknowledges her deep regret over her sexual relationship with Bill Clinton. Although she says her relationship with the president was consensual, she also charged, “my boss took advantage of me.” In the scandal's aftermath, she became disposable. Quote, “I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.” Basically, this woman's life was ruined. Her name became radioactive, no one would hire her. Beyonce even recently mocks her in a new song. Meanwhile, Bill and Hillary Clinton, well, they went on to become one of the most powerful and most admired couples in the world.
So why does any of this matter today? Oh, as it was recently revealed in the midst of the scandal, Hillary referred to Lewinsky as a “narcissistic loony toon” in correspondence with her close friend, Diane Blair, and Mrs. Clinton, in part, even blamed herself for being emotionally withholding. So Lewinsky's reaction to that? She said, “I find her impulse to blame the woman – not only me, but herself – troubling.” The fact remains a young woman was being manipulated by the most powerful man on the planet and Mrs. Clinton's reaction initially was to write her off as a nutcase, and of course blame the vast right wing conspiracy.
When Rand Paul raised the Lewinsky saga as perhaps relevant in the examination of the overall Clinton record, he was excoriated by the media and political elites. But I say why? Democrats claim to champion women's rights in the work place, for equal pay, against sexual harassment in the military, and recently against date rape on campus, but the instinct here was to duck, cover, and blame the young intern as a narcissistic loony toon who was obsessed with the president. Monica Lewinsky was used and she was tossed aside. When she became problematic for the Clintons' political ambitions, she was demeaned and discredited by the press and Clinton protectors, including Hillary herself. War on women? You bet. In the 1990s, the Clintons pioneered it.
