Comments

1
1. Boys will be boys
2. Non-apology
3 "Hillary is an ENABLER of rape culture."
4
What the fucking fuck does Bill Clinton have to do with anything? Newsflash, you grotesque orange asshat: BILL ISN'T RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. This continued attempt to tie Bill to Hillary is so nakedly patriarchal and moronic...Hillary really needs a good line to end this cowardly, sexist bullshit once and for all.
5
@4 No, but Hillary "Bimbo Eruption" Clinton is. I find it amusing that the people who give The Clintons passes for Juanita Broaddrick are the ones getting hot under the collar about "Grab 'em by the pussy."
6
This is gross and makes me terribly angry. Donald Trump's campaign is over.
7
look, trump was only 59 when he said this. what heterosexual man isn't an immature sexist at that age? now that he's 70, no one respects women more.
9
I doubt this is "the straw that broke the camel's back" for any fence sitters.
10
I think maybe "believe women" means sexual assault victims should always be taken seriously and treated with respect, and it's the role of our social institutions to give their accusations as facts that must be verified or disproved. It's a distinction between the approach of an investigator and a trial judge.

But does any of that mean that it's the job of the spouse of the accused to take every accusation at face value and publicly announce that they stand with the person who is potentially going to break up their family? "We" should believe rape victims, but we're not asking anyone to throw their own spouse and their own family under the bus. It's not the spouse's job to advocate for the accuser, any more than it's the defense attorney's job to advocate for anyone but the accused.

The Right is telling us that the only way rape victims can be treated with basic human decency is to place every spouse in an impossible position. And therefore let's not treat rape victims with basic human decency? No. How about we give the spouse a pass and accept that it's *our* job, the job of everyone except the accused's family, to support victims of sexual assault?

Is that too much nuance?
11
@10 Reworded: It's ok to throw a rape victim under the bus as long as you're the alleged rapist's wife.
13
@12 That only ever seems to be the case depending if you like the person.

Bryan Singer: OMG, a gay man corrupted a teenage boy! He's a filthy pervert!!
Bill Clinton: How could Bill Clinton ever be sexually aggressive? I agree with Hillary, that woman is a no good liar!
15
@14 Oh right. You're the person who thinks Bill Cosby isn't still denying the claims made against him. And, you're willing to give Bill and Hillary a pass for their conduct because it's only he said she said.

Carry on...
16
No idea what you're on about, Misantrope. Did Bill Clinton try to hump your leg at some point?
17
@16 Are you too young to remember Juanita Broaddrick? LMGTFY.
18
HIllary defending and enabling Bill's multiple rapes alone disqualifies her for the office of POTUS (not to mention leaving four brave Americans to die in Benghazi), and today's Wikileaks bombshells certainly don't make her look like a piker. Real Americans have had enough with the corrupt Clinton family, and all their mafia-like maneuvers (see Foster, Vince), and they will be heard on Election Day.

Practice saying President Trump!
19
You liberal fascists are all in a tizzy because an alpha male like Donald Trump likes having sex. Go hit yourselves with your man purses, and let REAL MEN run America.
21
@18, 19: Trump and supporters (you) are scared little emasculated pigs.
22
@18/19:

You know, it would be so much easier to avoid treading on you if you'd just get up off your knees and stop licking the jack boots of your troglodyte idols.
23
i listened to the tape. he's bullshitting, exaggerating, as usual. i don't know that it really rises above the level of "locker room" talk you'd hear between, say, construction workers in NYC. everyone in DC and the media tut-tutting this is rich. ryan's cancelled an event in WI with him on Sat. the debate on Sunday should be sooper edifying.

i have no idea what "i moved on her like a bitch" means. he didn't do it well?
24
Lord Basil's like a stupider and somehow more paranoid Seattleblues. I've said it before, but I actually miss the rhetoric and discourse SB actually brought to these threads.
25
@17
Would love to see this new found information that you've been sitting on all these years.

Or perhaps you are just full if shit, as you always are.
26
You really do take every opportunity to make yourself into a contemptible asshole, don't you Misanthrope? It's astonishing, that you then feign outrage when people treat you like one. I guess it fits for your screen name.

Also, yeah, no surprises here. Trump has thought of himself as the newer version of Hugh Hefner since he was in his 30s (while he studied at the feet of that spider Roy Cohn). But Hefner is better at pretending he has some measure of class.
27
@23:

So, if he had been referring to your mother, or sister, or wife, or daughter, or any other woman you know it would be totally okay, because, "hey, just a little BS locker room banter between bros"?
28
@25 Bill was never exonerated from Broaddrick. Or tried. She was a very rapey footnote in the Monica story. To this day, Broaddrick has maintained her story is true.

Do you have further evidence to exonerate Bill and excuse Hillary's behavior or are you just white knighting rape culture yourself?
29
@26:

Yeah, remember TRUMP Magazine?

That's okay, neither does anyone else...
30
@26 *yawn* Of course Clinton's supporters immediately go to ad hominem attacks rather than deal with the problematic nature of their own candidate.
31
@30:

So, you don't deny you're a contemptible asshole...
32
@31 I reflect the best of commenters here.
33
@22, best comment ever.
34
@32, you reflect the 2016 version of people addicted to Kennedy murder conspiracies.
36
@35 I'm not voting for Trump. I'm not voting for Clinton. I'm voting third party. Regardless of their failures, at least they're not promoters of rape culture like both of the major party candidates.
38
I gues this means no Bunga Bunga parties at the White House. Silvio will be bummed.
39
If this recording is the reason for the final implosion of the Trump phenomena it is a very very stupid reason. But, when you are stuck with the flat out stupidest electorate in the developed world (or even the developing world, excluding the Philippines) you have to take what you can get.

@36 You are a paragon of virtue. Your pristine conscience glowing so brightly we are all blinded.
40
@28:

The problem with Broaddick isn't so much her allegation per se, but that she waited a full 22 years to make the charge, and only did so after Hillary announced her intention to run for Senate, further complicated by her 1997 affidavit during the Paula Jones civil suit denying she was raped, as well as her inconclusive testimony to Kenneth Star's impeachment investigation in 1994, not to mention her tendency to wallow the usual panoply of anti-Hillary conspiracy theories, such as the ludicrous claim that she murdered Vince Foster, among others, all summed up in her rather strange obsession, not with her alleged rapist, but rather with his wife.

So yeah, a rapey footnote, who thusfar, when given multiple opportunities to present her case in a court or other legal proceeding has not only declined to do so, but who has in fact attested under oath that the charges she made were false. So, you might forgive the youngsters in the room for not having followed her case with the same level of intense scrutiny you yourself have.
41
@40 I dunno. If I remember right, the 1970s weren't exactly the best time to bring up rape charges against a male celebrity with more power than you. Neither were the 80s (Anita Hill, anybody?). Nor the 90s. Hell, even today. Rape victims get run through the fucking mud. Can you blame a woman for trying to avoid the rather harsh spotlight?

Also, I can't believe you played the "she's not actually a victim; she's just obsessed with Hillary" defense? That's rather obscene, don't you think?
42
@27: wow, that never occurred to me. and to think i'd been planning to vote for him up to this point.
43
Is it even possible to grab someone by the pussy?
44
@41 Hillary personally threatened her under the guise of a firm handshake while she said, "it's very great to meet you." She has talked at length on Hannity about it. You should check it out. It's mind blowing.

The Clinton's are as viscious as mobsters. They killed Kathleen Willey's cat and sent a jogger to tell her about it. Just Google it!
46
@41 Wondering how are you and the the likes of Lord Basil doing, huddling together on your last patch of scorched earth as it disappears below the quicksand? Can we get you something? Some water? Some water and a cyanide pill?
47
40
Anita Hill.
48
Rape Culture Is Running for President.
and so is Donald.
49
The only surprising bit to me is how this or something similar didn't come out before today given that Trump has left a large visible slimy path over the last 40 years and this recording is likely only the tip of the iceberg.

As for rape culture, one needs only consider the Ailes, the Cosbies and so many other powerful men who abuse women to see that Trump is probably not idle talking or joking as some put it.

50
Let's take a trip back in time: Clinton had a number of women say they've had sex with him. Only one - Juanita Broderick - accused him of rape, and she's gone back and forth on the story. She said in her affidavit in the Paula Jones case that it didn't happen, but then said on "Nightline" that it did. Even Ken Starr - who was not particularly concerned about ethics - thought her testimony wasn't reliable.

The rest of it is just AM radio nonsense that has trickled into the mainstream, like all of the accusations against the Clintons.

Now, twenty years later, we are presented with actual audio tape of Trump being odious about women. That's not Bill and Hillary Clinton's fault.

51
@44:

The actual quote Broaddrick relates is " "we want to thank you for everything that you do for
Bill", hardly the sort of phrase one equates with an overt - or even covert - threat. And again, this supposedly took place in 1978, and yet she didn't "disclose" the incident until 2000, after Secretary Clinton declared her Senate candidacy. So, why wait more than 30 years to drop a "bombshell", and then couch it in such ambivalent language that anyone could read literally anything into the alleged "threat"? And why is her wrath always directed at Hillary and not at Bill?
52
Trumps crudeness and endorsement of rape only shocks people with a conscience, it won't effect most Trump supporters.
54
Ladies, you've all said something to the effect of "grabbing a guy by the balls." Have you reconciled your contribution to "rape culture?"
55
@54: They all have?

@Juanita Broaddrick: No police report, no indictment, no trial, no conviction = no rape.
56
@54, what the Fuckity what what?
57
@54:

Let me guess: you've never been touched on any part of your body by a female, have you?
58
Wow, the asshole men have crawled and slimed their way out of the woodwork in droves here. I always suspected that Trump's major appeal was to childish, highly insecure men who also felt pussy whipped. Now I'm sure of it.

"But Billy did it, too" wasn't a defense any adult would buy when you were a kid, so why do you think it would work now? Grow up.

No Republican with morals, ethics, a conscience, or a fully functioning brain would defend Trump's remarks.

And all you UW and WASU frat boys who think you're being cute, go have another beer and shut up. And you obsessed gamer boys, real life isn't a game. Turn off the device, and go out into the world to interact with real flesh and blood women. I dare you.
59
Jesus Christ--what a pathetic trolling display by the idiots for Donald Dick! This is further overwhelming proof that Trump and its supporters are easily swayed, woefully ignorant, embarrassingly infantile, scared as hell, and full of shit.
and @58 Purris and all who agree: Thank you.
60
I love how all the misogynists come crawling out of the woodwork to defend Broadrick after all the time they spent crowing over the Duke lacrosse team etc etc.
62
@29: Honestly, I had completely forgotten it used to be a thing. Based on the covers in that article, that's probably for the best.

@30: You realize how often you include "*yawn*" in your comments? It's... rather a lot. You are also responding to stimuli that doesn't exist. In this case, me (or this article) mentioning Hillary Clinton. You should probably speak to a doctor about this digital narcolepsy, and possible early stages of schizophrenia you're exhibiting.

@50: Thank you. If only facts didn't have a "liberal bias," maybe this point wouldn't have to be made so often.
63
now now.

no one is defending Donald.

the odious little bastard.

the relevant fact, however, is that Slick Willie (and the voters who re-elected him) so lowered the bar on what is acceptable behavior from a President that Donald's disgusting comments won't even budge the outrage meter except for those horrible boring smarmy people who prattle on on MSNBC in the evenings.
64
@63:

And also apparently about half the GOP leadership - so far...
65
64
True.
We can't wait to give those feckless pussies their walking papers.
67
66

Peace Brother.

Recognizing what an Evil Bitch Hillary is is not the same as being a 'Trump Supporter'.
69
And now we watch the inevitable shit storm as the Far Right consumes itself.

*Grabs popcorn *
70
@69 - We can only hope and pray... I'll bring the soda.
71
@69 I'm thinking more troll vs troll. But what the hell,

*grabs a bag of peanuts*.
72
I doubt Trump will actually pull a Clinton and share victory cigars in the oval office with teenage interns after he wins.
73
@72:

No, he'd be more likely to invite Putin in for a victory Partagas and TRUMP brand vodka shots...
74
68

well, OK; now we feel bad….
75
I'll vote for Hillary. The Broaddrick case is a red flag. I grew up in that era and have to tell you from personal experience, it was far harder to get anyone (man or woman) to listen to you then. You had to show physical injuries and if you were dressed remotely "provocative", out drinking, or still seen publicly with the A-hole afterward (because he was your boss, your professor, your neighbor, your workmate or whatever), you were ignored or ridiculed. Back then, it wasn't rape or even sexual harassment. That kind of experience scars you.

That was the reality. It still is. I'm sorry, but I can't excuse Bill Clinton's 'peccadilloes' anymore than I can Trump's 'boy bathroom talk'.

Trying to weigh which one is more or less offensive becomes a loser's game. There's no winner here.

76
@74:

That's probably because you missed taking your medication...
77
@75, I believe Juanita's claims about Bill. But to me, her statement about Hillary's "thanking her for everything she's done..." being code for her keeping silent is questionable. From everything that is known about Bill's affairs, he tried to hide them from Hillary until outed by others. The fundraising event where Hillary made this comment happened three weeks after the assault. Juanita didn't come forward until two decades later. Do you really think Bill told Hillary he had raped a woman right after the event, when there was no reason for him to have admitted this? That seems pretty unlikely.

78
@77:

It's also worth noting that Broaddrick herself later admitted to having been engaged in an affair with a married man at the time (she was also married, and eventually divorced her husband and married the man with whom she was having the liaison), which no doubt would have come out in any deposition had she attempted to accuse Clinton at the time, thus seriously impeaching her character as well as her testimony.

It's all very messy and complicated and sordid and sad and the truth is we will never know for certain what may or may not have occurred. Neither party held claim to a moral high-ground at the time, and don't even to this day. But regardless, I don't see how Trump attempting to somehow pin Clinton's behavior on his wife, essentially engaging in a round of misogynistic victim-blaming, brings any benefit to either himself or his campaign.
79
Comte dear, I wasn't going to bring that up, but I've often wondered if the rape wasn't actually a case of domestic violence involving one of those men that she wanted to cover up from the other or from her roommate at the hotel where the assault allegedly happened.

And the idea that an innocuous remark in a receiving line was actually a veiled threat is something that only someone like Our Dear Commentor Comltatus could believe.
80
@77, I read the Slate's articles (1999 and 2016 ones) about the Broaddrick case.

As I stated, I'll vote for Hillary.

To answer your question, would Bill Clinton tell his wife he raped a woman right away? No. I also think Bill Clinton sincerely believes rape and sexual harassment are wrong. The dissonance between actions and beliefs are what make things so, so hard.

I cannot forgive Bill Clinton or Donald Trump for their treatment of women. It's a loser's game trying to defend, deny, and explain or compare away their actions. There's no winner here.

I don't know why, but people invariably end up focusing and passing judgement on the women's character, actions, and reputation Just look at the mental gymnastics used to condemn Ms. Broaddrick's action in 1978. People used 2016 standard and culture to examine actions then. Look at the questions people asked: "Why didn't she do this or that? Why would a raped woman behave that way?"

Sorry, there wasn't a clear guide, then or now, on how raped people or people going through sexual harassment should behave. Prostitutes get raped. Divorced women get raped. Women having affairs get raped. They can be groped against their wish and sexually harassed. It's not a virginal thing. Not a loyal spousal thing. Not a woman only thing.

Sadly, I think the speculations harms Hillary Clinton and Ms. Broaddrick (and all the other women in these men's lives) more than they hurt Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.

81
@80, I agree with everything you wrote. This debate is going to be ugly. I've already broken out the wine.
82
"Zucker, forced to be diplomatic—my god, do women ever have to learn to be diplomatic"

This shit gets old and I wish disgusting men would stop putting women in these positions, and I wish women had the power to stop it when it happened without repercussion.

This also ceased to be private locker-room banter when they verbally accosted a professional actress at work while she was trying to do her job and tag-teamed her to force her hand in participating in your nasty sexist fuckery.

83
@57:

Yes, I have been groped by women - particularly in the dance club (back when I frequented that sort of place eons ago). I've been groped at the gay bar too (by men). I mean groped literally: hands on penis and ass.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.