Monica Lewinsky: Hey, You Know What, I'm The First Victim of Internet Bullying

I don't know what the hell to say.

At the midpoint of the clip, she lists the various invectives thrown at her -- "slut," "tramp," "floozie," etc.

One word she doesn't mention is "stalker." While she casts her claims fairly widely, she seems to avoid throwing any blame at the Clinton White House.

In his deposition Wednesday, [top Clinton aide Sidney] Blumenthal testified that he had no knowledge or involvement in spreading derogatory information about Lewinsky to the media.

"I have no idea how anything came to be attributed to a White House source," he said.

"Mr. Blumenthal stated that Monica Lewinsky had been a 'stalker' and that the president was 'the victim' of a predatory and unstable sexually demanding young woman," Hitchens statement reads. "Referring to Ms. Lewinsky, Mr. Blumenthal used the word 'stalker' several times."

Hitchens went on to say, "I have personal knowledge that Mr. Blumenthal recounted to other people in the journalistic community the same story about Monica Lewinsky that he told to me and Carol Blue."

I don't know what to make of Monica Lewinsky's efforts to cast herself as the First Victim of the Internet Bullying Culture.

On one hand, I understand it, on an emotional level: She wants her life back.

But on the other hand, I'm a bit mystified as to how she seems shocked and betrayed that she went from a "private person" to a national punchline with the revelation she had had a fairly tawdry affair with the President of the United States of America, in the Oval Office itself.

I'm pretty sure it went through her mind (and Bill's, too): OMG, I can't believe I'm doing this in the Oval Office.

Well, it went through our minds as well.

I'm also annoyed that she continues to pretend that her own actions had nothing to do with this.

But I'm only mildly annoyed by that.

What I'm really annoyed by is her determination to both claim victim status while remaining a Loyal Democrat and therefore refusing to lay any blame at Bill Clinton's feet, or Sidney Blumenthal's.

It wasn't Republicans who went to the Nuts and Sluts defense that had worked for Clinton before. Obviously, Republicans wanted Lewinsky to be a credible witness, not one tarnished by the Nuts and Sluts categorization.

And yet through all this Lewinsky just blames "the internet," "the media," and people as a general matter.

Well, as one of the four billion people who talked about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair in 1998 -- I would put forth the four billion other people who found this to be a newsworthy story.

Were they all wrong?

No they weren't.

So I'm afraid I have to reject Ms. Lewinsky's attempt to shame me. Yes, the fallout for her was unfortunate, personally. But the story was newsworthy, and the witnesses to it were lying about it (except for Linda Tripp, of course, who was personally destroyed by the Democrat Media Complex).

It was more of a story because those involved lied about it. Clinton lied about it to a judge's face.

I don't think Monica Lewinsky deserved all this -- those who experience the very worst possible penalty for misbehavior rarely deserve it; I mean, look at the millions of people who have affairs and suffer hardly any consequence at all -- but I also refuse to accept that I'm to blame for the inevitable consequences for actions I had nothing to do with.

I'm sure a lot of other people feel similarly.

posted by Ace at 04:26 PM

| Access Comments