Even the National Laughingstock's Joke Reporter Chris Cilizza Wonders: Why Are the Obamas and the Clintons Staying Silent About Harvey Weinstein?

Well, part of the reason might be that the media isn't ambushing them with questions demanding that they either condemn or endorse the way every Republican is tied tight to every scandal -- so maybe try that, huh?

While we're on that -- Matt Damon has a new movie coming out and he's doing publicity for it. Any chance someone in the media will ask him a question about why he allegedly called the New York Times to pressure them to drop a 2004 story about Harvey Weinstein's abuse of women?

An update: Three women allege rape, but more allege unwanted touching -- which might be sexual assault. A lot of uncomfortable stuff being reported.

The most upsetting part of the New Yorker's expose, apart from the actual alleged rapes, is the help he had in perpetrating these assaults. Help from female assistants. Women were nervous about meeting alone with him, so he'd have a female assistant or two also join a meeting -- initially. To make his target feel safe.

But then the other assistants would leave the room -- it seems implied that this was coordinated, but I'm not sure. Thus leaving the target alone with Harvey Weinstein.

Here's how deadline puts it:

The article also outlines the culture that was in place that enabled these encounters to happen. Farrow writes that he got 16 former and current executives and assistants at Weinstein companies who witnessed unwanted sexual advances and touching. One executive described a ritual in which Weinstein assistants would act as a "honeypot," initially joining a meeting but quickly exiting and leaving the women alone with Weinstein.

Update: Hillary Clinton has finally released a statement containing, as Jim Geraghty points out, a full 38 words. Given how long it took to get her to say anything, and the few words she writes (or has issued in her name, more likely) -- you can really tell she's totally serious about this.

Now where's Obama's statement?

The New York Times Reports: He Had Help. Not just in the cover-up part or the donating-to-DA's part. But in the set-up.

Even in an industry in which sexual harassment has long persisted, Mr. Weinstein stands out, according to the actresses and current and former employees of the film companies he ran, Miramax and the Weinstein Company. He had an elaborate system reliant on the cooperation of others: Assistants often booked the meetings, arranged the hotel rooms and sometimes even delivered the talent, then disappeared, the actresses and employees recounted.

That disturbs me. A lone pervert is just a pervert, but a guy with Sexual Harassment Valkyries aiding him...?

It also seems to me that this sort of thing opens up his companies to lawsuits -- maybe even Miramax's owner, Disney.

Not everyone signed one of those NDA's.

posted by Ace at 02:52 PM

| Access Comments