Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus suggested former President Bill Clinton was not entirely culpable for his affair with Monica Lewinsky Monday on MSNBC.
The comment came in the context of a discussion about Sen. Rand Paul's (R., Ky.) comments yesterday where he accused President Clinton of "predatory behavior" toward his former White House intern. Marcus said Republicans seem to address female sexuality only in the contexts of victimization or promiscuity.
To evidence her point, Marcus added she did not believe Monica Lewinsky was an entirely "innocent victim" in the scandal. "I recall some thong flashing there," she said.
Full exchange:
ANDREA MITCHELL: So, the Republicans still have a ways to go in figuring out --
RUTH MARCUS: What I think they need to do -- sorry to interrupt. They need to write a list of words --
MITCHELL: And libido should be at the top.
MARCUS: Don't talk rape, don't talk libido. But I think it comes to something interesting that ties together the Huckabee comments and Rand Paul comments, which is there's only two ways -- there seems to be a tendency to talk about women in two ways when it comes to sex and sexual activity, either they are terrible victims preyed on by older men as in Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton did a bad, bad thing, and Monica Lewinsky was not precisely an innocent victim, I recall some thong flashing there. So they are either innocent victims or they are sexually promiscuous, slutty, low life women. There's no sort of women get to have sex and sexual activity and with that use contraception responsibly just like men do.
MITCHELL: What a thought.
While Clinton has remained in public life and helped advance his wife's political ambitions, Lewinsky has struggled to find work largely because of the affair.