If Hillary Clinton Groped Men
NICHOLAS KRISTOF OCT. 15, 2016
nytimes.com
Is there a double standard for women in politics?
Imagine if it were Hillary Clinton who had had five children by threehusbands, who had said it was fine to refer to her daughter as a “piece ofass,” who participated in a radio conversation about oral sex in a hot tub,who rated men based on their body parts, who showed up in Playboy softporn videos.
Imagine if 15 men had accused Clinton of assaulting or violating them, withmore stepping forward each day.
Imagine if Clinton had held a Mr. Teen USA pageant and then marchedunannounced into the changing area to ogle the young bodies as some werenaked and, after doing the same thing at a Mr. USA pageant, marveled on aradio show at what she was allowed to get away with.
Imagine if in a primary election debate Clinton had boasted that there’s “noproblem” with the size of her vagina.
Imagine if Clinton had less experience in government or the military thanany person who has ever become president?
Imagine if she had said about a man running against her in the primaries,“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?”
Imagine if it were Clinton who had boasted, “I could stand in the middle ofFifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
Imagine if it were Clinton who had been caught on a hot mike referring in adegrading way to men’s genitals and boasting that her prominence gave herlicense to grab men’s crotches.
Imagine if she had bragged about her attempts to commit adultery — andlater reportedly sought to have fired from his job the married man whoresisted her seduction efforts.
Imagine that it were Hillary Clinton who had been accused of assault by herfirst spouse (later recanted) and later of assault in a lawsuit by a businesspartner.
Imagine if Clinton had defended herself from an accusation of molesting ayoung man by explaining, “He would not be my first choice, that I can tellyou.”
Imagine if Clinton had body shamed Donald Trump, saying that she hadobserved his rear end and concluded, “I’m not impressed, believe me.”
Imagine if Hillary Clinton had first drawn national attention not with anidealistic speech at the Wellesley commencement, but by being sued forracial discrimination by President Richard Nixon’s administration.
Imagine if she had later been quoted by a member of her staff as saying“laziness is a trait in blacks” and had retweeted white supremacists,including one honoring the American Nazi Party.
Imagine if it were Clinton who had gone through six bankruptcies andcompiled a long record of stiffing contractors, from plumbers to painters tolawyers.
Imagine if it were Clinton who had ordered $100,000 worth of pianos froma small music store in Freehold, N.J., and then announced months aftertaking delivery that she would pay only $70,000. And if the owner recalled:“Because of Clinton, my store stagnated for a couple of years. It made mefeel really bad, like I’d been taken advantage of. I was embarrassed.”
Imagine if it were Hillary Clinton who had denounced international tradewhile manufacturing shirts in Bangladesh, neck ties in China, suits inMexico and stemware in Slovenia.
Imagine that the Clintons hadgiven an interview to Peoplemagazine and, while Billstepped away to change clothes,Hillary told the maleinterviewer that she had a roomto show him — and then stuckher tongue down his throat.
Imagine if Clinton had boastedon Howard Stern’s radio showthat “in the history of theworld, nobody has got more hotmen than I have” — andreferred to those men she hadseduced as her “victims.” What if she were called a sex predator on theshow, and she nodded proudly?
Imagine if PolitiFact had judged 71 percent of Clinton’s statements that itchecked “mostly false” or worse.
Imagine that, instead of releasing 39 years of tax returns, showing mostrecently that she had paid 31 percent of her income in federal income taxes,she had refused to release any returns — and leaked pages from 1995returns indicated that she had paid no federal income taxes at all for years.
Imagine if Clinton had rampaged for a week against a former beauty queen,and even tweeted encouragement to “check out sex tape” of the woman —even though such a video did not exist.
Imagine if Clinton had said, “You know, it doesn’t really matter what [themedia] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
Imagine if Clinton had been so lecherous that her daughter, at age 17, madeher promise not to date any boy younger than 17. And if Clinton then jokedpublicly that as a result “the field is getting very limited.”
Imagine if Clinton had seemed completely ignorant of nuclear strategy andNATO yet said she knew “more about ISIS than the generals.”
87COMMENTS
Imagine if the Clinton Foundation had failed to registerproperly, had made an illegal campaign donation and hadexpended resources not on saving lives from AIDS but(possibly illegally) on two giant portraits of Hillary Clintonherself.
So is there a double standard in American politics, indeed in Americansociety, subjecting women to greater scrutiny? You decide. |
