Once I saw a stupid minor traffic accident. A car was rear-ended. I was in a position
to see that the car in front had caused the accident by changing lanes without
signaling. I stopped and gave my business card to the inhabitants of both cars so
that they could call me as a witness.
I know that I set myself up for some inconvenience, but I like to imagine that there
would be someone out there to ensure that I receive justice from the courts when I
need a witness someday. I see Tripp's actions as similar. She did what was right in
the face of a huge number of reasons to avoid doing so.
What you did and what Tripp did are not remotely similar, to my mind. What you did was laudable. What Tripp did was at a minimum a venal, mean spirited stalking of a vulnerable young woman. A premeditated utter trashing of a young life for her own gain, and sort of vindication against certain types of men. The later isn't pretty. But what is really ugly is the amount of harm she was willing to cause Lewinsky, through utter deception, to achieve her base aims.
What Tripp did to Lewinsky was far, far worse than anything Clinton did to Lewinsky. (Actually, I think Lewinsky was the real actor in the Clinton / Lewinsky drama. She saw her shot, his weakness, and she took it. She of course had her own problems.)
That's at a minimum. At a very plausible middle level of interpretation of the facts we have now, Tripp set out through a pretend friendship and concerted girl talk to either discover Lewinsky in, or if necessary goad, Lewinsky into, a bookable, and destroyable, sexual affair with the President from the get go of their "friendship." It may well have been a greed and resentment for Tripp, and greed and political revenge for Goldburg, set up from the very beginning of Tripp's Pentagon "befriending" of Lewinsky.
And who was Goldberg emailing to and phoning before this developed?? Trip was, after all, a most logical resource to work. Especially when Lewinsky ended up in the same "kick upstairs" (salary wise) Pentagon dumping ground for White House low level staffers.
Doug |
