For those who may not know, it was 17 years ago today that President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for lying under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was, of course, later acquitted during his trail in the Senate and finished out the remainder of his term. Clinton was the first (and still only) president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson in 1868.

This isn't really meant to be a political discussion (which is why I put it here), but rather a topic about the cultural aspect of this infamous event. How many posters here are old enough to have had an opinion on this when it was happening? I was just a 6th grader myself at the time so I didn't really care that much about it one way or the other, but I do clearly remember "I did not have sexual relations with that woman", older kids making jokes about cigars, and having a few uncomfortable conversations with my parents about Monica's blue dress. I also remember being upset that August when Saturday morning cartoons were preempted so that ABC could air Clinton's hours long grand jury testimony in full.

Just for fun, here's a look back at how that news covered that fateful day 17 years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCJiHzE3zJY

I was still pretty young during these days, I didn't even know about the scandal until 2000/01 when he was on his way out. Man if I had been my age back then, damn that would been must see TV live!! :D :D :D  Bill's scandal was a VERY big deal considering he was the SECOND president getting impeached! ;D  But he was a grown man and he ultimately decided his own fate.

I have this strange feeling that people kind of forgave him, as a collective, because the economy was so good during that era.

I have this strange feeling that people kind of forgave him, as a collective, because the economy was so good during that era.


This. Imagine Bush doing the same exact thing, he would've been roasted

I have this strange feeling that people kind of forgave him, as a collective, because the economy was so good during that era.


Pretty much. I know that most American's said that they didn't think the scandal was a big deal because Bill's sex life was his personal business, but I'm fairly certain that it would've been a different story if 1998 hadn't been a year with unemployment at 4% and a stable world stage. Interestingly enough, Bill's job approval ratings actually went UP in early 1998 after Monicagate came to light, and then again after he was impeached by the House, peaking at around 70% in January 1999.

Also, many pundits at the time said that the impeachment would forever tarnish Clinton's legacy, but I'm not really sure that's the case anymore. These days, most polls show Bill as the most popular politician in the United States, with a sizable number of people openly wishing he could run for a third term as president. It seems like, almost 20 years later, the whole impeachment mess has really become an afterthought.

http://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2013/01/25/4797f5a2-a645-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/0d7b7af73998b6f65609ddb5b3204109/en_0125_Rewind_ClintonLewinsky.jpg

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman".

http://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2013/01/25/4797f5a2-a645-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/0d7b7af73998b6f65609ddb5b3204109/en_0125_Rewind_ClintonLewinsky.jpg

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman".


;D

Pretty much. I know that most American's said that they didn't think the scandal was a big deal because Bill's sex life was his personal business, but I'm fairly certain that it would've been a different story if 1998 hadn't been a year with unemployment at 4% and a stable world stage. Interestingly enough, Bill's job approval ratings actually went UP in early 1998 after Monicagate came to light, and then again after he was impeached by the House, peaking at around 70% in January 1999.

Also, many pundits at the time said that the impeachment would forever tarnish Clinton's legacy, but I'm not really sure that's the case anymore. These days, most polls show Bill as the most popular politician in the United States, with a sizable number of people openly wishing he could run for a third term as president. It seems like, almost 20 years later, the whole impeachment mess has really become an afterthought.


The economy was so great (not perfect, I'm sure) from 1996 to 2000.

This. Imagine Bush doing the same exact thing, he would've been roasted


I can't imagine.  :o

This. Imagine Bush doing the same exact thing, he would've been roasted


Republicans run elections on a platform of "family values" so they are held to a higher standard when it comes to things like adultery.

Nonetheless, I remember Clinton being quite a joke in the late '90s.  I really think Monica Lewinsky and the impeachment scandal was enough to tip the election in favor of George Bush in 2000.  Without it, Gore would have won in a landslide.  A lot of people voted for Bush because the wanted a return to traditional family values.  When it comes to the economy, it doesn't get much better than Clinton's late 1990s.

I was in the 6th grade also when this happened. And I'm really fuzzy on the topic. Like I remember watching a few new reports on it in class, but I only remember wondering why he was getting kicked out for having an affair (I was 12, I didn't even know MJ had siblings then, how was I supposed to know he'd perjured himself?) And I spent years believing a President could get kicked out for being unfaithful. LOL
Also, I didn't know at the time what an impeachment was so I heard that and kept thinking "Why is he getting a bunch of peaches?"

Thank God I picked up a book!

I was in the 6th grade also when this happened. And I'm really fuzzy on the topic. Like I remember watching a few new reports on it in class, but I only remember wondering why he was getting kicked out for having an affair (I was 12, I didn't even know MJ had siblings then, how was I supposed to know he'd perjured himself?) And I spent years believing a President could get kicked out for being unfaithful. LOL
Also, I didn't know at the time what an impeachment was so I heard that and kept thinking "Why is he getting a bunch of peaches?"

Thank God I picked up a book!



You didn't know about the Jackson 5?! :o ???

I can't imagine.  :o


but Bush has a wife.

but Bush has a wife.


Yes, yes he does.

Yes, yes he does.


I can't see him cheating on his wife.

Pretty much. I know that most American's said that they didn't think the scandal was a big deal because Bill's sex life was his personal business,


There's a generational gap here that the Republicans completely failed to grasp.  They were targeting Silents, not Boomers, in large part because most of the people organizing campaigns were Silents.  I had an issue with perjury and the lack of professionalism displayed by a boss screwing around with his subordinates, but I was sympathetic to the notion that as long as he didn't let it get in the way of his job (which he didn't, until he got caught) the sex itself wasn't an issue.

<csb>
My parents are either very young silents or very old boomers, depending on whose books you read.  Grandparents were silents.  Mom and Grandma were livid:  they preferred Clinton to Bush, but when the revelations came out, Grandma couldn't comprehend how the cigar got mentioned in the Starr Report, which should have been censored for indecensy, and Mom actually used the word traitor.  I asked her some direct questions with a bewildered look on my face - and concluded she could literally see no distinction between a man who'd "breaking the marriage oath, he'll break his oath of office."  To this day I've never understood it.  Neither of them was particularly religious or conservative.

Dad just smiled and sipped his beer, whispering to me that while he'd never cheat on Mom, he'd have thought that Bill would have had better taste in women.  "If you're going to risk your political future, do it like Kennedy and bone Marilyn Monroe.  Bill could have done at least as well."
</csb>

What I'm getting at is that the GOP strategists were predicting, incorrectly, that the older generations of America would react like mom and grandma: "Adulterer == criminal == traitor".  It didn't work.  By the late 90s, people like my mother and grandmother were a minority, even amongst older female potential voters.  Most older people shrugged their shoulders and remembered Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.  Bill could have had better taste in women, but who are any of us to judge?

The message aimed at younger generations: "Boss screwing subordinate == sexual harassment lawsuit == fire them to prevent the company" -- that message fell just as flat, because it's not an ethical message to begin with.  If the business can protect itself from a potential sexual harassment lawsuit by firing a middle manager, you fire the middle manager because middle managers are a dime a dozen.  If the same business's CEO is banging his secretary, the right thing to do is that as long as everybody's consenting and his wife doesn't give a damn, you let them do it, because the scandal is bad for the stock price.

I don't pretend my generation has better codes of professionalism than the one that came before it.  My generation's ethics in business are actually the same as they were from 50 years ago; we're just honest about telling each other what the code says:  don't get caught.  If you get caught and it's cheaper to hang you out to dry, you get fired.  If you get caught as the CEO, cover it up and if you can't cover it up, ignore it.  As long as it didn't screw up the economy (it didn't) or otherwise compromise his ability to do his job (it didn't), we didn't care who he was banging.  (And we didn't!)

I think Slick Willy had a tremendous social secretary/advisor/image consultant.  I didn't really care that he was having an oral affair with Monica.  It's his business, not mine, as long as he's still able to make the decisions that need to be made at the time (and if Hillary didn't divorce him because of it, then she's alright with it.)  Who am I to judge?  My twenties were wrought with things I should not have done, but thankfully, didn't get anything major as a consequence.  (Boy was I lucky!)  So, I guess, at the time, it didn't really matter to me.

I thought it amazing that he was able to skate around the whole "I smoked marijuana, but didn't inhale" (until I actually tried it myself.)  Yeah, I sucked at smoking too.  ;) ;D  It always went out, so it never was my thing either.  :o ;D ;)

He was riding on a powerful "cool guy" image from playing sax with the Arsenio Hall (late night talk show) band when he trying to get elected and that was pretty cool.  I couldn't see any of those "old" farts that usually run even staying up past 10 to watch any of those shows, let alone being on one.