**Written by Doug Powers
A wave of sexual assault allegations sweeping across Hollywood and politics has brought with it a renewed look at the allegations against Bill Clinton. Democrats at the time waved off the allegations from Juanita Broaddrick, Gennifer Flowers and many others as “personal” Clinton issues and nobody else’s business. Clinton’s accusers were smeared and slandered (with super-feminist Hillary leading the way at the time) in attempts to discredit them. Now that Clinton fans are being forced to confront the past, it isn’t happening without first applying a spin so dizzying it should be sponsored by Dramamine. Why did Dems laugh off accusations against Bill Clinton? Blame Republicans!
Right-wing conspiracy theories about Bill Clinton are why many doubted Broaddrick’s claims, argues @michelleinbklyn https://t.co/meVE5S6hUW
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) November 14, 2017
So Hillary’s attempt to quell “bimbo eruptions” was a right-wing disinformation campaign? Who knew!?
This is from a Times column titled “I Believe Juanita” that should have included the subtitle “Now that it can’t be politically damaging to the Clintons”:
The Clinton years, in which epistemological warfare emerged as a key part of the Republican political arsenal, show us why we should be wary of allegations that bubble up from the right-wing press. At the time, the reactionary billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife was bankrolling the Arkansas Project, which David Brock, the former right-wing journalist who played a major role in it, described as a “multimillion-dollar dirty tricks operation against the Clintons.” Various figures in conservative media accused Bill Clinton of murder, drug-running and using state troopers as pimps. Brock alleges that right-wing figures funneled money to some of Clinton’s accusers.
In this environment, it would have been absurd to take accusations of assault and harassment made against Clinton at face value.
Now there’s a talking point that might catch fire in the media. The “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” Hillary used to like to blame just got vaster!
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
