Hillary Clinton Quietly Withdrew Her Statement That Victims Of Sexual Assault Should Be Believed
Throughout her political career, Hillary Clinton was actively involved in destroying the reputation and credibility of the many women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual impropriety. She routinely declared that women like Monica Lewinsky, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Dolly Kyle Browning were liars. She was even willing to question their sanity; she famously declared that Lewinsky was a “narcissistic loony toon.” At least three separate, independent investigative works — including works by Christopher Hitchens and former Justice Department Attorney Larry Klayman — state that Hillary was actively involved in the Clinton Campaign’s so-called “war room,” the group of high-level aides who used private detectives and an army of lawyers to silence and intimidate anyone who levelled accusations at Bill Clinton.
It was something of a head-scratcher, then, when Hillary Clinton’s campaign began to paint her as a champion of sexual assault victims. When it first launched, Hillary Clinton’s campaign website had a message for women who alleged that they had been the victims of sexual assault. “You have the right to be believed, and we’re with you,” the website read. Clinton doubled down on that position last September when she tweeted that every sexual assault survivor had “the right to be believed.”
Juanita Broaddrick wasn’t buying it. Broaddrick is intimately familiar with how involved Hillary Clinton was in efforts to silence the voices of women who came forward against Bill. Juanita Broaddrick accused Bill Clinton of forcibly raping her in 1978 (although her allegations did not go public until the 1990’s) and since her claims were made public, Broaddrick has born the same brunt of accusation and innuendo that were wielded against all the women who stood up to Bill Clinton. Specifically, Broaddrick accused Hillary Clinton of directly attempting to silence her.
Soon after her tweet that every victim of sexual assault had the right to be believed, Hillary Clinton was asked at a campaign event if the women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment and assault, including Broaddrick, deserved to be believed as well. “Well,” Clinton responded with a broad smile, “I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence.” It was an obvious shot at the legion of women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, and it infuriated Broaddrick. She immediately tweeted “I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me.”
The tweet went viral and reignited the debate over Hillary’s role in how her husband handled his accusers — and on the broader debate of much credibility those accusers should be given, and on whether Bill Clinton’s actions should have any bearing on Hillary’s campaign at all.
How did Clinton, the self-proclaimed champion of victims navigate the fallout? Did she use the opportunity to initiate a national dialogue about sexual assault? Did she reach out to victims? Did she choose to reexamine Bill’s legacy, or better articulate her role in it?
No, of course she didn’t.
In true Clintonian fashion, she simply washed her hands of the whole affair. Buzzfeed is reporting that Hillary Clinton removed the line “[y]ou have the right to be believed” from her website shortly after Broaddrick’s tweet went viral. Hillary Clinton decided that it was easier to drop the mantle of “defender of victims” than it was to confront her husband’s painful legacy, or to address the many issues his presidency raised regarding women.
This should really come as no surprise. Hillary Clinton executes flip-flops with all the ease of a kite-flyer, shifting from one position to another whenever the political winds favor a new direction. Clinton has no values; her only concern is political expedience. To Hillary Clinton, victims of sexual assault are merely one more group to pander to — or, in this case, one more group to abandon whenever the winds grow rough.
The Clinton campaign has declined to comment on the edit.
