A little Monica - yes, THAT Monica

I found an article about an article on Monica Lewinsky yesterday, and it was so well written (and short), I wanted to share it. It's from The Huffington Post, one of my favorite blogs, in a column called Eat the Press. It's a brilliant piece by Rachel Sklar, a witty woman the same age as Lewinsky. I was laughing before I even read the article - even the title is funny. Anyway, here's the piece, and I'll offer my thoughts afterward.

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Richard Cohen Defends Monica Lewinsky, Weeps for Her Barren Womb

WaPo's Richard Cohen makes some very good points in his defense-of-Monica article today — she was young; she had the misfortune to have her dirty laundry aired in public (cue blue Gap dress joke); she's always been remarkably dignified in the face of public scandal; she's just received her Master's from the London School of Economics; and as if you haven't messed around with skankier than a sitting President, for God's sake. Cohen was reacting to this WaPo article by Libby Copeland, which poked fun at Lewinsky for graduating from LSE, which she rather snottily said made one "question your fundamental assumptions about the world," but really just made me question where Libby Copeland was a year and a half ago when the news broke that Lewinsky would be entering that program.

Cohen offers a fair and chivalrous defense of someone who has probably about served her debt to society by now, hmm? (For God's sake, even Nixon got a pardon!), and I would have cheered it had he not felt the need to wander into Lewinsky's private life:

But she is now a woman with a master's degree from a prestigious school and is going to be 34 come July. Her clock ticks, her life ebbs. Where is the man for her?

OH MY GOD SHE IS GOING TO BE 34 COME JULY!!! WHERE IS THE MAN FOR HER? HER CLOCK TICKS! HER LIFE EBBS! Cohen says "It would be nice, too, and fair, also, if Lewinsky were treated by the media as it would treat a man... Where, pray tell, is the man who is remembered just for sex?" I would add, where, pray tell, is the 34-year old man whose sad prospects of singledom are bemoaned in a national newspaper? Practice what you preach, Richard; but as for the rest of it, I and my wasting, shriveling 34-year old ovaries couldn't agree with you more.

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Well done, Rachel. I certainly sympathize with Lewinsky, mostly. I really do. What Clinton did was inexcusable, and how he and his administration moved to discredit her in the wake of the scandal is also indefensible.

Having said that, I don't feel totally sympathetic for all of the publicity she's received in the wake of the scandal, because in many ways, she sought to capitalize on her notoriety by appearing on reality television shows and even launching her own line of handbags.

At the risk of sounding condescending, it is good to see that she is making something of her life and moving on, finally. God only knows the press has not made it easy for her to do that, so good for her.

One more note on the Lewinsky matter, and then I'll close. I didn't intend to get on some diatribe about a political scandal that is dead and buried, but, some people (Sean Hannity) have selective memory & neglect to remember that the scandal was between two consenting adults. I got a kick out of Hannity's bringing Clinton up in the wake of the Mark Foley sex scandal this past fall. Hannity is the reason mothers sometimes eat their young. I've got great video of Hannity that I'll share soon.