Remembering Bill Clinton’s finger-wagging denial-lie, 20 years on
His eyes were narrowed, his face flushed. He wagged an index finger for emphasis and he nearly spat the words as television cameras rolled: “I want to say one thing … Continue reading
HLN’s oddly timed Clinton-Lewinsky rehash notable for what it left out
HLN’s two-hour look-back last night at the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal was notable for what it left out. And for its peculiar timing. Consider first the timing: Given the recent … Continue reading
‘Just because I could’: Would Bill Clinton survive Lewinsky scandal these days? Not likely
Counterfactual history can be little more than trivial nonsense. Take, for example, the Washington Post’s frivolous, “let’s pretend” story last week ruminating about what if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency. … Continue reading
Ick alert? TV dramatizations of Clinton-Lewinsky scandal airing or in works
More than 20 years after it ended, the scandalous affair of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky still fascinates, still strangely exerts a hold on popular culture. How otherwise to explain … Continue reading
Messaging, sequencing a puzzle as CNN launches ’90s series
It’s certainly commendable that the 1990s — a decade Americans too often treat casually or dismissively — is receiving extended attention from CNN, in a seven-part documentary series that premieres … Continue reading
The smears Lewinsky ignores
Monica Lewinsky unloaded today on Fox News and its former chairman, the late Roger Ailes, for turning her life into a “nightmare” as Fox covered the sex-and-lies scandal stemming from … Continue reading
PBS doc on OKC bombing signals anew the significance of 1995
PBS on Tuesday is to air an “American Experience” documentary about the deadliest episode of home-grown terrorism in U.S. history, the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. The program revisits a … Continue reading
The ’90s: With us still
In ways metaphoric and real, the 1990s linger, offering reference points and context for contemporary events and personalities. A telling example came at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, when … Continue reading
Clinton-Lewinsky affair hovers over presidential campaign 21 years later
I was asked at the launch last year of my latest book, 1995: The Year the Future Began, whether the Clinton-Lewinsky sex-and-lies scandal would resurface during the 2016 presidential campaign. … Continue reading
Beyond impeachment: The penalties Bill Clinton paid
Call it the long reach of the 1990s. Or of 1995. It has been fascinating, and even a bit astonishing, that Bill Clinton’s sexual transgressions, which dogged and nearly destroyed … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog 