The depressing lesson of political sex scandals

It's the least repentant politicians who get away with everything

Sen Al Franken.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)

In January 1992, a woman named Gennifer Flowers held a press conference in which she claimed that she had a years-long affair with Bill Clinton, who was then leading the race to be the Democratic nominee for president. At the time I was working for one of Clinton's rivals, and I called up a good friend of mine who was on Clinton's staff, just to gloat. He sighed heavily and said, "To be honest, Gennifer Flowers may be the only woman in Arkansas Bill Clinton hasn't slept with."

As it turned out, we were both wrong. I was wrong because along with everyone else I thought the scandal would torpedo Clinton's campaign, and my friend was wrong because Clinton later admitted that he had in fact slept with Flowers (though he denied a long affair). But 25 years later, we're seeing the lesson of that campaign, and Bill Clinton's subsequent history, play out yet again.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.