Many reading this will remember well the Monica Lewinski scandal of the Bill Clinton administration.
For those younger readers, it involved President Bill Clinton defiling the Oval Office by receiving oral sex from a decades-younger intern. At first, he denied it; wagging his finger at America and exclaiming that “I did not have sex … with that woman … Monica Lewinski.”
DNA analysis of a semen-stained blue dress she was wearing during that historical event proved otherwise.
Along the way, phrases such as “it depends upon what the meaning of ‘is’ is” and “getting a Lewinski” entered the popular lexicon.
Along the way, there was collateral damage to some of the Progressive infrastructure – most notably, so-called feminist groups, of with NOW (National Organization of Women) was most prominent.
The entire episode presented them with a dilemma essentially with two possible courses, whichever of which was chosen would be hard to swallow (pun intended).
At the time, NOW (as Leftist organizations do) presented itself as the “voice” of (all) women. And the mainstream media played along. Hence, NOW leaders were the de facto go-to as “spokespersons” for women when the storyline required such.
Prior to Lewinski (albeit before Harvey Weinstein), a recurring hot topic was “sexual harassment” in the workplace. This was launched with the Clarence Thomas – Anita Hill imbroglio, and presumptively kept alive by the Leftist supposition that workplace sexual exploiters, those leveraging the power imbalance between “boss” and underling,” were by default male and white … and Conservative.
Oops, then we had Bill Clinton and Lewinski.
Maybe other Presidents had done same – primarily JFK – but the Democrats, after initially using him as a slain martyr, had by the 1990’s pretty much memory-holed him. Not just because of his sexual antics, which the media of the time covered-up anyway. No, because by the standards of the new Democrat Party he was too conservative. So, no viable defense or rationalization was to be had by resurrecting former Presidents.
Also, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton had been setup to the Progressives as a “package deal” Presidency. The media was presenting her as the smartest First Lady ever, and the most involved, and the presumptive first female President.
So, anything that imperiled the Presidency of Bill Clinton simultaneously imperiled Hillary Clinton’s Presidential aspirations … and those of her dowager feminist supporters.
This presented a near existential dilemma for NOW and similar “feminist” groups. Stick to the principles they professed to hold (but apparently didn’t), and go after Bill Clinton for his leveraging his position to sexually exploit a subordinate female, or sellout their stated raison d’etre and circle the wagons for the Progressive-Democrat tribe defending him (no matter what).
They chose the latter. Much like the ACLU that’s shown itself to be a zealous guardian of “civil rights” (so long as they’re for the Left), NOW and other feminist groups were exposed as being de facto AstroTurf organizations flacking for Left wing causes under the guise of “civil rights” organizations.
People noticed the hypocrisy (at a minimum) of NOW. It’s a shadow of its former self. Its “spokesperson for women” role (if it still exists at all) seemingly confined to the alleyways of outlets like MSNBC, and then focused on the issue of infanticide a/k/a abortion.
Which brings us to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the “only dialing it in” indifference displayed by both the Biden-Harris Junta (a/k/a “Biden administration”) and environmental groups.
Biden as front-man for his handlers was quick to fly to Ukraine dispensing billions in printed-from-thin-air dollars, while dismissing the Americans in East Palestine with a “let them eat cake drink the water” flip of his middle-finger wand.
In the face of this, the “environmental groups” have been confronted with a NOW-like dilemma. Show the world that they’re really AstroTurf frauds working for the Progressive-Democrat team, or are actually concerned with this undeniable environmental catastrophe impacting an American community for, perhaps, decades to come. Love Canal, New York, meet East Palestine, Ohio.
We’re now weeks into this, and the signs are that the environmental groups are doing a NOW, and taking one for the team. They’re all over the fake “climate change crisis,” but MIA when it comes to a genuine, old-school but legitimate environmental issue.
As befell their NOW predecessors, may these “environmentalist” fakes soon find themselves brought to their knees, swallowing hard their fall from credibility and with it, their fall from power and influence. (Again, pun intended.)
Yes, indeed. I know where my money is.....