Hillary's cross to bear

As the list of outed serial sexual predators in entertainment industry, the media, and a who's-who roster of D.C. politicians grows, I take smug satisfaction in the knowledge that Hillary Clinton is the person we should be thanking. The dirty little secret, which for decades has plagued Hollywood, media outlets, and even the hallowed halls of our nation's capital, is finally being openly discussed. It's ironic that Matt Lauer, the man who was savaged by Hillary Clinton supporters for his on-air interview questions regarding Ms. Clinton's email scandal, has now been fired by NBC. Why should we be thanking Ms. Clinton? Simple: extreme arrogance and hideous duplicity.

Years before Bill Clinton walked into the White House, newly elected president, his notorious history of sexual harassment, rape, and predatory behavior against dozens of women was an open secret – routinely ignored by the media, vehemently denied by an army of feminists and rabid Clinton supporters. Rumors were quelled, his victims were humiliated, some frightened into silence, and in several instances, they were outright terrorized by his wife. For those of us old enough to remember, avowed feminist Gloria Steinem penned a New York Times op-ed in March of 1998 that not only blamed the victims, but smeared his accusers as sluts for their untimely misfortune of having crossed Bill's path. In plain speak, the victims were at fault, and Bill Clinton was simply acting on his manly urges. This brings me back to Hillary Clinton. If you recall, when challenged about her husband's accusers early during her presidential campaign, Hillary claimed that "everyone should be believed at first, until they are disbelieved based on the evidence." While she dutifully parroted a carefully crafted campaign question-answer script, apparently, she really hadn't truly convinced herself that Bill's accusers ought to be heard, much less taken seriously. Several days later, the transcript of Ms. Clinton's comments were removed from her campaign website. No doubt, the comments placed Ms. Clinton in a compromising position: years of denying her husband's predatory sexual behavior contradicted her newly contrived campaign rhetoric, as it applied to believing the victims of sexual harassment and rape. In truth, Hillary Clinton opened a can of worms. Her words actually gave some of Bill Clinton's victims the much longed for opportunity to finally air the Clintons' nasty secret and publicly confront the woman who had silenced their voices decades before. The rest is recorded history for all posterity. After the 2005 E.T. tape was released, in which Donald Trump made unsavory and crude remarks about women, then-candidate Trump immediately enlisted the help of three women, two of whom were victims of Bill Clinton. At a hastily arranged presser, aired minutes before the presidential debate last October, Donald Trump fired a shot across the Clinton campaign bow. In his typically brash and utterly unfiltered fashion, Trump forced Bill Clinton's years of reprehensible behavior back into the media spotlight. In retrospect, two brave women, Juanita Broaddrick and Paula Jones, were the impetus for a tidal wave of women, who have come forward in the past twelve months. Little did Hillary Clinton know that her ill timed statement, coupled with decades of protecting and enabling her lecherous husband while shaming his many victims, would come back to haunt her, and perhaps be the real reason why she's not sitting in the Oval Office today. Additionally, I daresay, Hillary Clinton never imagined the day (after) uttering the words "everyone should be believed," ultimately giving power to many women, finally raising their voices. For that, Ms. Clinton, I sincerely thank you.