MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough went on an impassioned rant Wednesday against “pathetic” female opinion columnists who he said defend Bill Clinton at the expense of the women whose lives the former President “reduced to a punchline.”
The impetus for Scarborough’s anger, of course, was Monica Lewinsky’s return to the public eye. Lewinsky broke years of silence in an essay for Vanity Fair, excerpts of which were published Tuesday, in which the former White House intern opened up about being “possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet.”
The “Morning Joe” panelists were discussing a column by the New York Post’s Andrea Peyser, titled “Self-pitying Lewinsky should go away,” when Scarborough became incensed.
“This is not about Bill Clinton. This is about the women who were eviscerating Monica Lewinsky, who for 18 years was quiet and, by the way, lived a life of shame and her entire existence reduced to a punchline,” Scarborough said. “And she stays quiet, shows a lot of dignity, a lot more dignity than people who preyed upon her and tried to turn her into a slut or a nut. A 22-year-old daughter, really? And now they’re coming out kicking her in the face?”
“Please, you all are sick. You ‘women’s rights’ ladies, you were sick in the ’90s,” he continued. “You all went around, you defended the wrong person time and time again. Whether it was Juanita Broaddrick, whether it was Monica Lewinsky, you defended [Clinton]. And you’re doing it 18 years later. You’re pathetic.”
Back in January, Scarborough argued that the treatment of women in Bill Clinton’s White House would be a “fair question” for Hillary Clinton should she decide to run for president.
Watch below, courtesy of MSNBC:
This post has been updated.
