A tale of two Bills: Cosby and Clinton

Donald Trump over this past week has brought the Tale of Two Bills to the forefront: “The Cosby thing is a weird deal, and he’s got himself some big problems, and you almost have to ask Bill Clinton … one of the great women abusers of all time. … I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about women’s issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite he is and how Hillary abused those women.”

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was shocked, shocked about the comparison, but many women have already been making it. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi wrote on Nov. 21, 2014, “Bill Cosby’s career as a beloved comedian is in shambles. … Bill Clinton’s career as revered statesman soars. … The right will argue it’s all about ideology. Liberals like Clinton get a break that conservatives do not. According to Breitbart.com, race also factors in. There is more sympathy for a white southerner like Clinton than a black comic like Cosby.” Vennochi added her own theory: “Maybe we expect more from a sitcom fantasy figure like Cosby’s Dr. Huxtable than we do from real-life politicians.

Camille Paglia in Salon last summer added some psychologese: “There is a big parallel between Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton—aside from their initials! Young feminists need to understand that this abusive behavior by powerful men signifies their sense that female power is much bigger than they are! These two people, Clinton and Cosby, are emotionally infantile—they’re engaged in a war with female power. It has something to do with their early sense of being smothered by female power—and this pathetic, abusive and criminal behavior is the result of their sense of inadequacy.”

Kirsten Powers on Fox News Sunday spoke of social change: “What was once referred to as Bill Clinton’s bimbo eruptions, which now sounds like something that people wouldn’t say today, are going to become problems for Hillary during the campaign. … The conventional wisdom says this has all been hashed out, and nobody cares about it anymore, but I think if we look at the Bill Cosby situation, we can see the country has definitely changed in terms of how we look at these issues, and these are serious allegations, and her role in them at well.”

Some men have also had the temerity to speak up: Canadian columnist Mark Steyn last month, subbing for Rush Limbaugh on his radio program, said, “We keep hearing Bill Clinton is the most beloved guy in America. … Why is Bill Cosby finished? He was the most beloved guy. … You’d almost think it’s some kind of like racism thing. That somehow, when a bunch of women make accusations against the black guy, boom: He’s vaporized. When a bunch of women make accusations against some white Southern redneck, we’re talking about putting him back in the White House for another eight years as first gentleman.”

But significantly, concern about attacks on one B.C. and defense of another is starting to appear among liberals. This week Dylan Matthews wrote a fair piece on Vox about Bill Clinton’s alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick and concluded, “The Clinton critics have a point. There is a crucial tension between ‘believe survivors’ and the ‘Juanita Broaddrick is lying’ position of some Clinton defenders.” This is a development to watch closely.