My third mothers day since my mother passed, but i dont need mothers day once a year to remember what a single mother did for me and what single mothers have done for others like kevin durant. For us, every day is mothers day, because we live the dreams that they believed we would achieve. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Monica talks. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in philadelphia. Let me start with Monica Lewinskys new tell all about her time with bill clinton. Ive read the story. Its really about her, not so much the clintons. Its about what happened to her in the years since the world learned of her sexual involvement with a married
american president. Will this encourage the republicans seeking to undermine Hillary Clinton, that once charged sexual impropriety to go like henry vs band of brothers . But theres also a tough part of this article i read today by Monica Lewinsky. She says the clintons dont care what happened to her, have no regard for whats become of her, what her future looks like. She hits them hard on how they tried to destroy her in order to free themselves from the facts, and this is the tough part of the new lewinsky narrative that republicans could use well between now and 2016. Its this charge how she makes the clintons, before the dna evidence was claimed, tried making her a scapegoat, someone clinton had no personal connection with, some stranger making false claims. That woman, as bill clinton referred to her in his infamous disclaimer, a loony tune, asHillary Clinton said, a stalker, as a clinton aide was portraying her. Tonight, we discuss whether republicans are the stupid party and go after the story with the same piety or the shrewd party for the callous treatment of a young woman who got in the clintons political way. Howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst and nia Malika Henderson is a National Political reporter at the washington post. Howard, how did you see this . Did you read the article . When you read all the way through, you have to look, i think, as a political analyst, as you do and i do, and see where there might be ammo. Where i see it, its not again whether bill clinton did something wrong. We all know that, or whether Hillary Clinton was hurt by it and embarrassed by it and we all know that, and actually how shes prevailed against it herself. But this whole question of whether the clintons were just too damned callous in trying to make her into a stalker and, of
course, Hillary Clinton called her a loony tune, bill clinton said that woman and almost didnt use her name, that attempt to minimize a person in order to get by a problem politically. That might sting. Your thoughts . Chris, i agree with you about the piece. I read the entire piece and the bomb shells are buried in the bottom at the end, where i think Monica Lewinsky allows herself to unburden herself a bit of the bitterness she has about the campaign that was run against her. Chris, i lived through all this, i was at newsweek at the time writing about it. Mike isikoff was our lead reporter on the story. I saw it moment by moment from the inside, and i also saw the campaign that was run against Monica Lewinsky. As she says in the piece, this was a consensual relationship, and then she was destroyed to the extent possible by the clinton administration. She says in the piece, you know,
i was the unstable stalker, a phrase disseminated by the Clinton White house. She goes on to say, the clinton administration, among others, were able to brand me, and that brand stuck. And as you say, she says they dont care about her fate. I think thats tough stuff. I think it goes to the question of what kind of people the clintons are as political leaders, if they are too ruthless by half, if they use people, even by the standards of politics, too harshly, and really, ironically, the danger to Hillary Clinton may be as much among feminists, may be as much on the left as it could be on the right, if you want to look at Monica Lewinsky and the way she was treated by the clintons in those times, and as i say, i lived through them all and saw them. Nia, seems to me the background has shifted. Back in the 90s, it was still sort of sex is bad, if you catch
somebody involved with it, you nail them, thats your got ya. Today, especially with whats happening over in nigeria, its about protection of women and nonexploitation of women and if the story shifts, the cosmos shift and instead of talking about whether he was naughty or not, which is not going to hurt bill clinton at all or Monica Lewinsky, or Hillary Clinton, its about whether you treat people, especially women, right. And i think the way monica wrote this story, i dont know her, but the way she wrote it was as a victim and as a victim of the clintons. Your thoughts . Well, thats right. You know, heres a situation that was, obviously, a private and consensual affair, had to do with bill clinton and Hillary Clintons marriage and, obviously, became very public. I think in some ways thats the way a lot of women look at this. This was something that was between the clintons and their marriage and in many ways, if you look at someone who might be on the other end of an affair like that, they probably would
go after sort of the inner loper in a marriage, so i think theres a sort of grand political narrative that republicans will try to stir up around this. No, no, no, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, even back then, never said there was something wrong with monica, except she wasnt telling the truth. She said she was a luny tune. She said that privately. That she was somehow not really involved with her husband, that she should be dismissed, her charges, that woman. The whole narrative was, dont believe her, until the blue dress and dna evidence, then they had to change the story. Right, right, they had to change the story and we heard about bill clinton sleeping on the couch, all that stuff. Yeah, thats very well documented. I mean, this isnt really new. I think what youre raising is whether or not in this context when people talk about the idea of shaming, whether or not people will sort of retroactively prosecute and criticize Hillary Clinton for engaging in what would have been called really slut shaming
back then, but so far it looks like if you look at, you know, the damage that did to Hillary Clinton and the clintons, it really was none. Hillary clinton had her highest Approval Ratings at that time, 65 , so it will be interesting if they can sort of retroactively paint her as antiwoman. Lets go to the politics, which is our strength, which is not morality, but politics. Lets look at the vanity fair article. Lewinsky talks candidly about her experiences being abused, abused, in the aftermath of the affair by the clintons and the media. She writes, their lives moved on, they occupy important and powerful places on the world stage, i wish them no ill and fully understand what happened to me and the issue of my future do not matter to either of them. Howard, thats buried, as you said, at the end of the piece. Why do you think that was thrown in there, this statement of callousness after this i dont hold any grudge, blah, blah, blah, but then statement of fact they dont care about me. Well, i think she does hold a
grudge, and i think if she says i dont bear them any ill will, doesnt mean she bears them any good will. From the passages i read also, chris, its clear to me, and i was surprised at her willingness to express her bitterness here about the campaign that was run against her. I mean, i agree with nia that back in the day when all this was happening, hillarys numbers could not have been higher, because hillary ended up being the victim. Hillary was the victim, and hillarys sort of stoic acceptance of reality in that situation and her willingness to move on and not sort of wreck the presidency was admired by many people. She was one of the most admired people. Very much so. But this is a peak. Lets also keep in mind here, chris, i mean, i agree with your analysis here. I think it shows the clintons in a bad light for the way they tried to destroy this woman, but
it also is, to some degree, ancient history. Most people, young people especially, who are going to be critical in the primaries, who are going to be critical in the general election, this is this may as well be something out of 19th century pot boiler to them. The cultural context yes, but its all new to them, too. It cant be both old news and new news. Either they are learning this for the first time or they are tired of it. Which is it . I dont think this is the last weve heard from monica on this topic. I think shes basically saying here, if people would like to talk to me some more about how the clintons tried to destroy me personally, i might be willing to discuss that. Thats what i took from this, and if i were in the clinton world, i would look at this as a shot across the bow from Monica Lewinsky. I really would. Thats right. And it also means that Hillary Clinton, when she goes out there now, shes going to get questions about this. This is in the news, shes sitting down with an
interviewer, shes on her book tour, this is going to be a question she gets and who knows what shes going to say at this point. She hasnt talked about this in many, many years, but perhaps shell have some answer to this idea of whether or not she acted more as a wife or more as a sort of calculating political operative back when this was going on. Well, some conservatives are certainly going to try to make use of lewinskys article that just came out today to attack the clintons. Last night fox news guest host Laura Ingraham used the lewinsky article to attack the clintons for their ruthlessness. I think Laura Ingraham is smart here, but doesnt stay consistently smart later when talking to lynn cheney, whos not smart. Lets watch. When she became problematic for the clintons political ambitions, she was demeaned and discredited by the press and clinton protectors, including hillary herself. War on women . You bet. In the 1990s, the clintons pioneered it. Well, on fox later that night, lynn cheney told Laura Ingraham that Hillary Clinton orchestrated the lewinsky article, the one that just appeared. Heres cheney making her paranoid claim. I really wonder if this isnt an effort on the clintons part to get that story out of the way. Would vanity fair publish anything about Monica Lewinsky that Hillary Clinton didnt want in vanity fair . Thats very interesting. I love this theory. It actually makes perfect sense. Actually, laura, your earlier theory was much smarter, the opportunity was not going after the sexual impropriety and pretending to be pious themselves, which a whole string of scandals, david vitter, you want to go through the list . But going after people on callousness towards women, thats a smart move. Anyway, some republicans are hesitant to reli the lewinsky
affair. Karl rove has questioned rand paul for beating up on Hillary Clinton and conservative activist Grover Norquist, who only wants to talk about taxes, fired this warning shot today, saying, this is the same trick the clintons pulled on us back in 98. We were distracted by this bright shiny object they handed out, which was Monica Lewinsky. Maybe the same thing this time. Like in baseball if they throw out a bad pitch and you swing at it, youre an idiot. Is this guy, Grover Norquist, crazy . He said the clintons had the scandal with Monica Lewinsky to distract from, what, the tax issue . Are the republicans completely lewiny, to put out a piece attacking the marriage they had, building up Monica Lewinsky with bill, then we had this whole thing somehow the 98 embarrassment of the country, not just the clintons, was orchestrated to distract from what issue . My answer is, i think yes. Your answer . Im not sure, but i do know this, if you read the whole article, theres no way this is something that the clintons would have wanted out there, because as i say, monica is basically advertising her bitterness and her resentment at the way she was destroyed by them, and thats a tantazing thing, as nia said, for other reporters to follow up on and to ask hillary about. Hillary, whos in the middle of polishing up the final details of her book, which i think is called hard choices, shes probably going to want to reread the portion that she wrote about the Monica Lewinsky years in light of this. And as far as Grover Norquist is concerned, even grover can be right for the wrong reason, okay, yes, all he cares about is the tax code, but i think hes got a point as far as the republicans are concerned. If they are going to try if they end up running against Hillary Clinton and they try to run against her by doing a rerun, as you said, a rerun of the 90s, they are going to
lose. I agree. I think thats right. I think Hillary Clinton did something really wonderful in the late 90s, she was embarr s embarrassed, of course, personally embarrassed and anger at her husbands conduct, but she transcended that. Okay, i know a lot more about this guy bill than you do, i put it all into a total marital context of many years of marriage, and heres what, im going to carry on. She went up and campaigned for chuck schumer, she was magnificent. She ended up accepting really an invitation to run for senate in new york and had the guts to run for that office. She could have embarrassed herself then and lost. She didnt, she had the guts to run. So many things, how much guts that woman had. They stayed married. And nobody in politics is perfect. Thats the other thing ive learned, and ive stopped looking for it, perfection. Ill still look for it, but it aint there yet. Thank you, howard fineman, thank you, nia Malika Henderson. Coming up, the frenzy over
benghazi heated up with the party out there shaking a tin cup raising money, believe it or not, over the death of Chris Stevens. Remember when the americans got blown up in beirut in the 80s . Plus, those dreadful abductions and god knows what else of those schoolgirls in nigeria. All 20 female United States starts have signed a bill to carry tough new sanctions on the group that carried them out. Amy klobuchar is going to join us, shes one of the leaders. Also, remember the 3 00 a. M. Phone call ad . An actual phone call, the angry one bill clinton made at 2 00 a. M. After he was called out by jim clyburn in South Carolina. Finally, how the clintons should deal with monica. Dont hide from it. As Bobby Kennedy would say, hang a lantern on your problem. This is hardball, the place for politics. Theres a saying around here,
you stand behind what you say. Around here you dont make excuses. You make commitments. And when you cant live up to them, you own up, and make it right. Some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where its needed most. But i know youll still find it when you know where to look. We are the thinkers. The job jugglers. The up allnighters. And the ones who turn ideas into action. Weve made our passions our lifes work. We strive for the moments where we can say, i did it we are entrepreneurs who started it all. With a signature. Legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses,
turning dreamers into business owners. And were here to help start yours. Bridget kellys attorneys denying the accusations that she, kelly, ordered renna to destroy evidence. Attorney michael krichly says, we said we did not tell her to delete it. Well, yesterday before the state legislative Committee Investigating the lane closures of the George Washington bridge, renna narrated a conversation she said she had with Bridget Kelly back in december when kelly told her to delete an email referring to the lane closures. The legislative committee has also subpoenaed christies chief Campaign Strategist and the onetime Campaign Manager of Rudy Giulianis 2008 president ial run. Well be right back. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Trwith secure wifie for your business. It also comes with public wifi for your customers. Not so with internet from the phone company. I would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. But that would require wifi. Switch to comcas