Americans are more willing to forgive former President Bill Clinton for his scandalous affair more than 15 years ago than they are willing to forgive other notable liars in history, a new poll has revealed.
When asked, “Which liar are you most able to forgive?” 43 percent of people chose Mr. Clinton over disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, former President Richard Nixon and Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, according to a CBS-Vanity Fair poll.
“Sure he lied about cheating on his wife with an intern, but he did a lot of good and to paraphrase Senator Al Franken, darn it, people like him,” CBS News writes.
Mr. Armstrong, whose doping scandal led to the revocation of all his Tour de France titles, received 22 percent of the vote; Mr. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace nearly 40 years ago after the Watergate scandal, received 12 percent; and Bernie Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence for fraud, ranked lowest with 3 percent of the vote.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has criticized the media for its soft treatment of Mr. Clinton and has used that as a “war on women” counterattack.
“One of the workplace laws and rules that I think are good is that bosses shouldn’t prey on young interns in their office. And I think really the media seems to have given President Clinton a pass on this,” the Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“He took advantage of a girl that was 20 years old and an intern in his office. There is no excuse for that,” he said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.