[TheRealThing]

It was a blowjob. Not a huge deal.

I respectfully disagree. It was a huge deal for a sitting pesident to be charged and found guilty of lying to a federal judge, and duly fined, (he was temporarily disbarred for his actions as well.) Lying to the American people about it in toto, was equally huge. He brought unprecedented shame on the United States and the office of the president in the eyes of the world, as news of one of the unfortunate encounters was reported to have occurred during a conference call with Russian president Boris Yeltsin, that is certainly huge. Not to mention the fact the whole sordid affair was televised to the planet. The whole embarrassing and unsavory mess was laid out for all to see. His performance before the judge birthed the now famous phrase "it depends what your definition of is, is."

He paved the way for future politicians to feel comfortable telling whoppers of equal and even greater significance as they now lie like rugs whenever they feel inclined. I also lost respect for the CBC as they circled the wagons for Clinton, distorting the facts, filibustering and repeating the now standard byline when referring to the sexual misdeeds of those in office saying "what they do in their private life is their own business" Which is patently false in at least two ways; first, he certainly wasn't on his own time pursuing his private sexual interests while he was doing the people's business with the Russian president on the phone in the Oval Office, (with a 20 year old intern under the Resolute Desk), and second, generally speaking the president's life is not his own while in office and service to the United States of America, he is expected to conduct himself like a gentleman.

It's a remarkably ironic and inequitable twist of personal standards to demand members of the Secret Service remain sexually blameless in duty to the United States, eight of twelve charged in the recent Columbian prostitution scandal were forced out of the service but, Bill was given a pass for relatively the same behavior, from within the Oval Office, no less. It was a decidedly huge deal. The line of rationale used by the dems was intended to de-sensationalize the impeachment proceedings of a sitting president. He managed to hold on to his office but, he tarnished and diminished the integrity of the office for the foreseeable future, an action that was more than huge, it was tragic to the reputation of our nation. I really believe those days helped infuence the abject contempt we have seen towards the US from the arab nations in general.