Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [466]
Nor did Paula feel any guilt for the long-running scandal that had ensnared Bill Clinton. She believed in her heart that Clinton himself deserved all the blame. “He’s the one that made the United States of America look bad because of his actions and stuff,” she said, swirling the ice in her soft drink. “If someone would have done this in another country, they would have probably been hung or thrown out of office.
“I have a right just like anybody has a right to get justice, be heard, and stuff like that,” Paula insisted. “So, it wasn’t my fault. And I don’t feel guilty a bit about it.”
Paula’s media guru, Susan Carpenter-McMillan, echoed that sentiment: “I can tell you with every fiber of my body I believe one hundred and ten percent of what [Paula] said. Now, could she have been a little flirtatious and rolled her eyes when she was down in the lobby and [Clinton] came by? Absolutely. Who wouldn’t? But did she go up there with any intention of any sexual behavior? Absolutely not.”
Carpenter-McMillan felt that Bill Clinton had acted like a roving dog who couldn’t be kept on the porch, and he deserved to answer to God and the legal system for that. It was understandable that Clinton might try to hit on Paula, she observed, because she was a “sexy, provocative gal” who was “pure enough to take home to mommy.” Nonetheless, his behavior was thoroughly boorish and discriminatory. “How appealing do you think a man’s going to be if he says, ‘Hi, honey, nice to meet you, my name’s Bill,’ pulls his pants down, whips it out?… That is the biggest turnoff for anyone, unless you’re a prostitute and getting paid five thousand dollars for it. I mean, it just doesn’t play well.”
In terms of considering her own role in the saga, Susan Carpenter-McMillan responded like any good PR spokesperson: “I smile, and I’m so humbled that I feel like I played a little part of history. But I believed that she [Paula] showed us that the Constitution is truly what it is, and that when our—being of British descent—Founding Fathers left the motherland, they came here because they didn’t believe there was a king, and I think that Paula just proved it.”
NOT all of those involved in the Paula Jones saga, however, bought into these lofty invocations of motherhood and constitutional history. For one, there were nagging factual issues that the passage of time had not resolved. Indeed, evidence from confidential sources now establishes with near certainty that the alleged “distinguishing characteristic” described by Paula Jones at the time of her encounter with then-Governor Clinton in 1991 did not exist, as an anatomical matter. Thus, at least one key aspect of Ms. Jones’s account is not corroborated by medical sources or individuals who would have had an ample opportunity to observe that trait if it had existed.
More important, the wrapping-up of the Jones case had left a sense of dismay and nonfulfillment in the minds of many who had played key roles in it. Danny Traylor, the small-time Little Rock lawyer who had initially handled Paula’s suit against the president, admitted that he had never fully recovered from the ordeal. “I feel bad for the country,” Traylor said. “I feel bad about the whole thing.” He was turned off by the fact that his former client had turned to Celebrity Boxing and other low-level endeavors to make money. He was especially displeased that Paula had gone on to pose for Penthouse and had told the magazine that Clinton’s enemies on the far right had “used” and “manipulated” her. “I think that’s pretty tacky,” said Traylor. “She’d expressly told me that she wasn’t interested in any of that kind of trash, garbage. She fought to keep some of her [bootleg] photos out of Penthouse, and then she goes and [poses for money]. It just doesn’t seem too consistent, I guess.”
Wes Holmes, one of the Dallas lawyers whose law firm was nearly obliterated as a result of handling the Jones litigation, likewise felt unfulfilled. Paula’s posing for Penthouse, Holmes said, was a disappointment if not a double cross. After all of their efforts,