Hillary Clinton looms so large in the political landscape today, it’s hard to remember when she didn’t.
But, in fact, she was relatively unknown to most Americans until January 26, 1992.
On that Sunday night, Hillary and her husband Bill Clinton appeared together on 60 Minutes
Their goal was to defuse “rumors” about Bill’s extramarital affairs with Gennifer Flowers and other women.
They didn’t quite directly address the “bimbo eruptions” issue.
Bill did admit he had “caused pain” in their marriage. But they both tried to make it clear that they loved each other and their marriage was sound.
In other words, Hillary was standing by man — like in Tammy Wynette’s hit 1968 country music song “Stand By Your Man.”“You know, I’m not sitting here as some little woman standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette,” Hillary famously huffed. “I’m sitting here because I love him and I respect him and I honor what he’s been through and what we’ve been through together. And, you know, if that’s not enough for people, then, heck, don’t vote for him.”
But Tammy Wynette made it known that she was “mad as hell” about Hillary’s insulting comment on 60 Minutes, saying: “Nowhere in that song did I say, ‘be a doormat, take any abuse.’”
The soon-to-be First Lady of the country quickly apologized to “The First Lady of Country Music.”
Six years later, Bill was back in the hot seat over a new bimbo eruption. Reports had surfaced that he’d been having an affair with a young White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.
So, on January 26, 1998 — exactly six years after Hillary made her famous Tammy-bashing remark — Bill held a press conference to address the issue.
In it, he created an ironic dual anniversary of two famous Clinton quotes when he forcefully claimed: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky!”
Of course, as we all learned later, he did — depending on what the meaning of did is.
