Monica Lewinsky is unhappy with the way she is portrayed in President Bill Clinton's book. She thinks their affair was mutual and based on more than sex. She says he ruined her life.

There's no question that Monica Lewinsky's life has been permanently changed by her relationship with Bill Clinton. That's regrettable. But...maybe she should have thought about the consequences of having a relationship with a married man who was President before she succumbed to his overtures--assuming she's correct that it was Clinton who made the overtures.

We think it's particularly disingenuous of her to raise the "Chelsea" card now--pointing out that she was the same age as Chelsea at the time of her dalliance with Bill. Monica was an adult who made her own choices. She spent hours on the phone with her friend Linda Tripp reviewing each insipid detail of the affair. She went willingly into those dark waters and ultimately must bear the responsiblity for her poor judgment.

On the other hand, Ken Starr should be ashamed of himself for what he put Monica through. That was an inexcusable witchhunt and a waste of American taxpayer dollars. He hung her out to dry. Our Congress and executive branch had far more important things to do than wallow in this muck.

So, yes, we feel sorry for Monica, but we can't say Bill's at fault. The Republicans and Ken Starr bear the brunt of the blame. If we feel really sorry for anyone in the wake of the whole ordeal, it's for what Susan McDougal went through.

On a related note, read the praise in today's Washington Post for The Hunting of the President, the documentary based on the book of the same name by investigative reporters Joe Conason and Gene Lyons. [link fixed]

Wonkette reports Dick Cheney told one of our favorite Senators, Patrick Leahy, on the Senate floor to "go f**k yourself."

CNN is reporting that on the floor of the Senate yesterday, Dick Cheney told Sen. Pat Leahy, "Go f** yourself." We agree! Go f**k yourself -- while it's still legal! UPDATE: Speaking of s*domy. . . Wonkette operatives tell us that the fighting words sprang from an exchange in which Cheney told Leahy he didn't like what Leahy had been saying about Halliburton, to which Leahy replied that he didn't like Cheney calling him a bad Catholic. So you'd see how "Go f**k yourself" is the only appropriate response.

Update: David Sirota reminds us of these Cheney statements:

The Guardian has a lengthy interview with Bill Clinton, in which he discusses a variety of topics, including whether Hillary will run for President.

She considered running this year, he admits, but instead "wanted to honour her commitment to the people of New York" to serve a full term in the senate. Political convention demands that he say Kerry will triumph this year? "He has a slightly better than 50-50 chance to win," says Clinton - and that therefore there will be no Democratic vacancy for eight years. So maybe that could be Hillary's moment?

"We have no idea what the future holds. If, you know, eight years from now or sometime in the future she got a chance to serve, I have no doubt about her skills. She is the ablest person I've ever known in public life. And she does some things better than I do, better than I ever do. She is very well organised, she is very strong ... I have no doubt she could do it ... Who knows what will happen in the future?"

[link via Political Wire.]

Bill Clinton's book is out. The public is lining up by the droves to see him. Avoid the crowds. Order at 40% off from Amazon:

My Life

Media Matters is on top of tracking the misinformation spewed by conservatives about President Bill Clinton's book 'My Life':

• Gigot's wishful thinking: that Clinton thinks "[I]t was right for President Bush to go into Iraq"

• Kurtz falsely implied Reagan left office a more "popular figure" than Clinton

• Russert gave Novak platform for discredited anti-Clinton stories

• Scarborough and Bossie: together again

• New York Times' Kakutani twice failed to note Clintons' criticisms of the Times

• Kakutani struck again: She recycled anti-Clinton review

Connecticut Governor John Roland will announce his resignation tonight on television:

Embattled Gov. John G. Rowland of Connecticut, facing possible impeachment amid a federal corruption probe, will announce his resignation Monday night, his lawyer said. "He's going to announce his resignation at 6 o'clock," William Dow III, his personal lawyer, told CNN from his office in New Haven, Connecticut.

What got Rowland in this spot? Lying about work done to his summer home:

We wrote it here first, but we're proud to announce that Alternet has polished and reprinted our article on Ronald Reagan's Drug War legacy--a legacy that includes mandatory minimum drug sentences and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

by TChris

Before Republicans took control of the House, Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) complained that Democrats weren't paying adequate attention to Republican concerns. Now that Republicans hold the majority, he's changed his views. Now he understands that the majority has a "responsibility to govern" -- that is, a responsibility to shut out the other half of the country from the governing process.

As chairman of the House Rules Committee, Dreier ... routinely uses his gavel to crush Democrats' efforts to air their proposals, much less enact them. His party writes legislation without Democrats' input, limits Democrats' ability to amend that legislation and prolongs votes in the House for as long as it takes to win. Republicans redraw congressional lines to elect more Republican members and pressure interest groups to hire more Republican lobbyists.

The "responsibility to govern" is something Dreier says he "didn't completely understand" when his party was in the minority. How educational it is to hold the reins of power. Dreier sees things much more clearly now. But is his party, in fact, governing responsibly?

The linked article summarizes some of the ethical missteps of the governing majority, including: accusations that Republicans tried to bribe Nick Smith by offering campaign contributions in exchange for his support of Medicare legislation; Tom Scully's insistence that Richard Foster withhold accurate cost estimates from Congress as it debated the Medicare legislation; Tom DeLay's pressuring of business associations to hire Republicans as lobbyists; and DeLay's illegal solicitation of campaign contributions.

Democrats lost power when the public came to believe that they'd grown complacent and arrogant in office. After a decade of Republican control of the House, the public is feeling much the same way.

An ethics complaint has been filed against Republican Congressman Tom Delay, who is also House Majority Leader.

It's my opinion Mr. DeLay is the most corrupt politician in America today," Rep. Chris Bell of Texas said after filing the complaint, which stretches to 187 pages, including copies of tax forms, newspaper articles and other supporting material. Bell's filing ended a seven-year informal ethics truce between the parties, in place since ethics charges destroyed the careers of two sitting speakers -- Democrat Jim Wright and Republican Newt Gingrich.

Here's the essence of the charges:

TChris wrote earlier about Paul Krugman's column in today's New York Times calling John Ashcroft s the "worst Attorney General in history." Eric Alterman and Atrios agree. Here's Eric:

The thing is, even this understates the case. Remember John Ashcroft is the man who claims to have it in his power to arrest you, Mr. American Citizen, and hold you incommunicado in prison forever if he wants. He has apparently passed along a memo to the president claiming the right to torture and kill you as well.

Here's Atrios:

Ashcroft is corrupt. He's stupid. He's incompetent. He loves the spotlight. He believes laws don't apply to Republicans. He's obsessed with porn, pot, and prostitution. When he did his latest "WE'VE ARRESTED A TERRORIST!!!!!" news conference yesterday I thought that finally there was a bit of skepticism on the part of the press. Maybe I was just projecting, but I sensed a bit of subliminal eyerolling coming from the CNN anchordesk.

Former Congressman Bob Barr sued Bill Clinton, James Carville and Larry Flynt for $30 million claiming they defamed him by conspiring to spread misinformation about his private life in retaliation for Barr's support of the Clinton impeachment effort.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Barr failed to make his conspiracy claim against Clinton and Carville within the three years permitted by law. As to Flynt, the panel ruled that Barr's claim is barred by the First Amendment because he failed to show that the information printed in a one-time issue called "The Flynt Report" was false or was published with knowledge that it was false.

Do you remember when Flynt took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post offering to pay $1 million to anyone willing to go public with an affair with a member of Congress: Here's what he got:

Functional Ambivalent does the math and concludes we, the taxpayers, spent $400 million on late President's Ronald Reagan's funeral.