in the "crossfire," ruth marcus from the "washington post." and penny young nance of concerned women for america. the return of monica lewinsky. does it hurt hillary clinton? tonight, on "crossfire." >>> welcome to "crossfire." i'm van jones on the left. >> i'm s.e. cupp on the right. in the "crossfire," she's back. cnn obtained the entire monica lewinsky diatribe in "vanity fair." a glamorous working 40-year-old monica. here's the part i hope we all get to focus on. lewinsky writes hillary clinton's impulse to blame the woman is, quote, all too familiar. with every marital indiscretion that finds its way into the public sphere, many of which involve male politicians, it always seems like the woman conveniently takes the fall. and this is what really kills me. 16 years later, and we're still talking about the two women at center of this scandal and not the one man who actually broke the law. van, tell me, man to man, how does bill clinton get away with this? >> well, first of all, he got impeached. i don't know if you can say he got away with

in the washington post by ruth marcus and the new york post.erestingly enough, in these three smear pieces that assigned three women overnight to smear her and their remarkable similarities citing diane blare, for example, an old friend of hillary clinton's who is no longer with us, who called monica lewinsky a terrible name in all three pieces in the major publications had the same item. it seemed to be a fairly obscure item to show up there. it was in all three pieces. something from the clinton team getting ahold of their friends. >> maybe it's not that. it might not be that organized or manipulated, but there's some interesting element. i know you brushed it off. when monica lewinsky comes out and makes her comments, it was consensual. she said she found it troubling that mrs. clinton would have blamed herself for the affair as well as monica, herself, and let her husband get off scot-free. i'm paraphrasing there. in a way, it's better to have it discussed now.oing to talk abou the nuts and sluts line. hillary was behind the nuts and sluts

ruth marcus, you're a columnist now, not just a regular white house correspondent. >> some of us havewolf, sorry. >> what do you think? were you sorry for monica lewinsky? >> i really did feel sadness for her, looking at it partly as a more. everybody else involved in this escapade, scandal, whatever you want to call it, has thrived. bill clinton was impeached and he was humiliated. he is remembered for having had a successful presidency and an extraordinarilily post presidency. hillary clinton, injured party, went on to become senator, secretary of state, she may be president. who is -- i said road kill and i don't mean to take her not seriously, but who is the victim here? monica lewinsky is the road kill of this event and she has not managed to move on from it. hasn't managed to find a job, isn't married. her life is defined by the lewinsky scandal more than anybody else involved in it. >> people asked me over the past couple of days, what did you learn from reading this long essay she wrote in "vanity fair"? i did learn some things including the fact her more for mont months, stay

joining me now is chris solis is a and columnist ruth marcus. thank you for being here. hillary clinton joking about taking some time off. she did take some time off, but she's back out there. you have karl rove going after her this week. the momentum is mounting. >> she department take very much time off, let the record show. the momentum is mounting and the pace of her responsiveness is mounting. think about how quickly the clintons as a couple responded to karl rove's suggestions that there was some hillary clinton brain damage that might interfere with her ability to run for president. >> we have some live pictures of former secretary of state clinton at an event in washington right now. chris, i'm going to toss it to you. there was some laughter there, but i don't think republicans are laughing too hard. according to the latest poll, she trounces jeb bush in ohio, marco rubio, ted cruise. republicans starting to get nervous? that's part of why you're seeing karl rove go after her in the way he did. >> two things are happening. you're right, i think republicans under

ruth marcus? >> i'm tempted to say predictable and desperate? that's my response to those two words. look, there is a reason that karl rove, the architect of the george w. bush administration and presidency, is attacking hillary clinton. he's attacking hillary clinton because she is the presumptive front-runner around because there is no leading commanding republican candidate that has emerged yet to run against her if she chooses to run. and so he is going after her with what he's got, which is she's yesterday's news. he talks about nostalgia. i think there is arguably a reasonable amount of nostalgia for the bill clinton presidency, at least the good aspects of it. and so not surprising that he would do this attack, but not entirely attractive either. >> andrea -- >> just quickly. >> putting those words aside, hillary clinton would acknowledge this. the biggest challenge of her campaign is to -- elections are about the future and she does -- we talked about that -- forward looking vision. she does have to articulate that. >> no question. the o

joining me now for our daily fix, chris cillizza and "washington post" editorial columnist ruth marcusirst to you. tom tillas is more or less the establishment candidate but that doesn't always work in republican politics. you have a rand paul backed candidate and mike huckabee factor and it is north carolina. >> i'm excited because your intro, six weeks straight of primary, i missed this. tillas is the candidate that national republicans think has the best chance to beat hagen in the fall. if they can get the nomination without a runoff and it would be a july runoff more time spent and idealogicallydy advicive, it would be a real victory in a state where they have a good chance of winning. this is a big test. if he's able to get over 40%, it's a real win for establishment republicans who have struggled to get their candidates, the candidates they want rerhyme time. >> and kay hagen is one of the democrats who could win or lose, help decide who keeps control, whether the democrats keep control or lose control to the republicans of the senate. >> absolutely one of many endanger eed demo

. >> ruth marcus wrote in the "washington post" if and when a clinton presidential announcement comes lewinsky is going to be old news. >> stephen: hillary is trying to make this 60 yea year-- 16-year-old news old news. you see f we talk about the lewinsky scandal now then we won't be talking about it when she's running in 2016, because if there's one thing the conservative media is known for it is letting things go. unless, wait, unless that's just what she wants us to think she wants us to think she thinks. (laughter) because the princess of darkness always has an alternative motive, right eric bolling. >> the theory that i'm hearing is this could be completely off base. >> stephen: a good chance this is [bleep] go ahead. >> is that this provides-- like just remind everyone that bill clinton was a jerk. >> stephen: busted! she wants us to say oh, poor hillary. her husband was such a jerk. chichi could be back in the white house but with more free time. but if hillary really instructed "vanity fair" to print monica lewinsky's article there must be a paper trail. it's not like you can

very significant laws 50 years ago have been fighting it ever since i think is a -- >> schieffer: ruth marcus, it's not just his feeling toward minorities but kind of mistreatment of women. i mean this whole idea of this woman, whatever -- >> he's sitting on -- >> schieffer: just play one little clip of what she told barbara walt terse the other day. >> can you tell me what you're relationship with donald sterling is? >> mr. sterling's right hand arm, man. i'm mr. sterling's everything. i'm his confidante. his best friend. his silly rabbit. >> his what? >> his silly rabbit. >> schieffer: your reaction. >> speechless. >> there is the most fascinating, repelling sexual gender subplot going on. and this videotape is just evidence that pass of the story as with the other just gets creepier and creepier. she's his sill lie rabbit. >> schieffer: what is a silly rabbit. >> they have a weird symbiotic relationship that has managed to out last the incredible -- nobody deserves it more than donald sterling but what a betrayal to take these private audio tapes and somehow they get out in to public. she

viewers what you know all too well, what the parts we can do on television, cleaning it up, from ruth marcus'sumn where he says, she says, is there anything i can do to make you feel better? after he's explained about her -- the pictures she put on instagram. if it makes you happy i'll remove the black people in my instagram. he refuses to be play indicated and comes off like a grumpy grandpa accustomed to getting my way. if my girl can't do what i want, i don't want the girl. i'll find a girl that will do what i want. he knows, market forces operate in his favor. the supply of beautiful young women exceeds the demand from wealthy trols. well said. >> that sounds about right. he -- this young lady that we're talking about in question, she's changed her name a few times, she's going on record saying that donald sterling was only a good friend of hers and that there was no real relationship there and that he was just a friend. but again, i've said this before, i don't know friends who buy luxury apartments and range roefrs and bentleys. there was some type of relationship there that many people

but ruth marcus wrote in the "washington post," a more reasonable version of this saying the story doesfavors, similar to the point you were making, liz. she said, quote, if and when a clinton presidential announcement comes, the lewinsky news will be old news. >> look, the way the conservatives thought of the clintons, destroying the planet and sort of destroying the american economy, and how they thought of the clintons during the early obama years, this is intervention of the government. ending welfare as we know it, free trade, et cetera. this shift in what people believe about the clintons has been enormous. the shift in the young is a very important point, too, not only do people not remember it, you know, i'm a little older than some people. older than you might think. >> you look like a million bucks. >> i know, i'm in my late 30s. >> late 30s -- >> don't say it on tv. so basically, why i think the difference is you have a cultural shift amongst young people, too. they don't really care about this stuff as much as people might have done 20, 30 years ago. it doesn't seem like a b

ruth marcus wrote about it. >> i'm sorry, a woman's life was ruined. yes, she says it's consensual. she says it's consensual. i just do not think i would pick on monica lewinsky which her boss say rock star globally. and why kick around a young woman who was 22 at the time, i guess, 23, whatever. it was in that position. it's dumbfounding to me. it was dumbfounding then. it is dumbfounding now. i suppose it will be dumbfounding for the next 20 years. i don't get it. >> yeah, i mean she has, obviously, a right to have a piece in "vanity fair" to express her feelings. and we have a right to mention it today. and never mention it no further ever again. >> you know, that's no more closely watched senate race in the country than the one in north carolina. >> and republican thom tillis, for the state house who avoided a costly runoff beating more conservative opponents who have backing from the tea party and people like senator rand paul and mike huckabee. tillis's visibility story being hailed as a win for the establishment. last night he laid it out in front of an energetic crowd. >> it

. >> reporter: true or not, ruth marcus said lewinsky has dunhillry a big favor. >> now if there's aon campaign in 2016, we can move on from the lewinsky scandal. >> reporter: still, will you winsky said as a young 20 something she believed the relationship with the president could last. it was frequent visits, plans made, phone calls and gifts exchanged. like back now, shake my head in disbelief and wonder what was i, what were we thinking? for "today," peter alexander, nbc news, los angeles. >> alex wagner is the host of "now with alex wagner" and nicolle wallace served as the campaign director are for george w. bush and senator mccain. hi, ladies. good morning. >> good morning. >> why do you think monica lewinsky wrote this essay now? >> whether it's senator rand paul or being senator, i feel there's constant hillary talk that's going to ramp up closer to 2016. and this is a woman who has been guidelined and marginalized. >> lynne cheney said she thinks the clintons had a hand in this for the timing to get this out of the way? >> yeah, listen, political operatives are never quite