"Just as she was about to leave, Monica Lewinsky told President Clinton that there was 'something serious' she needed to talk to him about, something she had learned from a friend. A reporter for Newsweek, Michael Isikoff, was working on a story alleging that the president had sexually harassed a woman named Kathleen Willey outside the Oval Office in 1993 ... Clinton told her not to worry. The harassment claim was ludicrous, he told her: he would never be interested in a small-breasted woman like Kathleen Willey."
Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, by Michael Isikoff
The screen flickered with the image of a fresh-faced young woman dancing on an outdoor stage. She wore just a bright yellow bikini bottom, a pair of flip-flop sandals ... and a soaking wet T-shirt. She shook to the beat of the generic rock'n'roll on the videotape's soundtrack.
The camera focused on her ample bosom as it bounced. The crowd roared its approval as the bouncing rate increased, and registered its enthusiasm by clapping in rhythm to the jumping titties.
The camera panned the crowd as a chant rose up. "Show! Your! Tits! Show! Your! Tits! Show! Your! Tits!"
"Stop the tape!" said a woman's voice. The screen froze on the face of a young man in his early twenties clapping and chanting. His face was in the process of pronouncing the "tits" part of the chant.
"Right there! Senator, isn't that you?" a woman in the studio audience asked as she pointed to the studio monitor.
The candidate smiled and blushed. "Yes ... yes, it is," he said haltingly.
The crowd reacted. Some giggled, others gasped. The woman spoke again. "Well, Senator, as someone who wants to run this country, and be a leader for all people, including women," she said, "what do you have to say about that thing you were chanting?"
"What? Show your tits?" said the senator. "I think it seems like a reasonable request ... don't you?" he said, grinning.
Theme music played as the picture faded to black for a commercial break.
The stage manager called, "We're back on in two minutes!" The candidate's campaign manager walked to the stage.
"Johnny, I don't know if I would have said that if I were you," said the older of the two men.
"Oh, Chet, who cares?" said the senator. "It's 2008. The party learned something from Clinton. People don't want to hold presidents to a higher standard. They want to think they're no better than the rest of us!"
"And that's why we nominated you, Johnny," said Chet. "Even your name! You're not John Joseph Winslow ... it's just Johnny! People like that. Plus the fact that you're young, you don't have too much insider experience ... and you're kind of a ladies' man."
"Thanks, Chet," cracked Jeff. "You're cute, too."
"Cut it out," chided the manager. "Even knowing all that, I don't think saying that 'Show your tits' is a reasonable request is going to play with most of America."
"Aw, Chet, it's not like I'm on 60 Minutes," said Johnny. "This is what the kids watch. It's where Clinton said he wears briefs and didn't inhale! It'll be fine."
"Maybe you're right," said Chet, getting ready to go back to his seat.
"Hey, did you get a look at the chick who asked the question?" said Johnny. "Not bad, huh?"
"No, not bad at all," agreed Chet, as he eyed the young woman's shape in her clingy minidress.
"I swear, there oughta be a law," said Johnny, mopping his brow. "If a girl gives a guy a hard-on, she ought to be made to do something about it for him! Don't you think? Maybe I can introduce it as a constitutional amendment," he laughed. "Hey, pal," said the senator to the stage manager. "When does this thing air?"
"On our channel, next week," said the stage manager. "But since the movie studio who owns us now owns a bunch of big-city TV stations, we're feeding this live right now to them — to use excerpts on tonight's news."
Johnny gave Chet a worried look. "Live?" he gulped.
"Yeah ... oh, it's not being aired live," explained the stage manager. "They're just rolling tape on the entire feed in their newsrooms. They'll make it a VOSOT."
"VOSOT?" asked Johnny.
"Voice Over/Sound On Tape," said the stage manager. "It'll be like four seconds long. No big deal."
Johnny looked down at his clip-on microphone. "And ... and these mikes are always on, aren't they?"
The stage manager nodded. "Places, people! We're back in five! Four! Three! Two ...!"
In a production tape room at a Washington, D.C., television station, a tape operator hastily dialed the extension of the news director.
"Bob? Come down here right away. Tape room," he said feverishly. "You'll never believe what we've got Senator Winslow saying on tape."
--------------------------
Chet and Johnny walked into the New York hotel suite occupied by the campaigning senator and his wife.
"Guess what's on TV?" said Mrs Winslow with a cynical twist to her voice, as she poured herself another drink.
"Let me guess," snorted Chet.
"First two guesses don't count," said the senator's wife. "A breaking news report about your boneheaded remarks, Johnny," she said, settling into an easy chair.
"What? That stuff?" said Johnny, genuinely surprised. "Are they making a big deal of it?"
"Of course they are," moaned Chet, lowering his lumbering body into a couch. "Sure, you said the party learned something from Clinton. But shit like that still makes news."
"Aw, go on," said the senator, positioning himself on the arm of the chair occupied by his wife. "Whenever Buffy here gives me a hard-on, she's required to do something about it!" he chuckled, slipping his hand into his wife's blouse.