Do you know what a Freudian slip is? A loose definition would be when one accidentally says one thing when they meant to say something else.
Or as Cliff Clavin, the mailman from Cheers who lived with his mother once famously explained – “It’s when you say one thing when you’re actually thinking about a mother.”
MSNBC host Steve Kornacki got a first-hand lesson in the term, when in discussing the sexual assault trial of Bill Cosby he referred to the comedian as “Bill Clinton.”
Oops.
Via the Washington Free Beacon:
MSNBC host Steve Kornacki confused former President Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby on Tuesday while talking about Cosby’s appearance in a court in Norristown, Pennsylvania over sexual assault allegations.
“We’re going to begin with that breaking news we told you about at the top,” Kornacki said. “Right now out of Pennsylvania, Bill Clinton is set to arrive at a suburban—excuse me, Bill Cosby is set to arrive at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse any moment now for a key hearing in his criminal sex assault case.”
Cosby is in court for a preliminary hearing related to an accusation that he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman. The comedian’s hearing relates to an incident in 2004 with the alleged victim being a Temple University employee at the time.
Whle Kornacki’s comparison was accidental, his colleague at MSNBC, Joe Scarborough, has asked why the Cosby and Clinton cases are all that different.
“I wonder how the public looks at Bill Cosby and says, ‘This beloved man who changed American culture as much as any entertainment figure in our lifetime is going to have to be accountable for the way he treated women behind closed doors,'” Scarborough asked. “How does a public that has come to that conclusion say, ‘The Bill Clinton stuff is okay?'”
Both Clinton and Cosby have been accused of sexual assault. Cosby’s career is forever ruined by the predatory tactics, but Clinton – who was accused of groping former White House aide Kathleen Willey, settled a lawsuit for exposing himself to Paula Jones, and was accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick – is laughed off as a randy old man.
Kornacki likely made the slip of the tongue because it’s quite easy to transition from any sexual assault case to a discussion of the former President who was accused of very similar crimes.
Comment: Is Bill Clinton just as much of a predator as Bill Cosby? Has the former president largely gotten away with his past actions? Tell us what you think below.
