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When legendary right-wing attorney Ken Starr passed away this week, many liberals were not exactly rushing to memorialize him.
Starr became widely known as the Special Counsel in charge of the inquiry into former Democratic President Bill Clinton and his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
And given the way Lewinsky was attacked by Starr and his employees and savaged in the media to the point she considered suicide, Lewinsky's two cents on Starr's passing was top of mind for many when the news broke.
But Lewinsky was decidedly unwilling to take the bait, showing, as always, astonishing restraint and magnanimity in a classy Twitter response to the news that has left many people applauding.
See her take below.
\u201cas i\u2019m sure many can understand, my thoughts about ken starr bring up complicated feelings\u2026 but of more importance, is that i imagine it\u2019s a painful loss for those who love him.\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1663105510
Lewinsky wrote:
"as i’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about ken starr bring up complicated feelings…"
"but of more importance, is that i imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him."
That was far kinder than most of us would ever be able to manage.
Lewinsky has spoken publicly in the past about Starr and the many encounters she had with him during the investigation, meetings she characterized as "avuncular and creepy" and in which she says he "kept touching my arm and elbow."
She has also said Starr made her life "a living hell" after she was forced to testify about her sexual encounters with Clinton in granular detail when Starr shifted the focus of an inquiry into the Clintons' Arkansas real estate investments to an investigation into the affair between Lewinsky and the President.
Starr vividly and luridly reproduced these sexual minutiae in his reports on the matter, which seemed to many at the time to be deliberate attempts at salaciousness and character assassination of both the former President and Lewinsky.
Lewinsky became a national laughingstock as a result, and was later diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder because of the ordeal.
Regardless, Lewinsky has always maintained a respect toward all parties involved in the scandal that has rarely been shown to her, and many were shocked she was able to show such restraint even amidst the news of Starr's passing.
\u201cFor those who weren't there or were and forgot, Ken Starr abused and terrorized Monica Lewinsky in his single-minded effort to bring down Bill Clinton. This empathetic restraint is impressive.\u201d— Victoria Brownworth (@Victoria Brownworth) 1663151832
\u201c@MonicaLewinsky You are too kind. Cause uh\u2026\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1663105510
\u201c@MonicaLewinsky I need the name of your therapist, because I am glad he\u2019s gone and don\u2019t care about his loved ones (does he even have any?), and he never did anything to me.\n\nI hope that there is some feeling of relief for you in a small way.\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1663105510
\u201c@MonicaLewinsky I aspire to someday have the ability to muster a fraction of your grace.\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1663105510
\u201cNot many people I know have the grace and such a capacity to forgive on this site than @MonicaLewisnky, particularly when it comes to Ken Starr, who treated her unconscionably\u201d— Eric Michael Garcia (@Eric Michael Garcia) 1663173414
\u201c@MonicaLewinsky You\u2019re kinder than I\u2019d be. In awe of your constant class and strength.\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1663105510
\u201c@MonicaLewinsky You are way too kind.\u201d— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@Monica Lewinsky (she/her)) 1663105510
\u201chappy to say it so she doesn't have to: his actions were frequently unjust and misogynistic and yet he continued to be a touchstone elite for an entire political party, so many American women rightfully felt relief at news of his death\u201d— JessicaMae Stover \u2718 Author of Astral Fall (scifi) (@JessicaMae Stover \u2718 Author of Astral Fall (scifi)) 1663113170
\u201cThis comment by @MonicaLewinsky could have been cruel or justifiably angry. Instead, she chose to be thoughtful and human.\u201d— Steven Beschloss (@Steven Beschloss) 1663110818
\u201cDespite all of the cruelties visited upon her as a young woman that essentially helped ruined her life, Monica Lewinsky shows more humility, grace and compassion regarding Ken Starr than she ever received from him. It takes a truly magnanimous person for that.\u201d— Larry Middleton - Democracy Forward in 2022!\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udf3b (@Larry Middleton - Democracy Forward in 2022!\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udf3b) 1663164218
Starr died Tuesday at 76 following complications during surgery.