Monica Lewinsky is not your punchline

So let's just leave off, shall we?

The White House Grill, a Mediterranean restaurant in Idaho, has on its menu something called “A Dirty Monica,” a vodka martini with olive brine. Given that the menu is devoted to cheeky asides about famous Washingtonians, we can assume that “Monica” on the menu is Monica Lewinsky, Patient Zero for modern-day shaming. Here’s the menu:

Here are a couple of reactions to the menu:

After Monica Lewinsky’s time in the camera’s glare (she is mentioned in some 40 rap songs, for starters) for her affair with then-Pres. Bill Clinton (who was impeached for lying about that relationship), Lewinsky has reemerged as an anti-bullying advocate whose 2015 TED talk, “The Price of Shame,” is one of the most-watched of the series. I highly recommend the video. I show it in journalism classes.

The only thing that mitigated the viciousness directed at Ms. Lewinsky at the time was our blessed lack of social media. Thank God. Nevertheless, late night comedians, finger-wagging journalists and others sent her into a hole from which she emerged only in the last few years. I remember long discussions in the newsroom where some of us were more angry at Pres. Clinton, given that he had the power in that relationship. I still feel that way, though some of my colleagues made some good points that the intern shouldn’t be treated like an idiot, that she had agency in this, too.

She did, but with an asterisk. I mostly avoided the topic, working at the time as full-time gas-bagger/newspaper columnist. I did take a shot at writing about it, and what I wrote was lame and advanced the conversation not one inch. Here. Read it for yourself. Though I will go to my grave knowing Pres. Clinton bears the brunt of responsibility for the mess, in the linked column I still took a few shots at Ms. Lewinsky (A script remaining in development for 40 years? What does that even mean?) that showed nothing more than I possess the ability to take a few shots — at a young woman who did not need me weighing in. I saved my nastier stuff for other pieces about Ken Starr, who will die and burn in hell for his perverted interest in this.

But don’t cheap shots qualify me to sit next to him?

For her part, Ms. Lewinsky has shown herself a gracious survivor with plenty to say. I’m glad she came back into the public light, and I’m glad she’s using that horrible experience for good. I also appreciate that she’s showing a good sense of humor. Some might choose bitterness. It looks like Ms. Lewinsky has risen above all that.