Bill Clinton
Quinn was critical of President Bill Clinton during the impeachment trial, stating that he had "fouled the nest". Quinn had a long-standing animus for the Clintons, possibly due to a perceived snub by First Lady Hillary Clinton, who declined a party invitation from Quinn. Salon | Media Circus: The (not so) mighty Quinn Regarding Whitewater independent counsel Ken Starr, she wrote: "Similarly, independent counsel Ken Starr is not seen by many Washington insiders as an out-of-control prudish crusader. Starr is a Washington insider, too. He has lived and worked here for years. He had a reputation as a fair and honest judge. He has many friends in both parties. Their wives are friendly with one another and their children go to the same schools." Starr had won the gratitude of Quinn's husband Ben Bradlee in 1987, as an Appeals Court judge, by dismissing a $2 million libel suit against the Washington Post. TWM - The Clinton-Lewinsky Obsession/Gitlin Harry Jaffe wrote in
Salon that Quinn's condemnation of Bill Clinton's adultery rang hollow coming from someone who broke up the marriage of her boss Ben Bradlee before going on to marry Bradlee herself. Clinton, however, was not being impeached on the grounds of adultery.
Liberal criticism and origin of "The Village"
Sally Quinn is heavily and regularly criticized by liberal bloggers and commentators (Digby, Wonkette, Gawker, Media Matters) for her role as a Washington socialite. The ridicule is due in large part to Quinn's feud with the Clintons. In Quinn's "foul the nest" column, influential members of the Washington political establishment expressed their displeasure with President Clinton for sullying Washington D.C., which they refer to as their "village", "town" or "community." In the liberal blogosphere, "The Village" is recognized as satirical shorthand. Digby explains:
Greg [Sargent] is right that ["The Village"] stems from the notorious Sally Quinn article about the Clintons. But it's more than that. It's shorthand for the permanent DC ruling class who have managed to convince themselves that they are simple, puritanical, bourgeois burghers and farmers, even though they are actually celebrity millionaires influencing the most powerful government on earth.
It's about their phoniness, their pretense of speaking for "average Americans" when it's clear they haven't the vaguest clue even about the average Americans who work in their local Starbucks or drive their cabs. It's about their intolerable sanctimony and hypocritical provincialism, pretending to be shocked about things they all do, creating social rules for others which they themselves ignore.
Taking communion
In June 2008, the Catholic League issued a press release highly critical of Quinn for receiving communion at the funeral mass for journalist Tim Russert. In an
On Faith blog posting on the
Washington Post website, Quinn—who is not a Catholic—wrote that she was "determined to take [communion] for Tim, transubstantiation notwithstanding" and that she "had a slightly nauseated sensation" after taking it. Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded that "Quinn's statement not only reeks of narcissism, it shows a profound disrespect for Catholics and the beliefs they hold dear." Since the incident, Quinn's judgment as moderator of
On Faith has come under question by media commentators including columnist Ramesh Ponnuru, who wrote that "if [Quinn] does not understand the affront she gave then perhaps regularly blogging about religion for a major news outlet is not the right job for her."
Dueling weddings
On February 19, 2010,
The Washington Post published "Sally Quinn's The Party: No 'dueling' Bradlee weddings, just scheduling mistake", in print and online. It received scathing comments from readers. This was Quinn's last column for the printed newspaper. The column alluded to Bradlee family dysfunction, her son's wedding, which she scheduled on the same day as her granddaughter's wedding. The column was considered inappropriate and reader backlash was immediate, criticizing Quinn for airing family laundry and Washington Post editors for printing it. By February 24, the Post canceled her column, which had been appearing in the religion section of the print edition.