By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources
It appears, from the "news" and commentary on Wednesday's talk shows that the talking points handed out in the White House for the day was for the troops to go out and defend the right to lie. Does this mean that the President of the United States has abandoned denial, which i.e. lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, to defending his 7 months of lying to the American people by taking up defense of lying as the new defense of his presidency?
It would seem that is the next step, based on the news of the day. Representative Bob Barr, a conservative Republican from Georgia, has become one of CNN's talk show regulars. His bottom line is defense of the law and when he was asked by Clinton apologist Geraldo Rivera if the President gave another speech and actually "really apologized" and the polls showed the American people were willing to forgive and forget wouldn't that be enough for impeachment efforts to be halted.
Barr, with a slightly puzzled look on his face responded by saying, "The law is not a matter of polls."
Also yesterday, we were informed that "To tell the truth, we all lie." In fact, we were told by CNN, 93% of the American people lie on their jobs every day. Therefore, the logic goes, only hypocrites and liars are suggesting that the President of the United States should be impeached for lying under oath to a court of law.
This new White House defense is a direct attack on the foundation of the American system - the rule of law. Yet, it is being portrayed as the only honorable and just thing to do since the person caught in the lies happens to be Bill Clinton.
And, a segment of the American people are so sick of the scandals, and so reluctant to face the facts - not only about Bill Clinton's sex life and lies, but their own sex life and lies, that they are perfectly willing to give Bill Clinton a pass for lying under oath about Monica Lewinsky.
One of the interesting things about the phase of White House defense that we appear to be going through at the present time is the willingness of Clinton backers to use abuse of power, one of the issues that would arise in an impeachment, openly to try to stop the impeachment. More than one Clinton defender has suggested that any Congressman who speaks up for impeachment will have his own sex life revealed.
We already have seen widespread use of the lie, "All the presidents have done the same thing," accompanied by repeats of old campaign lies about presidents going back to Thomas Jefferson." Now we are actually seeing the Clinton camp threaten publicly to use any dirt they can find or make up to discredit and quiet any member of Congress who wanders from the fold. Alan Dershowitz, fresh from having lunch with Bill Clinton in Martha's Vineyard, said, "All 435 members of Congress do the same thing!"
That was too much even for the CNN Clinton apologists. He was reminded that there are some "straight arrows" in Congress, even on the Democrat side! (Will wonders never cease? We were beginning to be convinced, based on the Clinton Defense Team, that only sex perverts like the President could really be good Democrats) One of the names mentioned as a straight arrow on the Democrat side was Dick Gehbhardt.
Also this week the first indication that the role of hypocrisy and lies in politics will be a major issue in the fall campaigns, a phenomenon we have been told won't happen. Senator Barbara Boxer, who played a major and very vocal role in driving Republican Senator Bob Packwood out of the Senate for undisclosed sexual improprieties and who led the charge in the effort to smear Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with totally unsubstantiated charges of suggestive talk (no sexual action) is running for reelection. Her opponent is Matt Fong, a conservative Republican.
She has been remarkably silent throughout the entire Clinton-Lewinsky saga. Even Diane Feinstein, another California liberal Senator, said she was "shattered" by Clinton's admission of lying to the nation and to his friends who believed him and used their own political credibility to defend him. Barbara Boxer, the most vocal feminist on Capitol Hill on matters pertaining to the treatment or mistreatment of women, has been silent.
In a press conference following a debate between the two on Tuesday in Los Angeles, Matt Fong said, "This issue is not President Clinton's disgusting behavior. It is Barbara Boxer's actions. She has been unwilling to apply the same standard to her Democratic president as she did to Republicans. Barbara, your silence on this issue is deafening."
The latest poll shows the two to be in a dead heat - 45% favor Boxer, 45% favors Fong. Ten percent are undecided. This is a race worth watching. Will the people of California vote for in favor of the Candidate who appears to believe that sexual misbehavior in the Senate by a Republican must be punished by ousting the offender from the Senate, but sexual misbehavior in the White House is fine, as long as the culprit is a Democrat? Or will they vote in favor of the Candidate who brazenly claims, "I believe the core value of America is the traditional family, and that traditional family is a husband and wife," and who opposes publicly funded abortions and homosexual marriage?
It might be a good idea for someone in the White House to take a good look at the two men who will inevitably play key roles in any impeachment. Both of them have been urging the nation to not judge until the Starr report has been filed.
One of them, Newt Gingrich, was the target, a mere 18 months ago, of a concerted effort by Democrats to oust him from the Congress hopefully, or at a minimum, from the Speaker's chair, over an incident which involved a lengthy document, which he didn't read before he signed, which contradicted a prior document given to the House Ethics Committee. In over 600 trumped up "ethics" charges filed against Gingrich, this absurd charge was the only one that survived scrutiny by the bipartisan Ethics committee.
Gingrich did not deny he had given the committee contradictory information. Nor did he put all the blame on the lawyer who made the mistake. He admitted he should have taken the time to read the document, and didn't. He not only was man enough to take the blame, he even agreed to a staggering $300,000 to repay the House Ethics Committee the cost of its investigation of the incident.
Not a single Democrat even suggested that a $300,000 fine and efforts to deprive the voters of the 6th District of Georgia of their chosen member of Congress was wrong. Yet, we are now urged to feel sorry for Bill Clinton's financial problems, due entirely to his own cover-up efforts, in investigations into HIS possible misconduct. Nor have I detected any sign of zealous determination that the President repays all investigating costs incurred by Kenneth Starr.
The Democrats better pray that Newt Gingrich will not judge Bill Clinton by the same standards Clinton and his friends used to judge him not long ago. I would think a comparable "justice" to that demanded by Democrats when it was Gingrich's clerical "misconduct" would be to publicly behead Clinton in the Rose Garden at the White House.
However, it won't be Newt Gingrich who will decide the final punishment in an impeachment trial. It will ultimately be the Senate and its leader, that "straight arrow" Orrin Hatch, a Mormon from Utah. Prior to Clinton'' non-apology on the 17th, Sen. Hatch tried hard to send Clinton a message to "talk square" with the American people. What Clinton did instead was something Hatch watchers had never seen before. He enraged calm, fair and honest Orrin Hatch. Hatch "blew his stack" by Clinton (a) Not apologizing and (b) Attacking Kenneth Starr for half of the four minute speech and (c) using legalistic maneuvers, rather than straight talk, to justify his appalling behavior. Orrin Hatch instantly realized the President had destroyed any hope of getting the matter behind him by his "pathetic" speech.
Yesterday, when asked about the speech, and how others in the Senate, especially Ted Kennedy "your polar opposite" viewed it, Hatch observed, "Nobody wants to see the a president go through this. Nobody wants to see the president's family go through this. On the other hand, this would have been over two years ago if the president had just told the truth. I've been encouraging him to do it on all kinds of talk shows and also privately. It's just a shame!"
Senator Hatch seems to have put his finger on the main problem: Bill Clinton's biggest problem is Bill Clinton. Besides, obviously the White House spin-doctors haven't been able to figure out yet the best definition of "truth." Instead, they have concluded that convincing the American people that all of them are liars, all of them cheat on their wives, all of them participate in kinky sex with young women half their age and lie on the job. Therefore a president who lies, cheats on his wife, participates in kinky sex with young women half his age and lies on the job should be their most representative leader.
If the American people want to help the president, therefore, this fall, will send him a Congress composed of people who lie, cheat on their spouse, participate in kinky sex with people half their age while on the job and who lie 93% of the time about their work in the Congress .
I can hardly wait to see what happens next.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com