Another little gem from Salon. What tickles me is the refreshingly frank and brisk point of view out there near the fog swept Golden Gate.
talking head
THE HAND-WRINGING OVER THE STARR REPORT
PROVES THAT BELTWAY PUNDITS HAVE A HARDER
TIME GETTING A GRIP ON A CERTAIN FAMILIAR
SEXUAL PRACTICE THAN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DO.
BY VIRGINIA VITZTHUM | Kenneth Starr's steamy
insert to our Sept. 12 newspapers stirred up
cautious calls to impeach, and the made-for-TV
sequel Monday was supposed to deliver the
knockout punch. But the broadcast of the
president's testimony seems to have backfired on
the Republicans who'd pushed for it. Clinton's lithe
squirming unexpectedly stirred public sympathy --
calls to Congress reportedly switched Monday
from 70 percent saying "impeach" to a majority
asking lawmakers to lay off. The bounce lured
many scattered Democrats back toward their
telegenic leader, but most politicians are looking
to their constituents for direction.
The utterly expedient Clinton is a reliable
weathervane of public opinion -- whatever people
clamor for, he'll try to be it. Hypocrisy still rules
sex in Washington, though, so while Clinton and
Congress wait to see which way the wind blows,
both sides touch up their poses -- Clinton's Baptist
blubbering about redemption and the Republicans'
Puritan outrage. Ironically, each side would be
better served by the other's rhetoric if they could
talk honestly about the primary subject of Starr's
report -- the giving and getting of head. Clinton's
psychobabble would allow Republicans to paint
Monica Lewinsky as a girl whose low self-esteem
made her do all that sucking and Clinton as a cad
for taking advantage. For their part, Democrats
could try blasting her with some brimstone for
leading poor Bill into temptation with her whore's
tricks. (Actually, the latter tack seems to have
fallen out of favor, judging from how quickly
Clinton abandoned his initial strategy of trashing
"that woman.")
The public is being asked to judge the president's
character based on Starr's saga of nine blow jobs,
and the public is reacting more sensibly and less
hypocritically than those on Capitol Hill and in the
media. Spinners and reporters will say only that the
sexually explicit Starr Report is disgusting,
embarrassing, something we'd all rather not know.
(Meanwhile the public is devouring the story.) The
assumption seems to be that normal people never
give or get head, or if they do, they have the
decency to not think about it. Clinton in his taped
testimony protested that he was being asked about
"the most mysterious area of human life," and while
that was just more elegant evasion, it is true that
fellatio may be the most emotionally complicated
sex act. It's demeaning, empowering, a sin, a sin
loophole, feminine, homosexual, potentially
castrating, what nice girls won't do, all nice girls
will do, a chore, a treat, a joke, a privilege and,
most recently, "not sexual relations." No wonder
nobody can figure out how to spin this story.
Here's the link:
salonmagazine.com
Doug
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