Lawrence Walsh's Last Battle search.nytimes.com
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LAWRENCE WALSH HAS been a Republican all his life, but the first question I ask him when we meet at the independent counsel's office in Washington is whether he feels his job has become easier now that the Republicans are out of power. . . .
Remember, he was a judge, I don't think he could hide his party affiliation. Robert Fiske was a Republican too, but his investigation wasn't quite up to what the leadership demanded. A moderate, almost as bad as a liberal. As promised, amusing quotes from Elliot Abrams, on this topic.
Therein lies the most conventionally compelling dimension of the story -- a lifelong Republican irritated and then finally enraged by the years of frustration and driven by his own high principles into a war with the leadership of his own party. Republican stalwarts now label him a traitor. As Elliott Abrams told me, "Walsh is a Republican like Madonna is a Catholic."
That's not the best one, though.
(Elliott Abrams, the convicted former Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, says Walsh is an abuser of power, worse than Saddam Hussein or Qaddafi.)
And you though the White House was smearing Starr. Makes the ever substantial Bill Vaughn's "Stooge of Wright and O'Neill" sound downright kind. Somehow, Walsh strikes me as a bit more honorable than Starr, even if you disagree about the relative importance of Iran/Contra. As a matter of fact, I didn't think it that big a deal that there was no impeachment talk on Iran/Contra. The thing that really annoys me about Reagan/Bush is the S&L fiasco, and the huge run up in cost that resulted from holding off on the bailout till Bush was safely elected. Too many politicians up to their neck in that one for any big investigation, though. Except for one puny S&L in Arkansas.
Cheers, Dan. |
