Democrat Leads G.O.P. Inquiry on Clinton nytimes.com
I though you'd enjoy this one, Dwight. Apparently Henry Hyde doesn't share your particular views on party affiliation. On this, I have to give credit to Hyde. Of course, he apparently doesn't share your views on some other things, but let's not get into that. A brief comment on the note I'm replying to, the idea that Lawrence Walsh should have proved he was a Republican by voting for Bush in '92 is somewhat curious. Walsh had a certain insider's perspective on George. Anyway, on to the article.
WASHINGTON -- David Schippers, chief investigator on the House Judiciary Committee, and his boss, Rep. Henry Hyde, bowed their heads together at a ceremony in Cleveland three years ago and left church a pair of papal knights.
The honor, given to several hundred Roman Catholics who promote the church's interests, rekindled the two men's acquaintance, Schippers said, but it also bestowed on them privileges, like trotting into a Catholic church on a horse.
"If I run into anyone on the way to the gallows," Schippers also said, "I can pardon them."
That may seem an unlikely stroke of charity for the lawyer heading the Republican inquiry into possible impeachment charges against the president of the United States. But President Clinton could do much worse than Schippers, a salty Chicagoan whose Democratic bloodline runs hard through a clan of police captains and firefighters, and, most recently, a "radical feminist" daughter.
"When I say I'm a Democrat, that is not a title," he said, clearly relishing his role as outsider on the committee, "that is a commitment."
The fact that Schippers was the man chosen to face off against Clinton, a president he voted for twice, was a curious stroke on the part of Hyde and Republican leaders, who hope, against most odds, to maintain at least the veneer of bipartisanship during the inquiry. So far, the proceedings have been chiefly marked by raw party disputes, and Schippers has had little power to intervene.
And so on. Interesting article, I say.
Cheers, Dan. |
