I'm beating the Clinton - Capone horse? Your statement of that particular analogy was pretty mild, but it's shown up in a lot of places lately. It's pretty typical of the local "substantive debate", maybe a little less offensive than Clinton - Caligula or Clinton - antichrist, but if you're going to complain about guilt by association, it's a pretty dubious association to make.
I was worried about the Democratic party before the November election. After the November election it was clear that the Democratic party was going to be ok. I actually wanted to walk away from this august forum after the elections, but I was caught up in some stupid flame war or other at the time. Then I was somewhat bemused to see all the Clinton haters here deny that the election meant anything. After the elections, it was more entertainment than anything.
As to my "calculation", how in the world would you know? As you might have gathered, I've followed politics pretty closely in the past, but I pretty much gave up from Jan-Aug. of last year, until the impeachment effort heated up in the beginning of August. I heard enough of the early Monica story to figure there was something there, and it was going to get ugly. I didn't know quite how ugly, though.
As for what I actually think, this press clip comes as close as anything.
So on one side we have the physical and ethical gropings of Bill Clinton. But on the other are the hidden tape recorders and pornographic inquiries of Ken Starr. What most people decided this year is that if those are our choices, then Clinton at his most unbuckled and slippery is still less a threat to American values than Starr. They decided that Starr's questions are worse than Clinton's lies. That's a moral judgment too. cnn.com
A more recent and detailed judgement on the matter I agree with, with a tie in to the "Clinton-Capone" line:
Mr. Starr's investigation, like Kennedy's, has been unconstrained by the normal standards of criminal prosecution. The Office of Independent Counsel was created as a (theoretically) disinterested body, intended to absolve officials of wrongdoing as often as to convict them. Mr. Starr has transformed it into the equivalent of a Federal racketeering investigation against a mob leader -- the kind of investigation that the crusade against Hoffa helped legitimize. Even admirers of Kennedy, of whom I am one, have found his relentless assault on a single man troubling, even frightening.
In the end, however, Mr. Starr's place in history will largely depend on the results of his efforts. To justify his critics' placement of him on the roster of great and largely reviled inquisitors -- from Torquemada to the Salem witch trial judges to McCarthy -- Mr. Starr would have to succeed in driving Mr. Clinton from office, and in making his kind of crusade at least a temporary norm of American life.
But it is now all but certain that Mr. Clinton will survive Mr. Starr's assault. Moreover, it seems probable that Mr. Starr's unpopularity will doom the independent counsel statute to extinction.
Indeed, the Starr investigation's principal result may well be to persuade the nation to shun such heavyhanded uses of official power in the future. In that case, Kenneth Starr will be remembered by history -- to the limited degree he is remembered at all -- as a strange, aberrant and ultimately ineffectual figure, most notable for his repudiation by the American public. (see Message 7700910 for full text, orignal link no longer valid)
I hope that last paragraph is true. I wish the Starr investigation wasn't so clearly near and dear to the heart of Neoconservative movement. Before the Sullivan article, I had no idea. I really, really hope that the final impeachment vote and demise of the IC law spell the end of this particular form of politics by other means. I'm not holding my breath, though. The Jones lawsuit precedent stands, and the "culture war" emotions about Clinton and Democrats clearly run deep.
Only 21 months to convince the unwashed masses of their stupidity on the issue, Neocon. Or maybe they'll just forget, eh? As if anybody on the right is going to let them forget. |
