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Pastimes : CONDIT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (1321)	8/24/2001 4:20:04 PM
From: Sarkie	Respond to of 1669

Let us hope that is not a fairy tale.

To: Bill who wrote (1321)	8/24/2001 4:22:48 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 1669

Today's response in Condit Country(The Modesto Bee) Condit finally speaks, but says almost nothing (Published: Friday, August 24, 2001) Gary Condit has been hiding in plain sight for nearly four months. Now, he is talking while staying silent. In his public statements yesterday -- on ABC's "PrimeTime Thursday" with Connie Chung and in a letter to his constituents -- Condit said almost nothing. He was continuously evasive in his interview with Chung, refusing to acknowledge a sexual affair with Chandra Levy, dodging many of the journalist's questions, parsing most of the queries he did answer and repeatedly falling back on scripted replies. Despite Chung's grilling, the congressman would not admit that he deceived police, hindered the investigation into Levy's disappearance, lied to the Levys and his constituents, and abused the public trust. Washington, D.C., Police Chief Charles Ramsey said on Aug. 7 that "We didn't have all of the details (from Condit) for several weeks" after Levy vanished, adding that Condit's deception slowed the investigation into the former intern's disappearance. But instead of accepting responsibility and apologizing for this shameful conduct, Condit clung to his strategy of spin and denial. The congressman's clump of communication through hand-picked media -- starting with the Chung interview Thursday night -- seems designed to create an aura of openness while in fact saying little and conceding even less. In his public letter, mailed to 200,000 Northern San Joaquin Valley homes, he blamed the media for invading his "private life," suggested that a serial killer may have harmed Levy and extolled his three-decade record in public office. Beyond a vague admission that he is "not perfect," and has made "mistakes," the letter addressed none of Condit's behavior in the Levy case, saying only that he cooperated with police and "did not" have anything to do with Levy's disappearance. Thursday night, when Chung pressed Condit to be more specific about his "mistakes," Condit would repeat only, "a variety of mistakes," and "I'm not a perfect man." He denied that one of those mistakes was an affair with Anne Marie Smith, the flight attendant who said Condit asked her to sign a false affidavit and urged her not to cooperate with the FBI. The congressman told Chung that Smith fabricated the story for fame and fortune. Condit likewise denied an affair with a former staff member, though he conceded that she gave him an expensive watch. When Chung asked the congressman why he suspiciously discarded the watch box in a public trash bin before authorities searched his apartment last month, Condit said, "It was trash that I threw away." In another almost farcical answer, Condit told Chung that by refusing to take a police polygraph examination, arranging instead for his own, privately administered lie detector test, "We basically thought we were being helpful." After months of watching him stall and stonewall, Condit's weasel-like performance on Thursday was terribly disappointing. He had an opportunity to come clean, but instead rolled through the dirt of duplicity some more. No one expects Condit or anyone else to be perfect. But when elected leaders make errors, especially grave ones, we expect them to concede their mistakes, accept the consequences of their choices, and change their behavior. Condit has done none of this. Instead, he has staged scripted media appearances in which he clings to evasions and echoes the spin already spread by his spokesmen. He conveyed a sense of entitlement Thursday, the gist of which was laid out in his letter to constituents: I don't have to answer questions about my behavior. I have been in public office for 30 years and I've helped a lot of people. That should be enough to save my career. And so the long silence continues. In his public statements Thursday, Condit said virtually nothing and gave voters no reason to renew their trust in him. Condit thinks he deserves a pass. We still think the people of the 18th Congressional District deserve his resignation.