Morris: Times Offered Clinton Deal
The New York Times wanted to see former President Clinton re-elected so badly that in 1996 it allegedly promised to go into the tank on its scandal coverage - and even gave the president an advanced list of questions for an upcoming interview.
The scathing charge that the Times allowed itself to become the public relations tool of the White House comes from former senior White House adviser Dick Morris, who details the paper's efforts as a de facto member of the Clinton campaign in his new book, "Off with Their Heads: Traitors, Crooks and Obstructionists in American Politics, Media and Business."
In excerpts published Tuesday by the New York Post, Morris reveals that he received a call from the paper's then-managing editor, Joseph Lelyveld.
"I was surprised to be asked by Lelyveld and a Times reporter to help them get an exclusive interview with the president," Morris reports.
"We've tried for months and come up empty," the Lelyveld pleaded. "Can you help get it done?"
When Morris told him that Clinton was unlikely to grant the interview because he was unhappy with the paper's scandal coverage, Lelyveld hinted at a deal.
"A worried frown clouded the editor's formerly sunny face," writes Morris, who quotes the Times decision maker as saying next, "You know, we don't think that the public cares about what happened back in Arkansas."
Morris says he was stunned.
"I wondered if I heard right. Did the top editor of The New York Times just imply that they'd pull their punches over Whitewater, Paula Jones, the Rose Law Firm, Hillary's billing records, the Web Hubbell hush money and the rest of the scandals that had emerged from Clinton's Arkansas Pandora's Box - all in return for an interview?
"I certainly got that impression," the top White House adviser recalls.
When Morris broached the quid pro quo arrangement with Clinton, the president was skeptical.
"They're B.S.-ing you," the president insisted.
"No," Morris shot back. "I wasn't fishing for the concession, they just threw it out."
Later, for reasons still unclear to Morris, the interview was granted.
The White House duo didn't have to wait long for their payback. Within days a Times reporter called to meet with Morris to discuss the Clinton sit-down.
"After some light chatter over drinks," says Morris, "he began, casually, to tell me the questions he was going to ask."
The Times scribe allegedly told Morris, "I'll ask him what are his proudest achievements, what he's most ashamed of, why he thought he lost the Congress [in the 1994 elections], what he proposed to do about Bosnia ..."
"I couldn't believe my luck," the Clintion adviser said of the unsolicited heads-up. The Times reporter seemed so willing to flack for Clinton that Morris decided to ask for more.
"Pushing my luck," Morris reveals, "I prompted him. 'Why don't you ask him about ... '"
"Good idea," the reporter replied, taking notes while lapping up Morris' script.
Later, he recalls, "I fed the reporter's questions to Clinton, and we worked out answers ... answers to hit the ball out of the park."
"What if he asks about Whitewater?" Clinton asked.
"He won't," Morris assured. "He's told me exactly what he's going to ask."
Sure enough, on May 19, 1996, The New York Times Magazine published a fawning cover story headlined "Facets of Clinton."
The White House was delighted, Morris says, especially with descriptions of Clinton as "breathtakingly bright" and as "one of the biggest, most talented, articulate, intelligent, open, colorful characters ever to inhabit the Oval Office."
Clinton was also undoubtedly happy with the Times' observation that he "exudes physical attraction." |
