You did see what you thought you did. Just not at the SOTU...Here's the info...
CLINTON
1997 Dec 19 Monica Lewinsky subpoenaed to appear at a deposition hearing
1998 Jan 17 The Drudge Report breaks story about a White House intern’s sexual affair with President Clinton
Jan 26 Clinton declares “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”
Aug 6 Lewinsky testifies before the Starr grand jury
Aug 17 Clinton admits in a televised speech, “I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate”
Dec 11 House Judiciary Committee approve articles of impeachment
Dec 19 Clinton impeached by the House on two counts of perjury and obstruction of justice 1999
Jan 7 Impeachment trial begins in the Senate
Feb. 12 Senate acquits Clinton
BALTIMORE CITY PAPER | 8/19/1998
Urban Rhythms | Columns
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The End of the Tether
By Wiley Hall III
citypaper.com
Once upon a time, the Monica Lewinsky case mattered. Well, I believed it did, anyway. Today, I do not give a damn.
I do not give a damn despite the events of Aug. 17, when President Clinton made a historic "appearance" via closed-circuit television before a federal grand jury to answer charges that he had a sexual relationship with the young intern, lied about it under oath, and encouraged her to lie under oath as well.
I do not give a damn, even though I have argued fervently these past several months that the charges against the president cast serious doubts about the man's character, and that character matters.
Know what? Sometimes the masses are not the asses they're often made out to be. Sometimes it's the wise guys in the media and the power elite who are the true asses.
For months, the public has been saying, in effect, that they know our president is a lying sex hound and that the parade of pathetic witnesses hauled before a grand jury to attest to his doggy ways is irrelevant. The economy is humming. More people have jobs, homes, and money in the bank. Violent crime is on the wane. Those are the issues the masses say matter most to those forced to eke out life down here on the ground.
Yet for the past seven months--since the first public revelation of the Linda Tripp tapes--independent counsel Kenneth Starr ignored the masses and continued to amass evidence against the president at great public expense. The president and his minions continue to fight and stonewall for all they're worth. And the media, my media, have treated this Jerry Springer—esque farce with a solemnity you'd expect to see reserved for issues of life and death.
Let me tell you about my epiphany--the reason I've broken ranks with the media, my media, and now side with the masses. Let me tell you why I no longer give a damn about the story of the century--the Monica Lewinsky case.
Can the public do anything about Bill Clinton, even if he tells the federal grand jury that he is a lying sex hound?
No.
So the president testifies. Starr issues his report. And then what? Sensation, outrage, righteous indignation. And the next day, life will go on.
Will the scandal cripple the president? He's already been crippled. He's been crippled since the Lewinsky affair first broke into the news in January. Most people did not believe Clinton even when he stood up, looked us square in the eye, wagged an angry finger, and intoned, "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Most people did not believe him even though he got his wife--patient, much-suffering Hillary--to rally to his defense.
But Clinton is like a television commercial: People don't believe commercials on television, but they still buy the stuff those commercials sell. What are you going to do? You've got to buy something.
I still suspect that a man who compulsively gropes women, fraternizes with interns young enough to be his daughter, and lies and lies and lies--I still suspect such a man may not have the character to be a good president.
And I believe the spectacle of a federal persecutor out of our control, barreling on despite cries that he is wasting our time and money--is a serious affair.
In those ways, the Lewinsky case raised important issues.
But those issues did not begin with the Lewinsky case. People lost faith in their leaders (and in television commercials, for that matter) a long, long time ago.
It has been a long time since Americans believed the government and government officials belonged to the people, were controlled by the people, and could be made responsive to the public will.
And when this affair is over we probably will not regain that belief of old. The Lewinsky case has highlighted our loss of faith and our growing alienation and powerlessness. It has been like rubbing salt in our wounds.
So now I am sick of the whole thing. I am writing this before the president's post-testimony speech, and I do not give a damn what he says. I find it hard to be impressed by the pleadings and promises of a compulsive liar.
I'll be glad when this, the story of the century, is over. These stories of the century seem to pop up weekly anyway. I'm always glad for the diversions. But they tend to get old real fast.
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Sex scandal kept Clinton's eye off bin Laden threat, TV drama says
The Times Online (UK) ^ | 09 September 2006 | Tim Reid
Posted on 09/09/2006 12:57:44 PM PDT by Lorianne
BILL CLINTON responded furiously yesterday to an American television mini-series about the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, which portrays him as so distracted by the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that he failed to focus on the emerging threat of Osama bin Laden. Senior Clinton Administration officials, including Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State, and Sandy Berger, the former National Security Adviser, also demanded yesterday that ABC either substantially edit or cancel its two-part The Path to 9/11, claiming that the drama was defamatory. The programme is also being shown by the BBC.
The five-hour drama, which will be shown tomorrow and Monday, portrays events that the former Clinton officials say never happened. These include a scene in which Mr Berger refused to authorise an attack on bin Laden in 1998 when CIA operatives had the al-Qaeda leader in their sights.
The reaction from Mr Clinton and his former aides was extraordinarily visceral. It reflected the enormous emotional and political hold the attacks continue to exert on the American political landscape, and the argument about whether the Clinton or Bush Administration was more to blame for failing to stop them.
In the past week President Bush has tried to refocus American voters on his response to the September 11 crisis, and the threat from bin Laden, and away from the war in Iraq.
With seven weeks until November’s midterm elections, polls show that Mr Bush enjoys an advantage over Democrats on the issue of terrorism. The September 11 attacks and his response to them will form the cornerstone of Republican campaigns. Mr Bush will spend tomorrow and Monday in New York commemorating the fifth anniversary of 9/11.
“It is despicable that ABC/Disney would insist on airing a fictional version of what is a serious and emotional event for our country,” a spokesman for the Clinton Foundation said. ABC’s parent company is the Walt Disney Corporation.
Mr Clinton, speaking after a fundraising event in Arkansas, referred to ABC’s claim that much of the series is based on the September 11 commission report, the bipartisan investigation of the attacks. “They ought to tell the truth,” Mr Clinton said. “They shouldn’t have scenes that are directly contradicted by the findings of the 9/11 report.”
Ms Albright, Mr Berger, Bruce Lindsey, head of the Clinton Foundation, and the Clinton adviser Douglas Band wrote to Robert Iger, Disney’s chief executive, claiming that the drama was “factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate”.
They added: “It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known.” They called the drama “right-wing political propaganda”.
The outrage had echoes of a 2003 controversy when Republicans successfully persuaded CBS to pull an unflattering and inaccurate biopic of the late Ronald Reagan.
Democrats pointed out that the main consultant to the ABC series was Thomas Keane, a former Republican New Jersey governor and chairman of the 9/11 commission.
ABC defended the series but was understood last night to be changing the scene involving Mr Berger. It called criticism “premature and irresponsible”, but conceded that the drama contained “fictionalised scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue”.
TERROR DATES
1996 June 25 A lorry bomb explodes at US military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans; Osama bin Laden identified as terrorist financier 1998 June Osama bin Laden placed on FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List Aug 7 US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are bombed; Osama bin Laden named as the mastermind of the attacks Aug 20 US forces launch day of missile strikes on camps in Afghanistan and destroy a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan Dec 24 In an ABC News interview, bin Laden denies responsibility for the embassy attacks 2000 Oct 12 Attack on the USS Cole by bin Laden sympathisers kills 17
CLINTON
1997 Dec 19 Monica Lewinsky subpoenaed to appear at a deposition hearing 1998 Jan 17 The Drudge Report breaks story about a White House intern’s sexual affair with President Clinton Jan 26 Clinton declares “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” Aug 6 Lewinsky testifies before the Starr grand jury Aug 17 Clinton admits in a televised speech, “I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate” Dec 11 House Judiciary Committee approve articles of impeachment Dec 19 Clinton impeached by the House on two counts of perjury and obstruction of justice 1999 Jan 7 Impeachment trial begins in the Senate Feb. 12 Senate acquits Clinton
freerepublic.com |
