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Politics : Did Slick Boink Monica? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HPilot who wrote (3933)	1/31/1998 9:21:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 20981

y David Phinney ABCNEWS.com Jan. 31 -The explosion hit less than two weeks ago. President Clinton may have lied about an alleged affair with a former 21-year-old White House intern. What's more, his accusors claim, the president helped obstruct justice by pressuring the woman to deny under oath that she shared any sexual relationship with him. Some have acted as if the fate of the Western world rested in the hands of Monica Lewinsky. And young Monica, the headlines screamed, is emotionally distraught. Of course, they screamed other things, too, such as "THE BIG CREEP TOLD ME TO LIE," "SHE KEPT SEX DRESS" and "MONICA STALKED ME." And for days, suspense has hung on every word uttered from a newscaster's, or a source's, lips. The latest revelation: Lewinsky's lawyer denied allegations that one of her main accusers, Linda Tripp, ever heard a phone call between Lewinsky and President Clinton. "My information is that she was never privy to any conversation that Ms Lewinsky ever had with the president," William Ginsburg, told ABCNEWS' Barbara Walters in a 20/20 interview Friday. Washington's Daily Discourse Meanwhile, the words "possible impeachment" and "resignation" have become part of Washington's daily discourse, while the rest of the country has shrugged its shoulders. Public opinion polls on the Clinton's job performance have skyrocketed to an all-time high. Even as the allegations continued to bombard the White House, 68 percent of Americans said Friday that they like the way Clinton does his job-an 11 point jump since Jan. 23. Much of the credit goes to Clinton's forceful State of the Union address Tuesday. And once Clinton flatly denied the accusations against him, Americans withheld their judgment. Some unsettling saber-rattling at Iraq's Saddam Hussein may have helped, but pollsters generally agree that Clinton has captured most of this goodwill as a result of the nation's robust economy, which may be at its healthiest point in 30 years. "Most Americans think the Dow Jones is more important than Paula Jones," said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the influential House Judiciary Committee chairman. Growing Appetite for News It's not that people aren't interested. The appetite for updates has been almost insatiable. Crowds have swept the newsstands, television programs have grabbed big audiences and Web sites have buzzed with record hits. But the question of whether Monica will "tell all" has swiftly been replaced with questions about whether Monica has anything to tell at all. What's more, do we care? At Friday's White House briefing, spokesman Mike McCurry downplayed the importance of positive polls, but agreed that they reflected satisfaction with Clinton's work on issues facing the country. "It's probably a testament to the American public's common sense," he said. "They have not rushed to judgment, unlike some others, and they want to have some time to consider all the facts." Now much of the high drama of perjury allegations and the lurid, but still unproved tales, has given way to complicated legal maneuvering. The major players in the drama huddle in backrooms as they negotiate and plot their next move. Independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr has yet to cut a deal with Lewinsky's lawyers. He wants her cooperation against Clinton in exchange for immunity from prosecution for charges of lying in the Paula Jones case. Denials, Accusations Continue The president has opted for flat denials without answering questions in an uncontrolled news conference and has hit the road to fire off major policy speeches to welcoming supporters. First lady Hillary Clinton has taken up much of the damage control and blames a far-right conspiracy that has been working to bring her husband down in a storm of scandal. Today, a Newsweek poll found that 52 percent of Americans think she does not really believe her husband's denial of an affair. Last Monday, she came out swinging at what she called a conspiracy of political opponents who had been attempting to bring down the president for years. "I just think that a lot of this is deliberately designed to sensationalize charges against my husband, because everything else they've tried has failed," she said at the beginning of her week long campaign. "And I also believe that it's part of an effort, very frankly, to undo the results of two elections." That comment has inspired a flurry of reports connecting many of the president's detractors with conservative causes: Starr is a lifelong Republican. Linda Tripp, who tape-recorded Lewinsky's volatile conversations, had ties to a partisan conservative New York literary agent who frequently works on scandal-driven projects. Paula Jones receives backing from the Christian-right, Rutherford Institute. But none of these people was accused of introducing Lewinsky to the president. And it is the alleged relationship that may continue to make headlines. This may not be over until the young lady sings.