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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (35433)	2/24/1999 10:23:00 AM
From: JBL	Respond to of 67261

Clinton's credibility at issue again Charleston Post and Courier 02/24/99 Editorial No matter how high the office, its value pales in comparison to the priceless currency of a well-earned reputation for telling the truth. President Clinton woefully lacks such a reputation. And White House denials of Juanita Broaddrick's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 1978 strike an all-too-familiar tone. Less than a year ago, soon after the president vehemently denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, his defenders vented righteous indignation against ABC for its report that a stained dress provided physical proof of that relationship. Those defenders ridiculed the report as false - and as a flagrant example of the major media's feeding frenzy on the White House sex scandal. But the report was not false, and that sordid evidence eventually forced the president to change his story. The memory of that initially successful, ultimately unsuccessful, White House attempt to discredit the media messenger lingers. Fast forward to last Friday, when The Wall Street Journal ran a report on its editorial page (reprinted on our Commentary page today) about Mrs. Broaddrick's claim that the president sexually assaulted her 21 years ago in a hotel room. David Kendall, the president's attorney, later dismissed her charge as "absolutely false." White House spokesman Joe Lockhart went even further by dismissing the credibility of the newspaper that ran the story: "I spend very little time reading the Wall Street Journal editorial page. They lost me after they accused the president of being a drug smuggler and a murderer." President Clinton lost us after he denied having an adulterous affair with Gennifer Flowers (then admitted it six years later), denied making a crude sexual advance to Paula Jones (then paid her $850,000 to settle her sexual harassment lawsuit against him) and denied having sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky (then admitted "misleading" the American people). The White House's outburst against The Wall Street Journal can't erase the implications of Mrs. Broaddrick's story. Americans willing to consider Mrs. Broaddrick's claim will make their own judgments on whether to believe her or President Clinton. Polls showing consistently high job approval ratings - and consistently low credibility ratings - for President Clinton suggest that those judgments won't come easily. Obviously, the paradoxical notion that a president can be effective without being believable faces a chilling test when that president is accused of rape.