-Caveat Lector- -----Original Message----- From: H-Texas Editor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, January 07, 1999 5:24 PM Subject: Re: Johnson & Clinton impeachments >Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1999 17:31:45 CST6CDT >From: "Gus L. Seligmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > University of North Texas >Subject: Re: Johnson & Clinton impeachments >(Posted by Ray Stephens) > > > > Since opinions are worth what one pays for them I might as well >throw mine into the pot. > > It is a Republican mantra that this isn't about sex it is >about perjury. In that they are both right and wrong. It isn't >totally about sex and it isn't totally about perjury although both >are part of the pie. What is also part of the pie and it is the >Republicans dark secret is that it is also about reversing the >outcome of the past two presidential elections. The GOP has been >desperately in search of something, anything for the past four years. >Finally they succeeded at the cost of millions in both public and >private funds. > > The question then arises why. Here the answer is not so >simple. For one thing they thought the presidency was their's by law >or divine right or something. In this they are mightily like the >Demos in their hatred of Nixon. He took the presidency away from >them in 1952 by "tricky" means. They couldn't bring themselves to >blame Ike nor could they face the fact that they had worn out their >welcome. Thus the unreasoning hatred that they and I include me held >for RMN. Repub react the same way to Clinton. > > Secondly Clinton has given them a major political problem. >Namely, and here I paraphrase an older and better political >commentator then I, he caught them in swimming and stole all of their >issues leaving them only with the tattered undergarments of >repudiated social issues which they can't win on. Note the most >successful recent GOP victors are those who ran in the middle, the >Bush brothers, etc. Thus they must somehow tarnish Clinton enough to >enable them to grab back their issues, balanced budget, etc. This >represents a major problem for them. > > Thus what we have is a very interesting anomaly which can >best be explained in historians terms. Back in the 1960s Daniel >Boorstin wrote a little book entitled _THE IMAGE_ in which he >discussed a phenomena he called "the psuedo-event". A psuedo-event >is a non-event made important by the media and it is the duty of >intellectuals to note these psuedo-events when we see them about. As >I recall his archtypical psuedo-event is the Miss America Pageant. >What I would like to suggest is that this whole furor is a >"psuedo-event" with a fascinating twist. To wit, the public knows it >is a non event and is reacting accordingly. This explains why >Clinton's ratings keep rising in the polls no matter what new >"revelation" Starr comes up with. If he had something real, >demonstrable fraud in Whitewater or something like that, the public >would react differently. But he lied regarding sexual activities? >Most men would have done the same in the circumstances and most women >would have expected them to do so. Thus the twist. The public knows >it is a psuedo-event and the intelletual community and the media in >their arrogance and desperation for news are ignoring them. > > If I do not respond to critics of this be ye not dismayed. I >will be offline until Monday. > > Gus Seligmann > University of North Texas > >[END] > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
