WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
The Nation
March 30, 1998
By: Ireland, Doug
Of closets and Clinton; charges of leaks by White House media adviser Sidney
Blumenthal about sexual preferences of some of Kenneth Starr's staff
Outing the same-sex affinities of public figures against their will is a very
serious matter. Among responsible journalists who are gay, it is considered
verboten unless the person who is to be outed meets the stringent criteria of
what is known in the trade as the Barney Frank rule. As articulated by the
openly gay Democratic Representative from Massachusetts during a
Republican-driven orgy of gay-baiting several years ago--when Frank
threatened to retaliate by publicly naming a number of closeted Republican
House members--the Frank rule, in essence, posits that the only circumstance
in which outing is justifiable is if the person in question is using a
position of power and influence to engage in gay-bashing as a matter of
politics or policy.
The first indication that the Clinton White House might be violating the
Frank rule came in late February, when MSNBC reported that Clinton loyalists
had been leaking derogatory rumors about members of independent counsel
Kenneth Starr's staff, including matters of "sexual preference" (at MSNBC,
which likes to portray itself as the hip news network, it has apparently
escaped notice that same-sex attraction is not a matter of choice, and that
the correct term is "sexual orientation").
As both a journalist and as someone who's gay, my interest was sparked, and I
began making calls to determine whether the outing accusations were true.
Three members of the media confirmed to me that Sidney Blumenthal, the White
House media counselor, had indeed been spreading such stories: They'd heard
him do it. These reputable members of the Beltway media agreed to tell me
what they knew only if guaranteed complete anonymity; they were afraid of
losing access to White House sources, and of possible reprisals. Two said
that Blumenthal had told them directly of the same-sex orientation of a
member of Starr's staff, and a third said he had been present for a
conversation in which Blumenthal made such a comment to a third person.
The claims about Blumenthal's activities go beyond Starr's office. On the
February 25 Nightline, ABC's Chris Bury reported that Blumenthal "is not only
suspected [of] leaking damaging material about Starr's staff, sources tell
Nightline he has been disparaging aggressive reporters on the Lewinsky story
to their colleagues in the media." Two of the members of the media I spoke to
about the Starr allegations also said Blumenthal had described at least two
other media figures to them as gay. One of those sources, as well as other
people who know Blumenthal, described him as fascinated by sexual gossip that
they said he recycles as part of his defense of the Clintons.
When I called Blumenthal, he branded the outing charges a "complete lie."
When told my sources said they had heard the outing information from his
lips, he reiterated, "They did not." People who know Blumenthal maintain that
he is not a homophobe.
Reporters' fears of White House retribution are hardly groundless. The
excellent new book by Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz, Spin
Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine (Free Press), recounts how
Blumenthal, "still writing for The New Yorker but increasingly whispering
political advice to Hillary," had dreamed up an attack on Washington Post
reporter Susan Schmidt for her coverage of the Clinton scandals that was to
be used to undermine the respected reporter with her newspaper. Although
dissemination of the critical assault on Schmidt was eventually squelched by
presidential press secretary Mike McCurry, Kurtz's book is replete with
details of other reporters considered guilty of lese-majeste who were frozen
out of White House access or had corn plaints lodged against them with their
bosses.
While I was making my inquiries, a column by Michael Kelly, a senior writer
for National Journal, appeared in the March 5 Post under the heading
"Clinton's Whisperers." Kelly wrote: "One particularly aggressive campaign
involves a prosecutor who is a bachelor, and who has been the subject of
smears concerning both his professional conduct and his past sex life ....
Other recent calls to Starr's office from journalists reportedly have
concerned such pertinent matters as whether a member of the investigation was
a closeted homosexual and whether another person was involved in a sexual
relationship with a reporter."
Kelly's column provoked a curious response from William McDaniel, a lawyer
for Blumenthal, which the Post published on March 9. When I called Blumenthal
to ask him about the outing charges, he referred me to the letter. "Mr.
Blumenthal has not been involved in any way in the spreading of any of the
stories that are specified in Mr. Kelly's article or any similar stories,"
McDaniel wrote. Although Kelly had written in the column that Blumenthal was
"formerly a journalist cum amateur Clintonite knife artist who turned pro
when he became a presidential assistant last year," nowhere did he directly
accuse Blumenthal. Thus, Blumenthal's lawyer was denying charges that had not
been made. Was the odd letter, then, a pre-emptive strike designed to
discourage other journalists from trying to trace the smears back to
Blumenthal?
There are any number of legitimate criticisms that can be made of Starr and
his staff (including for their subpoena of Blumenthal). I've written some
myself in other venues. But there is no evidence that any of them have
engaged in the kind of homophobic politicking that would make them outable
under the Barney Frank rule. And if that's true for Starr's people, it's even
more true of the media figures who have been the object of similar whispered
innuendoes.
Such conduct constitutes a fraud and a deception on gays who voted
overwhelmingly for Clinton, who in both his '92 and '96 campaigns received
millions of gay-raised dollars from same-sexers who believed his presidency
would put an end to the institutional homophobia of preceding
administrations.
Doug Ireland, the former media critic for The Village Voice, has also been a
columnist for The New York Observer, New York and the Paris daily Liberation.
*COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107,
any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use
without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational
purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ]
Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists!
******************************************************************************
*******************
A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies!
A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America!
Therefore a vote for Gore or Bush is a wasted vote for America!
Don't waste your vote! Vote for Patrick Buchanan!
Today, candor compels us to admit that our vaunted two-party system is a
snare and a delusion, a fraud upon the nation. Our two parties have become
nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey...
Patrick Buchanan
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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 credence 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
<A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
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
