Ok. Agree to disagree and wish Slick Willie, oops, Pres. Clinton a good life.
On to more important things, like the future of work. arthur -----Original Message----- From: Karen Watters Cole [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 6:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Subject: RE: Lets agree to disagree and hope for the best (An Uncertain Presidency An Uncertain Time) Dear Arthur: it might not have been about sex as far as you are concerned, but if you ask the average person on the street who still seethes over the Clinton impeachment and its failed attempt to remove him from office, the issue is sex and the denial of sex; the grand jury issue is not the primary focus. If it were, I think there would be more political and legal ramifications and fewer pop culture ones. Where Clinton failed was not to collapse his strategy when it became apparent during the grand jury testimony that Starr et al were entrapping him. It reinforces what your mother told you about one lie leading to another but the "bottom line" where so many people like to think is that this was about sex in the oval office, and public opinion was greatly enflamed by a lot of talk radio and smug sermonizing. It's not the first use of smut in politics, here in the US or anywhere else. In my opinion, most people did not understand the legal issues, nor the entrapment. Unfortunately. No matter that Warren Harding may have had sex with a minor in a closet of the WH and produced a child from it, or LBJ had sex on the desk with a secretary, or the JFK might have (in the White House) or that both Nixon and Bush the Elder were reported to have a Chinese mistress and the American wife of a military attach� who later worked in his VP offices and accompanied him on state visits, respectively. These were left as rumors in those days and not treated as public information. All that has changed now, thanks to that blasted conservative millionaire who funded the original detective work on Whitewater, the repentant David Brock, the unrepentant Ken Starr and the rest of the Keystone Cops. So you shouldn't be surprised to read me blasting the hypocrites in office today when they are similarly caught in ethics tsunamis like Enron or 'lapses of character' like Rep. Tim Hutchinson (who may lose reelection in Ark, due to his divorce and quick remarriage after playing country preacher along with his brother Asa* during the Impeachment), calling upon the good people of the church to stand by them, just after they have condemned to hell those sinners they didn't succeed in ousting on Election Day. And it in no small way explains the enjoyment I get dishing it right back at them the way they deserve to get it themselves now. If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword. AC You can't run a nation on a wink and a nod. (Yes you can. Just ask Kissinger) AC It was not about sex. (Right. And Ariel Sharon's current politics have nothing to do with the possibility of his being charged as a war criminal in Belgium. Which, by the way, I don't think will happen. On the other hand...) Again, I'm sorry I brought this up several days ago, because there are more serious disagreements in hand today, but it is obvious that even among this group, there are still gritted teeth. It's hard to tell if it will be as lasting or trigger cause and effects the way Watergate did among voters, but it most certainly changed the way the media and the public expect to hear personal information about candidates and gov't officials. It already caused the decline of the Independent Prosecutor, so what else? What used to be none of anyone's business is now par for the course, and we will continue to lose good people who could make a valid contribution out of fear of Salem witch hunts & media trials. I guess some of the lingering anger is that Clinton is the focus of the condemnation when there are a host of guilty parties in this drama who contributed to what should have been a cut and dried issue to become a muddy chapter in our nation's life and a terrible distraction from the important job at hand. Beware of Taliban in suits. Hope the weather up there is beautiful. The seasons are changing here already, but not like the East Coast. Too many evergreens. - Karen * and wasn't it convenient for Asa that Bush appointed him to the DEA so he wouldn't have to face reelection like the man in S. CA who lost? Can you blame Katherine Harris for thinking she'd get an ambassadorship to Bermuda for her loyal efforts?
