Iran
beat the United States 2-1 in World Cup soccer. This ends U.S. hopes of
advancing in the tournament. Iranians rejoiced in the streets and thanked
Allah. The U.S. players were humiliated and, in contrast to American
post-major-victory tradition, did not attribute the outcome to Jesus Christ.
The surly spin, from Iran's chief theocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran's
"arrogant opponents felt the bitter taste of defeat." The sunny spin, from
ordinary Iranians: 1) There are no hard feelings. 2) The United States is just
a paper tiger/Satan after all. 3) Let's be friends. The U.S. media noted the
political rapprochement behind the game: Last week, the Clinton administration
praised Iran's moderate president and proposed to upgrade relations. The
Washington Post called the soccer match "a love fest." U.S. soccer
pundits immediately launched into the all-American pastime of fixing blame and
complaining about bad luck. The chief whipping boy, U.S. coach Steve Sampson,
is accused of having panicked, fielded too many rookies, and benched or cut
veteran players over petty personality conflicts. (6/22/98)
            

            Update
on the Lewinsky scandal : 1) U.S. News & World Report
described more contents of the Tripp-Lewinsky tapes. First highlight: Lewinsky
sought President Clinton's help in getting a new job before she was subpoenaed
in the Paula Jones case. Pundits' spin: This undermines Kenneth Starr's theory
that Lewinsky sought Clinton's help in exchange for lying to protect him in the
Jones case. Second highlight: On the tapes, Tripp apparently encourages
Lewinsky to obsess about Clinton, to ask him for help getting a job, and to
send him letters via a courier service owned by the family of Tripp's literary
agent. Pundits' spin: This supports the moral argument that Clinton was set up,
and it might support the legal argument that he was entrapped. 2) The
Washington Post reported that Lewinsky's new lawyers have reached the
same impasse with Starr that stalled her first lawyer: Starr demands that she
plead guilty to at least one crime, whereas she insists on total immunity.
Pundits figure any impasse is good news for Clinton. 3) The buzz over Steven
Brill's critique of Starr and the press extended into its second week,
highlighted by a Weekly Standard countercritique of Brill. Brill's new
spin is that the anti-Starr spin on his article didn't come from him. (For
evidence to the contrary, click .) 
               (6/22/98)
            

            Two
major health insurers, Kaiser Permanente and Aetna, decided not to cover
Viagra except for members who pay a surcharge. Kaiser's spin: It's too
expensive, and other people shouldn't have to pay for your intercourse. Aetna's
spin: "Having sexual relations is not a medical necessity." The New York State
Health Department's explanation for not covering Viagra under Medicaid: Some
people will turn around and sell it on the black market. The pro-coverage spin,
from the pill's manufacturer, Pfizer: Impotence is a "serious medical condition
that can seriously diminish men's self-esteem and affect their relationships."
Analysts speculate Kaiser's decision will accelerate a race by insurers to
avoid becoming havens for impotent men. (6/22/98)
            

            An
alleged copycat case of three white men dragging a black man from a car
has been recanted. A black man in Louisiana, whose report of the alleged crime
was picked up in the national press and was being investigated as a hate crime
(after the recent murder in Texas), has admitted he fabricated the story. Two
women say what really happened is that they ripped off the man in a crack deal,
he tried to get into their car, and he was dragged in the ensuing altercation.
(6/22/98)
            

            The
Boston Globe forced metro columnist Patricia Smith to resign for
fabricating quotes and characters. Nobody knows how long she has been doing it.
Smith's defense, in her departing column: She only did it "to create the
desired impact or slam home a salient point," and her career will survive "this
indiscretion." Colleagues and media critics compared her with ex- New
Republic fabricator Stephen Glass with varying takes: 1) Like Glass, she
was "stretched too thin." 2) Kudos to the Globe for instituting the
routine source double-checking system that caught Smith. If only the New
Republic had done this. 3) Shame on the Globe for having hired Smith
despite a previous incident in which she had reportedly reviewed a concert she
didn't attend. At least the New Republic didn't know it was hiring a
liar. 4) As with Glass, the quotes from Smith's sources were too good to check.
5) Actually, the poetic quality of Smith's quotes is what aroused her editors'
suspicions. 6) Her talent for poetry is what inspired her to fabricate in the
first place. So it's poetic justice that she was caught for the same reason. 7)
Glass showed superior cleverness by fabricating less perfect quotes. 8) Smith
"championed the downtrodden and elevated the voices of people who would never
have gotten in this paper." 9) Smith invented those voices instead of doing the
work of talking to real downtrodden people. (Why do editors fall for the wiles
of the likes of Glass and Smith? Check out "Glass Houses,"
by Jack Shafer.) (6/19/98)
            

            The Senate killed the
McCain tobacco bill . Editorialists were outraged. Democrats accused
Republicans of killing the bill at the behest of Big Tobacco. Republicans said
the bill had lost sight of its original goal--reducing teen smoking--and become
a tax-and-spend monstrosity full of extraneous special-interest tax breaks and
off-budget spending. Democrats pointed out that Republicans had demanded the
extraneous tax breaks in the first place. The initial spin: Pushing to kill the
bill was a big gamble for the tobacco companies, because they'll now have to
face suits from states and individuals. The backspin: What gamble? The Senate
had made the companies' decision easy by stripping the bill of the liability
cap that would have mitigated the suits. (For an earlier look at the spin
war over tobacco, click here.) 
               (6/18/98)
            

            The
Ennis Cosby murder trial opened. Even before jury selection, the
prosecution dropped a bombshell, alleging that defendant Mikail Markhasev
belongs to the "Mexican Mafia" prison gang and that the gang might threaten
jurors. Similarities to the O.J. Simpson case: 1) It's a celebrity murder. 2)
National media are flocking to cover it. 3) It's next door to the O.J. civil
case courtroom. 4) The racial angle is back, but this time, the roles are
reversed. The defendant is Ukrainian and is alleged to have told a companion,
"I shot the nigger." (6/17/98)
            

            The Detroit Red
Wings won the Stanley Cup, beating the Washington Capitals in four games.
This is the second straight National Hockey League championship for the Red
Wings and the fourth consecutive sweep in the NHL finals. The on-stage hero:
Steve Yzerman, Red Wings captain, who won playoff MVP honors after having been
labeled a choker earlier in his career. The offstage hero: former Red Wings
star Vladimir Konstantinov, who, a year after suffering severe brain damage in
a car crash, was rolled onto the ice in his wheelchair to celebrate this year's
championship. (6/17/98)
            

            
Congress and the White House are in a ruckus over homosexuality . First,
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott called it a sin and compared it to
kleptomania and "sex addiction." Then gay activists denounced Lott's remarks.
Then House Majority Leader Dick Armey said Lott is right and the Bible proves
it. White House spokesman Mike McCurry said that 1) "it's not a disease, it is
something that is part of defining one's sexuality"; 2) Lott's remarks show
that Republican leaders in Congress are "backward"; and 3) the Christian right
has pushed these leaders to "the extreme." The media had a field day, recalling
Bob Dole's 1996 crisis over a donation from gay Republicans and Armey's 1995
reference to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as "Barney Fag." (6/17/98)
            

            Massachusetts' highest
court decided that British au pair Louise Woodward will not go back to
jail. Woodward will soon be able to leave the United States. The court upheld a
trial judge's decision to 1) reduce Woodward's conviction from murder to
manslaughter in the death of an 8-month-old baby and 2) reduce her prison
sentence from 15 years to the 279 days she had already served. The baby's
father responded by filing a wrongful death suit. Woodward recently fired one
of her lawyers for allegedly telling a state trooper she now thinks Woodward is
guilty. (See the latest "International
Papers" for the Woodward-British Airways ruckus.) (6/16/98)