Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning a U.S. public
relations campaign against President Clinton. The surface story: Netanyahu
rejected Clinton's demand that Israel accept withdrawal from another 13 percent
of the West Bank as a prerequisite for further U.S. peace talks. The backstage
story, reported by the New York Times : Netanyahu will visit Congress,
the pro-Israel lobby, and the U.S. media this week to stir up criticism of the
pressure Clinton put on him. Last week's spin: Netanyahu had to accept
Clinton's offer, because it was too favorable to Israel to pass up and because
Israel couldn't afford to antagonize the United States. The subsequent spin: If
Netanyahu didn't accept, Clinton would take his case public to put pressure on
him. The new spin: Netanyahu is passing up the U.S. offer, is willing to
antagonize the United States, and is taking his case public to put pressure on
Clinton. (5/11/98)
SBC
Communications has agreed to buy Ameritech in a stock swap worth about $60
billion. This would be the second-biggest merger ever (behind Citigroup)--at
least for the moment--and would create the biggest U.S. local phone company.
The spins: 1) Merger mania continues. 2) This merger brings Ma Bell back from
the dead by uniting three of her Baby Bells (spanning the West, Southwest, and
Midwest) and an additional New England phone company. 3) Now AT&T will have
to buy Bell Atlantic--which has already bought Nynex--to form a rival phone
giant. 4) So much for the competition we were supposed to get from the 1996
Telecommunications Act. (5/11/98)
The
Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily grounded old Boeing 737s
to inspect them for worn fuel tank wires. The first-day spin: What a nuisance
for travelers. The second-day spin, after the inspections found that half the
grounded planes had damaged wires like those suspected of causing the TWA 800
catastrophe: Don't panic; the wires are being fixed, and it's still safe to
fly. (5/11/98)
White
House aide Sidney Blumenthal apologized for calling Hickman Ewing, Ken
Starr's deputy counsel, a "religious fanatic." Speaker Gingrich and more than
50 Republicans in Congress had demanded that Clinton punish Blumenthal for his
"religious intolerance." White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles said he had
discussed the transgression with Blumenthal, and Blumenthal issued a written
statement saying, "I did not intend to offend Mr. Ewing's or anyone else's
personal religious beliefs and I regret if anyone feels offended."
(5/11/98)
Daimler-Benz and Chrysler are merging. It's the largest industrial
merger to date, worth $35 billion to $40 billion. The global spin: Merger mania
continues. The world auto industry is consolidating into GM and Ford in the
United States, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen (which appears to be buying Rolls
Royce) in Europe, and Toyota and Honda in Japan. The economic spin: 1)
Foreigners continue buying American companies and endangering the jobs of their
American workers. 2) Don't worry, there's little overlap between Daimler (which
makes Mercedes cars) and Chrysler, so nobody will be fired. 3) Then what's the
point of merging? The union spin: 1) The Chrysler bosses are selling out
America. 2) Wait a minute--we get to join forces with the German unions, which
have even more clout and better benefits. Workers of the world, unite!
(5/8/98)
The
U.S. Marine jet that killed 20 people in Italy by snapping a ski lift
cable nearly struck the ski gondola in which they were riding, according to
testimony in a military justice hearing. The jet allegedly came within 130 feet
of hitting the gondola after flying just 300 to 500 feet above the ground--well
below its permitted altitude--for at least seven miles, bolstering the theory
that the crew was flying recklessly. Crew members are charged with involuntary
manslaughter, negligent homicide, and other offenses. (5/8/98)
New
York's state supreme court denied a woman the right to implant her frozen
embryos in defiance of a contract she had signed with her then-husband.
Before their divorce, the couple agreed their frozen embryos could be used only
if both consented. A lower court, citing the right to procreate under Roe
vs. Wade , ruled that the woman was entitled to "exclusive control over the
fate of her nonviable fetus." The state's high court disagreed. The superficial
spin: It's a defeat for Roe vs. Wade . The sophisticated spin: It's a
victory for the spirit of Roe , because the high court ruled that the
procreation decision had been rightly made by the couple--"not the state and
not the courts"--through their contract. The pro-life spin: This means that
embryos will be treated as just another contractually disposable commodity.
(5/8/98)
Judge
Norma Holloway Johnson rejected President Clinton's invocations of executive
privilege and attorney-client privilege to prevent interrogation of his
advisers in the Lewinsky affair. The spins: 1) This means Bruce Lindsey and
Sidney Blumenthal must testify. 2) This ruling bodes ill for Clinton's similar
invocation of presidential privilege to prevent Secret Service testimony. 3)
Ken Starr is on a roll, having won three consecutive rulings from Judge
Johnson. 4) The White House will appeal her decision to the Supreme Court. 5)
Comparisons to Watergate are resuming. (5/6/98)
The
Dan Burton follies continued. In the previous episode, Burton, the
chairman of the House investigation of the campaign finance scandal, was under
fire for 1) releasing transcripts of Webster Hubbell's phone calls from jail
and 2) omitting parts of the transcripts in which Hubbell vouched for Hillary
Clinton's innocence. In today's episode, Burton 1) said he would bypass
Democratic objections by assigning the investigation's next step to a
GOP-stacked committee; 2) reversed that decision, evidently at Speaker
Gingrich's behest; and 3) "accepted the resignation" of his chief investigator,
David Bossie, who is blamed for releasing the transcripts. Gingrich said Bossie
was fired. The Chicago Tribune called for Burton's removal. The
Washington Post groaned that Burton "once again lived up to his
caricature" as an overzealous idiot and pointed out that his real crime has
been to distract attention from the transcripts, which indicate that White
House "emissaries" encouraged Hubbell and his wife to fear their livelihood
depended on remaining silent about the Clintons' roles in Whitewater.
(5/6/98)
Politicians of both
parties christened the new Ronald Reagan Building and International
Trade Center in Washington, D.C. It is the biggest U.S. government building,
aside from the Pentagon, to have been erected, and it cost more than twice as
much as had been projected. The half-cynical spin: The joke is on Reagan,
because the building belies his rhetoric against big government. The fully
cynical spin: The joke is on us, because the building faithfully reflects
Reagan's continuation of big government, despite his rhetoric.
(5/6/98)
