The Clintometer is back. Click for the latest update.
Incoming House
Speaker Bob Livingston confessed to adultery . "I have on occasion
strayed from my marriage," he said. Roll Call broke the story (there are
rumors it may have come through Hustler ), and Livingston spilled the
beans to his Republican colleagues to head off the story. Livingston's spins:
1) "I sought marriage and spiritual counseling and have received forgiveness
from my wife and family." 2) "I was running for speaker, not sainthood." 3)
"These indiscretions were not with employees on my staff." 4) "I have never
been asked to testify under oath about them." 5) "To avoid harm to others," he
won't say more. 6) "Individuals working together with the media" are out to get
all us Republicans. 7) "I will not be intimidated." Journalists gleefully
anticipated that Democrats would exploit the story in Friday's House
impeachment debate. But Republicans embraced Livingston, said his case is
different from Clinton's, and suggested that the real villains are Clinton
defenders, who are leaking nasty stories about Republicans.
(12/18/98)
The United
States continued to bomb Iraq . Military briefers say the first day of
missiles destroyed Saddam Hussein's military headquarters and four barracks at
weapons sites. The international debate is over whether the attack was
justified. Russia and China called U.N. weapons inspection chief Richard Butler
an American pawn and demanded his resignation, but nobody seems angry enough
about the attack to make a serious effort to stop it. The prevailing view is
that force may not achieve success in disarming Iraq, but diplomacy had
definitely achieved failure. (12/18/98)
The House
began debating impeachment . The chief controversy is whether the
impeachment vote and the Iraq bombing should be going on simultaneously.
Republicans blame Clinton for bombing Iraq just when the GOP was about to begin
the impeachment debate. Democrats blame Republicans for beginning the
impeachment debate just after Clinton began the bombing. Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott is taking the brunt of editorial criticism for questioning the
bombing and Clinton's motives. Each party impugns the other's integrity and
patriotism while calling the other party shamelessly cynical for impugning its
own integrity and patriotism. For a roundup of the spins, see
Slate
's "" on the latest "wag the dog" charges.
(12/18/98)
Israeli
implementation of the Wye peace agreement is collapsing . First, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu halted Israel's promised troop withdrawals from the
West Bank because of Palestinian violence. Then President Clinton went to
Israel and the Gaza Strip, supervised the Palestinians' annulment of their
charter language calling for Israel's destruction, and urged Netanyahu to
resume troop withdrawals. Netanyahu refused, arguing that Palestinian leaders
must take further steps against terrorism and renounce their aspirations to
statehood. Now Netanyahu says that if Israel's parliament fails to endorse his
policies by next week, he will call new elections. The opposition Labor Party,
which accuses Netanyahu of trying to kill the peace process, welcomed the
opportunity to get rid of him. The idealistic spin: Netanyahu wants the
Palestinians to accept his conditions so peace can go forward. The cynical
spin: He wants the Palestinians to reject his conditions so he can posture
against them in the election. (12/16/98)
Gov. Lawton
Chiles, D-Fla., died at 68. He had a heart attack while working out on his
exercise bike, just three weeks before he was to turn over his office to
Gov.-elect Jeb Bush. The lieutenant governor, who lost to Bush, gets to be
governor in the interim. Commentators lauded Chiles' civility and efforts on
behalf of the environment, fiscal responsibility, and public accountability.
Former Rep. Mo Udall, D-Ariz., died at 76 of Parkinson's disease.
Commentators applauded his "liberal conscience" in the face of conservative
public opinion. Judge Leon Higginbotham Jr. died at 70 after a stroke.
He was one of the country's most accomplished black jurists. Commentators spoke
approvingly of his "unambiguous liberalism," his stalwart defense of the
downtrodden, and his attacks on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
(12/16/98)
Pundits debated
the fallout from the Clinton administration's latest lobbying
and testimony before Congress. The spins: 1) Clinton's lies are offensive. 2)
The Republicans' charges are excessive. 3) Clinton's lawyers refuse to admit
anything that could put him in legal jeopardy. 4) Duh. 5) The pro-impeachment
closing argument: The rule of law is at stake. 6) The anti-impeachment closing
argument: The Constitution is at stake. 7) Impeachment is excessive, so vote
instead for censure. 8) Impeachment without conviction is censure. 9)
Impeachment is too serious to treat as censure. 10) Impeachment is only a vote
for a trial. 11) A trial would be too awful because it would paralyze the
government and force the Senate to delve into sexual details. 12) The
impeachment juggernaut is good because it has scared the White House into
embracing heavy censure. 13) Impeachment is good for the Democrats because it
would hurt the GOP more than it would hurt Clinton. 14) Clinton will persuade
the GOP not to impeach him because they both care more about their own skins
than about the Democrats. (For more on a possible escape route for Clinton see,
"" in
Slate
. (12/14/98)
