Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993 TAG: 9402010240
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cal Thomas
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On his program early in the week, Levey denounced the troopers and their motives for coming forward to talk to The American Spectator and the networks. ``They're writing a book,'' he said (though no contracts have been signed). ``Why didn't they say something earlier if their motivation was anything other than financial?''
After a lengthy monologue in which he stated flatly that the story is a lie and that nothing happened, Levey invited calls to the station's computerized survey lines. Listeners called the ``yes'' number if they believed the stories about Clinton and the ``no'' number if they did not.
In one hour, the station recorded 818 calls from listeners affirming their belief in the troopers and 368 who did not believe them. A station employee told me so many calls were coming into the ``yes'' line that they rolled over to other numbers and were not counted as yes votes. So, she said, the number of ``yeses'' was probably much higher than 818.
Levey said too many of us are ``voyeurs,'' and that's why we like these stories. But the American people are not stupid about these things. They don't need ironclad evidence to sense that something is amiss. Voters were worried about character questions during the campaign, manifested in the debate over Clinton's draft record, his sex life and frequent shading of the truth on many subjects. Enough voters took a chance with Clinton to elect him, but many now appear to be rethinking their position.
Clinton defenders, like Levey, ask for corroborating evidence, such as public statements by the women allegedly involved. Their silence is taken as proof there is nothing to the troopers' stories. But it isn't easy to challenge the power of a president or presidential candidate. Jobs can be lost; careers damaged or ruined.
It isn't just the sex, as bad as that is for Clinton and his family if it is true. Adultery is not an impeachable offense. But personal immorality is bound to spill over into other areas of public behavior. That is why we are hearing serious questions raised about possible cover-ups and stonewalling in the Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan mess in Little Rock, Ark., an institution allegedly used as a ``private piggy bank'' by Gov. Clinton and his friends to underwrite campaign costs and for personal loans, some of them allegedly not repaid.
A New York Times editorial gets to the heart of the matter: ``This is a man who rode into Washington on a pledge to end politics as usual, and every time the White House dodges inquiries about the old days in Arkansas, reasonable people begin to wonder about a cover-up and Mr. Clinton's sincerity.''
Reasonable people wonder about these things, not just right-wing wackos.
President Clinton likes to compare himself to John F. Kennedy. Leaving the similarities in their sexual behavior aside, he may soon be compared to Richard Nixon, whose main problem became not so much the acts he committed, but the attempts to cover them up. In the end, the cover-up did him in.
This is the potential danger for Bill Clinton. As charges mount, the tendency is to circle the wagons and rely on those closest to the president to protect him. Nixon's closest aides believed they were safe as long as the Justice Department was staffed with their allies.
One of those aides, Special Counsel Charles Colson, told me: ``We thought ourselves invulnerable as long as we had John Mitchell or Richard Kleindienst in our Justice Department. It was only when Elliott Richardson appointed Kennedy-activist Archibald Cox [special prosecutor] that the roof caved in. Before that we knew that no one in-house would blow the whistle.''
All the more reason why principled Republicans and Democrats in Congress should call for an independent prosecutor and/or congressional hearings (so far denied by House Banking Chairman Henry Gonzalez) to pursue the growing pile of allegations about President Clinton's dealings with Madison Guaranty S&L. That is the least required to clear the air.
\ Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB