|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Grab Bag For the Ides of April |
|---|
| April 15 Promises More Ill Every Year, But McDougal Gives Hope for Friendship |
|
This is Dark Cloud on Wednesday, April 14, 1999. Another slow news week, although it is well to recall that 87 years ago tonight, the Ti-tanic struck an iceberg. Kosovo looks like it will inevitably claim American ground troops as atrocities and fabricated events on both sides proliferate. Jack Kervorkian will now starve himself to death or be revealed as a bag of hot air. He promised to do so if he were ever convicted; he was, let’s see. But on a lighter note, perhaps a higher one, Susan McDougal was essentially finally exonerated in court of all Whitewater shenanigans, although Kenneth Starr may still refile charges and try to get a retrial. Whatever the minutiae of the truth, Susan McDougal wins Friend of the Year award, or at least something to favorably contrast with Linda Tripp. Accused by a zany wife of a famous musician of theft, McDougal was acquitted. Accused of conspiracy with her mad husband James in Whitewater and related matters, McDougal was found innocent except for the charges dismissed for lack of evidence and one ordered retried. Pressed by the Special Prosecutor to betray William Clinton by fabricating an incriminating story, McDougal did not do so, gave the finger to the Richard Simmons of criminal law, Kenneth Starr, and served time in jail as punishment for defying the Special Prosecutor who had, it turns out, no case against her that amounted to much. During this tribulation, because she used to pose in cut-off jeans and halter tops in television ads for her husband’s businesses, she has been portrayed as, essentially, a slut with a smart mouth by the obese and lipless wonders of Starr’s legions who, to a man, are terrified of what the sexual revolution has wrought. In the end, Starr lost after depriving her of freedom for several years. She has yet to be convicted of anything to be called a serious crime, and now that I think about it, maybe she has never been convicted of anything at all except telling a truly sick prosecutor where to stick it. Once found, explaned, and demonstrated, of course. And despite all the speculation about her relationship with the Clintons, her motivations for doing what she has done, she has never said anything derogatory about either, never changed her story, never backed down, and never been proven wrong. Visualize her as totally innocent, and recall what she has gone through. In dead seriousness, how often can a prosecutor lose such expensive and dubious cases before either his competencies or his agenda are called into question? For all the right wing blather about Whitewater, Vince Foster, Travelgate, the FBI files, the only thing that has connected the Clintons to any of it has turned out to be bunk. Absolute, unqualified crap, all of it. Two minor figures go to jail for defrauding their own law firm in cases unrelated to Whitewater. Sixty million dollars, friends. Say that with me. Sixty million dollars the investigations starting with Whitewater have cost you. For what? The worst thing proven against President Clinton is that he has had sex with women not his wife after the age of fifty, enjoyed by both parties, and he lied about it under oath, probably because he doesn’t consider it anyone’s concern but the engaged parties. I agree, and apparently, so do most of you. President Clinton will now have to pay some sort of price for lying under oath about an affair with Monica Lewinsky that was none of anyone’s business to start with. Personally, I’m glad he lied about that; there is honor, there is law, there is justice, and they aren’t the same thing. Not even in the same time zone. And now, supposedly Clinton will have to refurbish his image. Hardly. Virtually every-thing he has done, Somalia aside, has been a success, and this despite his enemies. The economy is the best of all time. Period. We have stood up for basic principles with military force, as in Somalia, Haiti, and now Kosovo. Innocent people were being killed pointlessly and in preparation for greater atrocities. I am quite certain that history, and not distant history, will agree that Clinton defined an America that should have existed longer than it has, one that will stand on principle when it is correct to do so. There is no oil to speak of in Kosovo. These stands have not been convenient for him. On the contrary, these were often the most difficult to gain support for, and the hardest ones for him to defend. No President since Lyndon Johnson has taken more risks. Unlike Johnson, Clinton has luck, and perhaps far more skill. Contrary to those who think Clinton will be solely remembered for his women, the inves-tigations, and the contempt of court, I suspect much of that will blow away within the decade, and his eight years will be recalled with great fondness and some pride. Possibly as much fondness as that exibited by Susan McDougal. We should all have a friend like her: a female Gordon Liddy who was actually innocent but just as tough. Good on ya mate. |
| Post your views and reviews on The Boulder Lout Forum. |