|
Jewish World Review / Oct. 23, 1998 /3 Mar-Cheshvan, 5759
MUGGER
Speaking from Zabar’s: Michael Moore!
AND NOW A WORD FROM THE POPULIST/MILLIONAIRE MICHAEL MOORE, who,
disguised as Paul Revere, in a chain e-mail probably written from his
Upper West Side digs, sounded the alarm for his fellow citizens to defy
the polls, and history, and vote every single Republican out of
Congress.
An excerpt of Moore’s missive: "The act of civil disobedience
I am calling for is for each and every American to go to the polls on
November 3 and vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress on your
ballot. That’s right, my fellow cynics and progressives --- the only way to
send a true message to the right wing is to throw every Republican out
of office. I’m talking about a backlash the like of which American
politics has never seen... In 1995 [actually, 1996], in Great Britain,
the people of Scotland and Wales removed every single member of the
Tories from Parliament—that’s right, every single one."
One very positive development in the past month has been the neutering
of Clinton’s favorite propaganda organ: Salon. When the online magazine
published the story about Henry Hyde’s adulterous affair of 30 years
ago -- not such a crime in this year’s climate -- a decision that resulted in
the resignation/firing of its chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan
Broder, a week-long dust-up had the result of vastly reducing the
left-wing mouthpiece’s credibility. Most of it can be traced to one
paragraph in editor David Talbot’s defense of the story.
"Aren’t we fighting fire with fire," Talbot asks, "descending to the gutter tactics
of those we deplore? Frankly, yes. But ugly times call for ugly tactics.
When a pack of sanctimonious thugs beats you and your country upside the
head with a tire-iron, you can withdraw to the sideline and meditate, or
you can grab it out of their hands and fight back."
James Carville and Sidney Blumenthal must’ve been proud of their puppet.
Problem is, with that one line, "ugly times call for ugly tactics,"
Talbot marginalized his magazine, perhaps forever. It’s no accident that
since Broder left, Salon has run very few political stories. Talbot’s
mistake was the equivalent of Newt Gingrich complaining about his
seating on Air Force One a few years back: It was a crybaby retort that
everybody, left- or right-wing, could understand as the reaction of a
partisan who’s gone over the edge.
Just last week, on Crossfire, Slate’s
Michael Kinsley was grilling a Republican congressman, who replied, “I
thought you worked for Slate, not Salon. The electronic mag’s a
political joke now that probably won’t recover.
Weiss writes:
He then writes about Marsha Scott’s faulty memory this year when queried
by Starr lawyers about her conversations with Suzy and Webb Hubbell. The
latter, who had served time for bilking the Rose Law Firm, was making
noises about suing his former associates back in ’96. Supposedly, Scott,
who’s been “"friends" with Clinton for more than two decades, put
pressure on Suzy to squelch her husband’s plans. Suzy, who was employed
by the government, was upset, eliciting Webb’s famous line, "So I have
to roll over one more time."
Scott stonewalled the prosecutors.
When
asked about the enormous fees Hubbell received just before he was
incarcerated, specifically from administration-friendly Revlon, Inc. (to
which Monica was supposed to escape, by the way, thanks to Vernon
Jordan), Scott had a bout of amnesia.
Says Weiss: "When they asked
whether she’d discussed Mr. Hubbell’s financial situation with the
President, she said she’d talked about him only "in the holistic
sense."
Finally, Weiss, who’s performed an invaluable service with his article,
in the wake of ostriches who believe that Clinton’s record of criminal
actions is "just about sex," then defends Ken Starr.
He writes: "When
people attack Ken Starr for spending however many years and millions on
the Clinton scandals, what they do not understand is that at every turn
Mr. Starr has been lied to about the most trivial matters in just the
way that Marsha Scott lied to him last March. I have no doubt that he
has gotten similar lies about the Clintons’ involvement in everything
from Travelgate to Filegate to Foster’s office—matters that he was
appointed to investigate. The only difference in the Marsha Scott
situation (and, for that matter, the sex capers) is that by a Nixonish
fluke, there are tapes. I believe these lies hide illegal conduct that
is just as pervasive as Watergate, and probably more sinister. Which is
why, in one of the great civil liberties battles of all time, when every
liberal from here to the Czech Republic is denouncing Mr. Starr’s
invasions of Mr. Clinton’s privacy, I continue to have concern about Mr.
Clinton’s
Now that’s a
realistic call to action! I’m surprised Moore didn’t ask Spike Lee,
Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Alec Baldwin to co-sign his
silly, paranoid message. But then again, those celebrity liberals
probably can’t stand the pompous Moore either.
Moore
WEISS ON THE PULITZER TRAIL>
COMPLETELY IGNORED by the mainstream media was last week’s remarkable
piece on part of the Whitewater puzzle by Philip Weiss in The New York
Observer. Without mentioning the Monica aspect of Clinton’s troubles,
Weiss travels back to 1995 when he was present at the Senate Whitewater
hearings and Clinton’s lawyers were questioned about the search of
Vincent Foster’s office after he committed suicide.
"Congress had a bunch of records showing calls between the lawyers and
Hillary Clinton, but the lawyers testified Hillary had nothing to do
with it." Weiss was speaking with Sidney Blumenthal, still a New Yorker
writer, who warned Weiss that Whitewater was a "rabbit hole" and those
that go down it may never come out. He told Blumenthal: "I don’t care
about the search of Foster’s office. As far as I know, the
Administration had a right to rifle his papers before the FBI came. But
it was a legitimate question, and I’m telling you, I watched them lie...
One after another, they came in and lied, and it shocked me precisely
because it was such a trivial matter. I thought, These people will lie
about everything."
Blumenthal
JWR contributor "Mugger" is the editor-in-chief and publisher of New York Press. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
10/21/98: Bubba redux?
His uptick won't last
10/16/98: Gore for President: The Bread Lines Are Starting to Form