Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review June 28, 2000 /25 Sivan, 5760

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Arianna Huffington
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Some questions
for you, Mr. Gore


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- YOU HAVE TO hand it to Clinton and Gore. They are simply experts at diverting scandals and demonizing their accusers. They've become so proficient at counterpunching that they're almost able to convert their scandals into assets.

Late last week, reports emerged that yet another Justice Department official had recommended that a special counsel investigate whether Gore had lied under oath in an April 18 interview. Robert Conrad, head of the Justice Department's campaign finance task force, recently became the third Justice official to urge Janet Reno to pursue the matter against Gore. Conrad's predecessor, Chuck LaBella, had made the initial recommendation.

But the Clinton-Gore machine is relentless in manipulating the news cycles to its advantage. With the weekend talk-show blitz, Gore managed to get equal time for his preposterous spin on the latest revelations about his fund-raising chicanery. The sanitized version transforms Gore from villain to victim.

On CNN's "Late Edition," Gore's adviser Ron Klain took the offensive, "The real question is for the Bush campaign -- were they involved in this leak? It's a serious question I think they need to answer."

Keep in mind that there is no evidence whatsoever that Bush was responsible for the dissemination of this story. It is just a naked, bad-faith charge, issued by Gore to divert attention from his misconduct by demonizing Governor Bush.

LaBella, also appearing on the weekend shows, offered his opinion about the source of the leaks. "Somebody, obviously in the Department of Justice at a high level, for some reason decided that this wasn't being fairly handled."

Dismissing LaBella, Gore's defenders tried to paint the leaks as the product of a partisan witch-hunt. On "Face the Nation," Democrat Senator Robert Torricelli said that last week's story about Conrad's recommendation to appoint a special counsel was "a politically-motivated leak that was not fair to the vice president and not right in our electoral system."

Just consider that statement. Who's being partisan here? If Torricelli weren't so committed to protecting his party's presidential hopeful, he would be joining in the call for a special counsel to investigate Gore. Besides, isn't this precisely the right time for us to find out all of the facts? That Gore is trying to be president makes it all the more imperative that we get at the truth.

Instead of worrying about fairness to the vice president, Torricelli ought to be demanding explanations from Gore for these anomalies:

  • Gore insisted that the 103 White House coffees were not "fund-raising tools," even though a Senate panel found in 1997 that supporters who attended these events between November 1995 and October 1996 contributed $7.7 million within one month of having attended them. (Some coincidence, huh?)

  • Gore recalled that he had been to few of the coffees, and specifically remembered "only one that I attended briefly." Yet, the Senate panel found that he had been the host of 23 coffees and attended 8 with President Clinton.

  • Gore denied under oath that he knew that the 1995 campaign event he attended at a Buddhist temple was a fund-raiser. Yet, the event raised more than $65,000 in illegal donations for the Democratic Party.

  • The Reno Justice Department had never questioned Gore directly about the Buddhist temple incident until April 18, just two days before the previously unreleased memos were to be delivered to Senator Specter's subcommittee.

  • When the Department finally interrogated Gore, investigators said his responses were characterized by "overall contentious elusiveness" and contained "misstatements."

  • Gore claimed in his now famous "iced-tea defense" that he was probably in the restroom when discussions occurred about his White House phone solicitations for hard money. Yet, former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta remembers Gore being quite attentive to these discussions.

  • Two FBI agents said that Lee Radek, the head of the Justice Department's public integrity section, told them in late 1996 that Reno was facing job pressure not to seek an independent counsel.

It's time for Democrats to stop the shenanigans and come to the aid of their country. The question, Mr. Klain, is not whether Bush was involved in any leaks -- which he most assuredly was not. Just as during impeachment, the question was not whether Ken Starr was involved in leaks of grand jury information -- which he most assuredly was not. The question is whether Mr. Gore has the requisite character to be president.


JWR contributor David Limbaugh is an attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a political analyst and commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

WND

Up

06/26/00: Supreme Court assaults religious freedom
06/21/00: Waco: We are the jury
06/19/00: "Outrage" just doesn't quite cut it anymore!
06/14/00: Al Gore: Government's best friend
06/12/00: Say goodbye to medical privacy
06/07/00: Elian: Whose hands were tied?
06/05/00: Who, which, what is the real Al Gore?
06/01/00: Legacy-building idea for Clinton
05/30/00: Clinton: Above the law or not?
05/24/00: Not so fast, Hillary
05/22/00: Gore's risky, fear-mongering schemes
05/17/00: Can Bush risk pro-choice running mate?
05/15/00: Right to privacy, Clinton-style
05/10/00: Patrick Kennedy and his suit-happy fiddlers
05/08/00: Don't shoot Eddie Eagle
05/03/00: Congress caves to Clinton, again?
05/01/00: The resurrection of outrage
04/28/00: A picture of Bill Clinton's America
04/19/00: President Clinton: Teaching children responsibility
04/17/00: Elian, Marx and parental rights
04/12/00: Elian, freedom deserve a hearing
04/10/00:The fraying of America
04/05/00: Noonan: End Clintonism now
04/03/00: Bush: On going for the gold
03/29/00: Phantasma-Gore-ia
03/27/00: Treaties, triggers, tobacco and tyrants
03/22/00: Media to Bush: Go left, young man
03/20/00: Stop the insanity
03/15/00: OK Al Gore: Let's go negative
03/13/00: Deifying of the center
03/08/00: The media, the establishment and the people
03/01/00: McCain's coalition-busting daggers in GOP's heart
02/28/00: Bush's silver lining in McMichigan
02/24/00: A conservative firewall, after all
02/22/00: Bush or four more of Clinton-Gore?
02/16/00: Substance trumps process
02/14/00: The campaign finance reform mirage
02/09/00: President McCain: End of the GOP as we know it?
02/07/00: From New Hampshire to South Carolina
02/02/00: SDI must fly
01/31/00: Veep gores Bradley
01/26/00: The issues gap
01/24/00: GOP: Exit, stage left
01/20/00: Nationalizing congressional elections
01/18/00: Do voters really prefer straight talk?
01/12/00: Media's McCain efforts may backfire
01/10/00: Conservative racism myth
01/05/00: Just one more year of Clintonian politics
01/03/00: McMedia?
12/27/99: Al Gore: Bullish on government
12/22/99: Bradley's full-court press
12/20/99: Bush: Rendering unto Caesar
12/15/99: Beltway media bias
12/13/99: White House ambulance chasing
12/08/99: Clinton's labor pains
12/06/99:The lust for power
12/01/99: In defense of liberty
11/29/99: Are Republicans obsolete?
11/24/99: Say you're sorry, Mr. President
11/22/99: Architects of victory
11/17/99: Trump's tax on freedom
11/15/99: GOP caves again
11/10/99: Triangulation and 'The Third Way'
11/08/99: Sticks and stones
11/03/99: Keyes vs. media lapdogs
11/01/99: Signs of the times
10/27/99: The false charge of isolationism
10/25/99: A matter of freedom
10/20/99: Clinton's mini-meltdown
10/18/99: Senate GOP shows statesmanship
10/13/99: Senate must reject nuclear treaty
10/11/99: Bush bites feeding hand
10/06/99: Jesse accidentally opens door for Pat
10/04/99: Clinton and his media enablers
09/29/99: Reagan: Big-tent conservatism
09/27/99: The Clinton/Gore taint?
09/22/99: Have gun (tragedy), will travel
09/20/99: Hillary's blunders and bloopers
09/15/99: GOP must remain conservative
09/13/99:Time for Bush to take charge, please
09/10/99: Bush's education plan: Dubya confounds again
09/07/99: Pat, savior or spoiler?
09/02/99: Character doesn't matter?
08/30/99: Should we judge?
08/25/99: Dubyah's drug question: Not a hill to die on
08/23/99: Should Dubyah start buying soap ... for all that mud?
08/16/99: 'W' stands for 'winner'
08/11/99: The truth about tax cuts
08/09/99: Hillary: Threading the needle
08/04/99: What would you do?
08/02/99: No appeasement for China
07/30/99: Hate Crimes Bill: Cynical Symbolism
07/26/99: It’s the 'moderates', stupid
07/21/99: JFK Jr. and Diana: the pain of privilege
07/19/99: Smith, Bush and the GOP
07/14/99: GOP must be a party of ideas
07/12/99: Gore's gender gap
07/08/99: Clinton’s faustian bargain: our justice
07/06/99: The key to Bush's $36 million
06/30/99: Gore: a soda in every fountain
06/28/99: 'Sacred wall' or religious barrier?
06/23/99: GOP must lead in foreign policy
06/21/99: Crumbs of compassion
06/16/99: Compassionate conservatism: face-lift or body transplant?
06/10/99: Victory in Kosovo? Now What?

© 2000, CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.