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everyone can be annoyed with the “four years, $40 million” blown
by the Office of the Independent
Counsel.
In lieu of indictment and prosecution, Independent Counsel Robert
Ray allowed President Clinton to sign a “statement” admitting to
nothing, packed with lies, and administering no punishment. Why
did Ray take the job if he wasn’t going to finish it?
Fittingly, Clinton’s statement is shot through with a litany of
his own travails, the punishment he has received, and the “high
price” he has already paid: "I've already settled the Paula Jones
case . . . I have also paid court and counsel fees and restitution
and been held in civil contempt for my deposition testimony regarding
Ms. Lewinsky . . . I have apologized for my conduct and I have done
my best to atone for it with my family, my administration and the
American people. I have paid a high price for it,” whine, whine,
whine. . .
It’s rather jarring to come to the end of the document and see that
it is signed by Clinton, rather than Ray. It’s as if Ray was paying
tribute to the fact that independent counsels are unconstitutional
by doing exactly what he had the constitutional authority to do,
which is absolutely nothing.
Appropriate to the signatory, the statement is bristling with Clintonian
lies of both the outrageous variety as well as the opaque sort.
The First Perjurer states, for example, that he “settled the Paula
Jones case, even after it was dismissed as being completely without
legal and factual merit.”
I don’t know. Not many people would pay approximately a million
dollars in damages, sanctions, and legal fees — as the president
who can admit to no wrongdoing did — to get rid of a case that
was “completely without legal and factual merit.” After having fought
the Paula Jones suit tooth and nail for five years, something must
have prompted Clinton to do that.
Clinton’s statement also describes his lies in the Jones deposition
for which he was held in contempt as statements which the judge
herself “agreed had no bearing on Ms. Jones case.”
Not to be a stickler for the facts, but when Judge Wright held Clinton
in civil contempt — a procedure the judge had to invent specially
for Clinton — she explicitly and repeatedly stated that she
was holding Clinton in contempt for giving “intentionally false”
testimony about “material” facts in the Jones case.
Among many other blindingly clear statements of the direct “bearing”
Clinton’s lies had on the Jones case, Judge Wright wrote: "Contrary
to numerous assertions, this court did not rule that evidence of
the Lewinsky matter was irrelevant or immaterial to the issues in
the [Jones] case. Indeed, the court specifically acknowledged that
such evidence might have been relevant to the plaintiff’s case.”
Comical lie #3 (Lifetime record: 7,327): “I tried to walk a fine
line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now
recognize that I did not fully accomplish this goal.”
Only “now” does he recognize that it was not quite precisely accurate
to claim under oath that he had never been alone with Monica Lewinsky?
Only “now” does he realize that he was lying when he denied having
sexual relations with her — and she with him (something else
he stated under oath, which the New York Times constantly
forgets). This is what Ray deftly maneuvered Clinton into
admitting?
By allowing Clinton to claim that he has only recently realized
that he was alone with Monica (etcetera) Ray didn’t even get Clinton
to admit he committed all elements of perjury.
Clinton’s meretricious “statement” does not provide closure, send
a message, wrap things up — or anything
| “The
most piercing message on Clinton’s
crimes came from the Supreme Court.” |
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else
it is purported to have accomplished. The most piercing “message”
on President Clinton’s crimes came from the Supreme Court after
the Senate Democrats refused to remove an impeached Clinton from
office. When Clinton delivered his next State of the Union address,
not one single Justice showed up. Not one. Never before has the
entire Supreme Court boycotted a president’s scheduled State of
the Union address.
What did Ray’s deal with Clinton add to that?
Apparently the only big concession Ray won from Clinton was that
the statement had to be issued while America’s Most Famous Perjurer
was still president. So, armed with the threat of indicting Clinton
for perjury, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice, and
armed as well as with scores of witnesses, White House logs, taped
admissions, and DNA evidence — Ray pressured Clinton to do
what he’s been doing as president for eight years: Lie one more
time.
Let’s not send Ray to negotiate with Saddam Hussein.
Of course, Ray isn’t the first person to play Neville Chamberlain
when facing off with the man voted “Second Most Evil of the Millennium.”
Others who have fallen under Clinton’s spell include: Pat Robertson,
David Brock, William Ginsberg, Susan McDougal, and Al Gore. Those
who weren’t afraid include: Matt Drudge, Lucianne Goldberg, Ken
Starr, the Supreme Court, Christopher Hitchens, and David Schippers.
Which group would you rather be in right now? When it came to this
flimflam artist, all anyone ever had to fear was fear itself. If
only Ray had known that.
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