GOP Scandal Missteps
I. Having Louis Freeh and Charles La Bella testify before Dan Burton's committee wasn't just pointless; it was counterproductive. The point that Janet Reno is defying the independent-counsel law had already been made; she had already taken the p.r. hit. There was never any chance they were going to turn on Janet Reno publicly--they would already have done so if that were the case. All further testimony could do was to push Freeh and La Bella to make supportive comments about Reno. Which they have now done. . . . II. Someone in GOP ranks needs to contradict the Orrin Hatch-John McCain line that President Clinton gets a free pass if he admits to lying about sex with Monica Lewinsky. To the extent they are making a prediction about the public reaction to a Clinton mea culpa, they are engaging in unnecessary speculation. Since they are political leaders, they also influence that public reaction by making this prediction. To the extent they are saying that Clinton would deserve a free pass, they are mistaken. Clinton has spent seven months misleading the American people, filing frivolous legal claims, and blackening his critics' names. Not to mention the serious allegations against him in Filegate, Travelgate, the Asian money scandal, and the obstruction of justice case.

Clinton's "Old-Fashioned Virtues"
Seen the new touchy-feely Time magazine photos of President Clinton with Monica Lewinksy at a 1996 fundraiser? According to Slate.com's Walter Shapiro, Clinton made a few remarks at that event, held at the Washington Sheraton shortly before the election. "You'll have more opportunities to live out your dreams, to imagine things and then make them happen in your lives than any generation of people in all human history," he declared. "But it will only happen if you can preserve some of the old-fashioned virtues that have gotten us here after 220 years."

Too bad nobody had a camera on Lewinsky at that moment.

Get hitched For Health
Speaking of old-fashioned virtues, marriage may become the next fitness trend. Conventional wisdom has long accepted that marriage helps men lead longer and happier lives, but that wedded women didn't make out nearly so well. Not true, says the University of Chicago's Linda J. Waite; men and women both benefit from marriage.

On Tuesday, the New York Times described Waite's findings: "In a large national sample of adults followed for 18 years beginning at the age of 48, slightly more than 60 per cent of divorced and never-married women made it to 65, as opposed to nearly 90 per cent of married women. Widowed women, for reasons not entirely clear, fared almost as well as married women. Among men, however, those unmarried for any reason--whether widowed, divorced, or never married--had only a 60 to 70 per cent chance of living to 65, versus 90 per cent of married men."

Marriage is, of course, a natural deterrent to risky lifestyles that include drug use, alcoholism, and sexual adventurism. Married people are also happier and have more money and sex than unmarried people, says Waite. In addition, married women are less often the victims of domestic violence than women who live with men with no plans to marry.

The New York Times dutifully quotes a few detractors, including one clinical psychologist ("recognized for her research on infidelity") who says that female marital bliss has more to do with having a fulfilling career than a good mate. But the evidence keeps pouring in; just as kids need two parents, men and women need each other.