The tape should be shown in Criminal Law 101 classes to demonstrate to aspiring lawyers how their clients can evade questions and run out the clock. Clinton's performance was notable 1) for its repeated lies, not just in his testimony, but in his prepared statement (his affair with Lewinsky started not in 1996, but in 1995 when Lewinsky was still wearing a pink intern pass around her neck); and 2) for his smears of every woman who didn't have the president's semen on her dress. Clinton was totally implausible in trying to explain his "memory-recall" effort with Betty Currie, and was most flabbergasted by questions from the grand jurors (when they asked about the cigar, Clinton looked as though someone under the table had smashed one of his kneecaps with a sledgehammer). Given the provocations, Starr's prosecutors treated the president with admirable restraint.

But it is time for Republicans to shift course. The price of last week's "partisan" fight was not worth the benefit of getting the tape to the public early. (Remember, the full House voted to release everything by Sept. 28). Judiciary Democrats are not at all interested in the evidence, or in protecting anyone's reputations (we hear they aren't even looking at any of the supporting evidence). They are just interested in creating partisan fights so they can denounce the process as partisan, in a circular act of political gamesmanship. Republicans should stop playing into their hands and put the focus back on substance.

Some Republicans are apparently considering excluding the Tripp tapes from the material that becomes public on September 28. We'll do them one better: Republicans should vote to keep everything else under wraps. Early indications are that there is nothing startling in today's 2,800-page document dump. Which is not surprising. If it's damning, it's already in the Starr report. So, it stands to reason that all that is in the 17 remaining boxes are some colorful anecdotes. We already have enough-more than enough-of those. It's time for Republicans to start the impeachment process on the basis of the evidence already on hand. But look for Judiciary Committee Democrats to do everything they can to avoid a formal vote of inquiry on the House floor. They know they would lose too many Democrats. So instead they pretend to slip into some kind of informal inquiry. Republicans should insist on the vote. Those never-say-lie Democrats ready to do the President's bidding can stand up and be counted.

Words to Live By
Here are a couple of entries we humbly submit as candidates for the next edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations:

Bill Clinton, in his 1992 acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention: "I want an America where 'family values' live in our actions, not just in our speeches."

Al Gore, in 1988 Democratic presidential debate: "My first pledge will be to restore integrity to the White House, and I'll fire anyone who has lied to the American people or the United States Congress."