There is a way for Republicans to avoid all of this, which is simply to seize onto the last argument. If the tapes are unreliable, it is clearly irresponsible to release them-end of argument. And, at this point, Republicans should be beyond any illusions that there is any more damaging materials in the transcripts. All that is in there is likely to be either information we already know or items that the shameless Democratic spin machine can gleefully seize on.

It is truly amazing how Democrats are now making two mutually exclusive arguments about Republicans: 1) that the GOP is rushing to judgment; 2) that the GOP is holding things up for partisan reasons. Gee, we never knew Republicans were so ambidexterous. How do Republicans get out of this box? One way to start: asking Dick Gephardt to take things into his own hands. Gephardt should offer a privileged resolution on the House floor stating that lying under oath is not an impeachable offense. If it passes the Judiciary Committee will no doubt find it extremely instructive and we will be one step closer to a resolution of this matter. If it doesn't pass-or if, as of course is likely, Gephardt is not willing to offer it-well then, the impeachment process will have to continue at its current pace. Mr. Hyde, back to you,

Impeachment Angst
George Will has tried to swat it down; so has our own Jonah Goldberg. But one confusion about impeachment is proving as hard to get rid of as, well, Bill Clinton. It pops up again in the latest Washington Post column by the usually clear-headed Robert J. Samuelson: "What is at issue is overturning an election: the ultimate expression of democratic legitimacy." But this is not the issue. Nobody is suggesting that Bob Dole gets to be president after all. If worst came to worst for Clinton, his ideological soulmate Al Gore would become president. That's what he's there for.

Samuelson's subsidiary argument is also quite common: "Everything Starr has shown about Clinton's character was knowable in 1996-his womanizing, his lying." True, to an extent. But did we know that Clinton's womanizing was this reckless, compulsive, and predatory? That Clinton was not just weak, but coldly contemptuous of others?

Samuelson is concerned that the impeachment process "has been driven largely by unelected elites." Well, of course. Elite coups happen all the time in America; what makes this one unusual is its Democratic target. One can argue that America's political elites are frivolous, out of touch, meddlesome, and even corrupt; one can argue that the institutions over which they have the most control, such as the Federal Government, should be downsized for that reason. But there is no reason for discomfort at the mere existence of an elite.

Yet that discomfort is particularly pronounced among the members of that very elite. Flip to the Style section of the Post and you'll find a profile of George W. Bush that refers to Clinton spinner Lanny Davis, "who, in the small-world category, was at Yale with Bush." Not to put too fine a point on it, but this isn't a coincidence. The "small world" here is the small world of American political elites. (Anyone remember Jacob Weisberg's New Republic cover story on "Clincest" early in the administration?)

The impeachment and conviction of the President cannot be accomplished without the assent of the public. But of course elites will lead the process. That's what ruling elites do: they rule.

Also In The Post
Deep moral wisdom about the scandals from Mary McGrory: "Two wrongs don't make a right."

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