10/20/00 10:55 a.m.
Helter Skelter
Gore resists temptation.

By NR's John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

ice President Gore dodged a campaign catastrophe when he resisted the enormous temptation, during his interview with Rolling Stone, to say he was the fifth Beatle. But he does say Lennon was his favorite — and he describes how the murder of Lennon taught him something important about gun control. >From the interview:

Q: "This year marks the twentieth anniversary of John Lennon's death. In the same issue this interview will appear in, we're asking a bunch of musicians where they were when they heard the news that he was shot. Do you remember that night?"

A: "I was at home, in Arlington, Virginia, and it was just devastating. Because it was not only the loss of a great man, it was the loss of a true genius. And I have to say that I'm sure that I'm not the only one who felt the loss of all the music that he had yet to write. The loss of any chance the Beatles would come back together and bring us a new sensibility, from the standpoint of that incredible gestalt that they had. I thought of the senseless violence in our society, and the ease with which people who obviously shouldn't have access to guns can get them."

More from the interview — which features tough non-questions such as "There was something special about that speech [at the Democratic convention]" — may be read here.

Being Impeached Is Like Being Gay
Toni Morrison called President Clinton our first black president. Is he also our first gay one? Here's what Clinton recently told The Advocate, a gay magazine, about how being impeached is like being a homosexual. "They've been there," said Clinton. "The people who've been targeted, who've been publicly humiliated and abused, I think identified with what was going on."

Does that mean impeachment was a hate crime?