The Week

In re the stolen briefing book: Has anyone suggested a presidential pardon for all concerned?

Unable to shape history, some Democrats are now trying to rewrite it, according to a group of Republican congressmen who have seen words put into their mouths in official transcripts of House hearings. Remarks made at two different hearings—on the EPA and on silver prices—were altered to make the Republicans look like bad guys. One example: “Many members of the other party know that I am willing to take part in reasonable hearings,” said Representative Robert S. Walker (R., Pa.) last summer at an EPA hearing. The published record has the quote, “Many members of the other party know that I am not willing to take part in reasonable hearings.” Republican Whip Trent Lott claims that the campaign is not just an “isolated .dirty trick.” The House Ethics Committee began an investigation on July 1 and believes a Democratic committee staffer to be behind the, ah, editing. Some Democrats claim that the GOP uproar over the altered transcripts is nothing more than an effort to get the heat off President Reagan’s press troubles. Nice try, but the Republican complaint dates back to mid-June, previous to the other business. Meanwhile, we see the Democrats taking the interesting position that kibitzing is worse than forgery.

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

In re the stolen briefing book: Has anyone suggested a presidential pardon for all concerned?

Unable to shape history, some Democrats are now trying to rewrite it, according to a group of Republican congressmen who have seen words put into their mouths in official transcripts of House hearings. Remarks made at two different hearings—on the EPA and on silver prices—were altered to make the Republicans look like bad guys. One example: “Many members of the other party know that I am willing to take part in reasonable hearings,” said Representative Robert S. Walker (R., Pa.) last summer at an EPA hearing. The published record has the quote, “Many members of the other party know that I am not willing to take part in reasonable hearings.” Republican Whip Trent Lott claims that the campaign is not just an “isolated .dirty trick.” The House Ethics Committee began an investigation on July 1 and believes a Democratic committee staffer to be behind the, ah, editing. Some Democrats claim that the GOP uproar over the altered transcripts is nothing more than an effort to get the heat off President Reagan’s press troubles. Nice try, but the Republican complaint dates back to mid-June, previous to the other business. Meanwhile, we see the Democrats taking the interesting position that kibitzing is worse than forgery.