1995

by Campbell, W. Joseph

  117. See The Starr Report, 334–39.

  118. Clinton biographer David Maraniss wrote of Clinton’s four-and-a half-minute speech: “As I listened to the president that night, the thought struck me that this uneasy little address, born of necessity, shaped for survival, delivered with stubborn persistence, argumentative to the last, brushing off history, clinging to hope, ringing with the urge to start over and move forward, hated by the elite, grudgingly accepted by the public, somehow reverberated with all the qualities of Bill Clinton’s melodramatic political life.” Maraniss, The Clinton Enigma: A Four-and-a-Half Minute Speech Reveals This President’s Entire Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998), 29.

  119. As Clinton bitterly noted: “In Starr’s report, the word ‘sex’ appeared more than five hundred times; Whitewater was mentioned twice.” Clinton, My Life, 809.

  120. See John M. Broder and Don Van Atta, Jr., “Starr Finds a Case for Impeachment in Perjury, Obstruction, Tampering,” New York Times, September 12, 1998.

  121. Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth U.S. president, was impeached in 1868 and acquitted by one vote at trial in the Senate. Johnson had been elected vice president in 1864 and succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

  122. John F. Harris, “Clinton Vows to Finish out Term,” Washington Post, December 20, 1998.

  123. Neither impeachment count received a majority vote in the Senate. The perjury charge was rejected, 55–45; the vote on the obstruction count was 50–50. In an interview with CBS News in 2004, Clinton referred to the impeachment ordeal as “a badge of honor,” saying: “I will always be proud that, when they moved on impeachment, I didn’t quit, I never thought of resigning, and I stood up to it and beat it back. To me, the whole battle was a badge of honor. I don’t see it as a great stain, because it was illegitimate.” See “Former President Bill Clinton Discusses His Life.”

  124. See R. W. Apple, “What Next? Don’t Guess,” New York Times, December 20, 1998.

  125. Dan Balz, chief correspondent of the Washington Post, observed in 2013: “Today, there is almost no overlap between the voting behavior of the most conservative Democrats in the House and the most liberal Republicans. That’s in part because there are few moderate-to-conservative Democrats and moderate-to-liberal Republicans left in the chamber.” Balz, “Shutdown’s Roots Lie in Deeply Embedded Divisions in American Politics,” Washington Post, October 6, 2013.

  126. See Dan Balz, “States of Polarization: In the New Era of Single-Party Control, Red and Blue Don’t Mix,” Washington Post, December 29, 2013. Balz wrote: “Political polarization has ushered in a new era in state government, where single-party control of the levers of power has produced competing Americas.” See also “Lexington: What Does the Fox Say?” Economist, January 25, 2014, accessed January 25, 2014, www.economist.com/news/united-states/21595006-cable-news-less-blame-polarised-politics-people-think-what-does-fox-say.

  127. See “Lexington: What Does Fox Say?”

  128. See “Partisan Polarization Surges in Bush, Obama Years,” Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, June 4, 2012, accessed September 29, 2013, www.people-press.org/2012/06/04/partisan-polarization-surges-in-bush-obama-years/.

  129. Ibid.

  130. Another likely factor explaining the rise of the partisan divide is the passing of Americans who lived through the Great Depression and World War II and who were inclined to swing their support to presidential candidates whose policies seemed most likely to produce prosperity and peace. Thus, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan rolled up landslide elections. Such consensus at the ballot box has been rare since 1984, however. Another prospective factor is fragmentation of popular culture, evident in the rise of pluralistic media choices. The news and entertainment content of the few television and radio networks on the air in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s was oriented toward attracting large audiences, making a sense of cultural unity easier to maintain. For a fuller discussion of such factors, see Michael Barone, “Washington Is Partisan—Get Used to It,” Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2013.

  131. See Steven M. Gillon, The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a Generation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 281. Gillon also observed: “Through his indiscretions, Clinton badly damaged his lifelong effort to blur the ideological differences between Democrats and Republicans. A centrist who preached reconciliation and moderation, Clinton left office having aroused the passions of conservatives and liberals” (277).

  132. “Excerpts from the Judge’s Ruling,” New York Times, April 13, 1999.

  133. Susan Webber Wright, “Memorandum Opinion and Order,” Jones v. Clinton, April 12, 1999, accessed February 15, 2014, www.leagle.com/decision/1999115436FSupp2d1118_11007.xml/JONES%20v.%20CLINTON.

  134. A disciplinary panel of the Arkansas Supreme Court recommended in May 2000 that Clinton be disbarred for the “serious misconduct” he demonstrated in testifying about Monica Lewinsky in the Paula Jones case. See Don Van Atta, Jr., “Panel Advises That Clinton Be Disbarred,” New York Times, May 23, 2000.

  135. Neil A. Lewis, “Exiting Job, Clinton Accepts Immunity Deal,” New York Times, January 20, 2001.

  136. Ray, a career prosecutor and an assistant to Starr, was appointed independent counsel in October 1999, after Starr resigned. In doing so, Starr acknowledged that the “intense politicization” of his tenure was a factor in his stepping down. “To reduce the unfortunate personalization of the process, in particular in the wake of the inherently divisive impeachment proceedings, the wiser course, I believe, is for another individual to head the investigation,” Starr wrote. Quoted in Don Van Atta, Jr., “Starr’s Successor Sworn In to Oversee Clinton Inquiry,” New York Times, October 19, 1999.

  137. See Lewis, “Exiting Job, Clinton Accepts Immunity Deal.”

  138. See “Statements of Clinton and Prosecutor and Excerpts from News Conference,” New York Times, January 20, 2001.

  139. The Starr Report, 318.

  140. See Posner, An Affair of State, 80–81. Posner wrote (54) that it was undeniable Clinton “obstructed justice in violation of federal criminal law” by “perjuring himself repeatedly in his deposition in the Paula Jones case, in his testimony before the grand jury, and in his responses to the questions put to him by the House Judiciary Committee” as it considered the recommendations of the Starr report. Posner also wrote (55) that Clinton might have faced a prison sentence of thirty to thirty-seven months, had he been tried on the crimes arising from the sex-and-lies scandal.

  141. See Posner, An Affair of State, 81.

  142. Marc Fisher and David Montgomery, “Explicit Details Evoke Jokes and Revulsion; Public Reacts to Details with Anger, Amusement,” Washington Post, September 12, 1998. A television beat writer for the Denver Post observed: “Once the outrageous and mind-boggling report was circulated, it was tough to top it with jokes” even by comedians on late-night TV. Joanne Ostrow, “Leno Show Focal Point for Nation,” Denver Post, September 14, 1998. Some of their zingers were little short of inspired, though. David Letterman, for example, joked on the CBS Late Show that “Congress has three possibilities to consider. One, (Clinton) could be impeached; two he could be censured; three he could be neutered.” Quoted in Lyle V. Harris, “President Sitting Duck, Even if Not a Lame One,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, September 19, 1998.

  143. A week after the release of the Starr report, Clinton’s approval rating stood at 62 percent. See Richard L. Berke, “Keep Clinton in Office, Most Say in Poll, But His Image Is Eroding,” New York Times, September 16, 1998. However, Berke also reported that 66 percent of respondents said they did not share Clinton’s moral values. Even so, more than six in ten respondents said Clinton should complete his term in office.

  144. See Marjorie Connelly, “House Faulted for Releasing All of Report,” New York Times, September 18, 1998. Connelly’s report said that two-thirds of respondents to a national public opinio
n poll the Times conducted with CBS News said it was “‘inappropriate’ for the Starr report to have included graphic sexual details” of Clinton’s relationship with Lewinsky. In addition, 59 percent of respondents to the poll said the inclusion of such detail was done to embarrass the president.

  145. Among those to have made this point was Clinton biographer David Maraniss. “Clinton’s transgressions do not approach the importance of Watergate,” Maraniss wrote in a mini-biography built around Clinton’s four-and-a-half-minute speech in August 1998 in which he acknowledged an “inappropriate relationship” with Lewinsky. Maraniss, The Clinton Enigma, 63. In contrast, syndicated political columnist David Broder of the Washington Post described Clinton’s behavior as “truly Nixonian. And it is worse in one way. Nixon’s actions, however neurotic and criminal, were motivated by and connected to the exercise of presidential power. He knew the place he occupied, and he was determined not to give it up to those he regarded as ‘enemies.’ Clinton acted—and still, even in his supposed mea culpa, acts—as if he does not recognize what it means to be president of the United States. This office he sought all his life, for what? To hit on an intern about the age of his own daughter, an act for which any business executive or military officer would be fired immediately?” Broder, “Truly Nixonian,” Washington Post, August 19, 1998.

  146. For a detailed account about the unmasking of Nixon’s misconduct in Watergate, see Stanley I. Kutler, The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon (New York: Knopf, 1990), 534–38.

  147. Abbe David Lowell, chief counsel to Democrats in the House of Representatives during the impeachment of Clinton, told the House Judiciary Committee that it was useful “to be on the lookout for Watergate similarities, because that sad chapter of American history really does describe that which are truly impeachable offenses. . . . The more you look at Watergate, the more you will see just how different these [impeachment] proceedings are.” See “Washington Dateline,” Associated Press, December 10, 1998, retrieved from Lexis Nexis database.

  148. Journalist Michael Isikoff offered in his book, Uncovering Clinton, an intriguing theory about Clinton, Nixon, and their differences. “Nixon and Clinton,” he wrote, “had one thing in common: They both hated their enemies. But in another respect, they were fundamentally different. Nixon, deep down, suspected his enemies might be right—that they were better than he.” Clinton, on the other hand, “believes, deep down, that his enemies are scum.” Isikoff, Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story (New York: Crown, 1999), 358.

  149. See Thomas L. Friedman, “Character Suicide,” New York Times, January 27, 1998. “I am sure that those who argue that the country cares a lot more about Dow Jones than Paula Jones are right,” Friedman wrote.

  150. Adam Clymer, “Page by Page, a Chronicle of Misdeeds,” New York Times, September 8, 1995.

  151. “Statement from Senate Ethics Committee,” New York Times, September 7, 1995.

  152. See The Packwood Report: The Senate Ethics Counsel on Senator Robert Packwood (New York: Times Books, 1995), 125.

  153. See Trip Gabriel, “The Trials of Bob Packwood,” New York Times Magazine, August 29, 1993, 32–33.

  154. “Senator Packwood Resignation,” C-SPAN Video Library, September 7, 1995, accessed September 30, 2013, www.c-spanvideo.org/program/67036–1.

  155. “Excerpts from Packwood’s Statement of Resignation,” New York Times, September 8, 1995.

  156. Kevin Merida, “As Packwood’s 27-Year Career Ends, a Tortuous Saga for the Senate Draws to a Close,” Washington Post, September 8, 1995.

  157. Ibid.

  158. “Senator Packwood Resignation.”

  159. See Katharine Q. Seelye, “Packwood Says He Is Quitting as Ethics Panel Gives Evidence,” New York Times, September 8, 1995.

  160. Kim I. Eisler, “Show Me the Money,” Washingtonian (January 1998): 78.

  CONCLUSION

  1. Rick Hampson, “1994: Shock and Aftershock,” Associated Press, December 30, 1994, retrieved from LexisNexis database.

  2. Quoted in “Person of the Week: Cartoonist Gary Larson to Retire,” ABC World News Tonight, December 16, 1994, transcript retrieved from Lexis Nexis database.

  3. Quoted in Frank Ahrens, “So Long, Kid: An Obituary for a Boy, His Tiger and Our Innocence,” Washington Post, November 19, 1995.

  4. David Hinckley, “Shedding ’96 Tears for ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’” New York Daily News, December 26, 1995. Hinckley wrote: “The departure of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ pokes a hole in our day and nothing in sight is going to close it soon.”

  5. Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post pointed out in a lengthy farewell to Calvin and Hobbes that Watterson was “notoriously cranky” and steadfastly refused to license his cartoon characters, “which is why there are no ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ greeting cards, no ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ refrigerator magnets, and most astonishing of all, no Hobbes stuffed tigers.” Ahrens, “So Long, Kid.”

  6. Watterson did not participate in the documentary. See Andrew O’Hehir, “‘Dear Mr. Watterson’: Remembering the Last Great Newspaper Comic,” Salon.com, November 13, 2013, accessed November 13, 2013, www.salon.com/2013/11/13/dear_mr_watterson_remembering_the_last_great_newspaper_comic/.

  7. Dan Zak, “Back in 1995,” Washington Post, October 5, 2013. See also Robert J. Terry, “12 Ways Federal Workers Bided Their Time during the Last Shutdown,” Washington Business Journal, October 1, 2013, accessed October 2, 2013, www.wtop.com/41/3469776/12-ways-federal-workers-bided-their-time-during-the-last-shutdown.

  8. Rupert Cornwell, “America’s Power Failure,” Independent (London), October 2, 2013.

  9. See Amy Chozick, “Clinton Scandal of ’90s Resurfaces with Papers,” New York Times, February 11, 2014.

  10. Untitled memorandum (September 9, 1998), Diane Blair papers, University of Arkansas, accessed February 9, 2014, http://freebeacon.com/politics/the-hillary-papers/.

  11. Monica Lewinsky, “Shame and Survival,” Vanity Fair, May 2014, 145.

  12. Ibid., 124. Lewinsky also wrote that, as the scandal unfolded in 1998, “I sorely wished for some sign of understanding from the feminist camp. Some good, old-fashioned, girl-on-girl support was much in need. None came.”

  13. As David Remnick observed in the New Yorker: “Monica is the woman of secrets who no longer has any. Her eyes are not windows but mirrors, and what we see in them is awful. Yet we go on staring.” Remnick, “Comment: Our Woman of Secrets,” New Yorker, February 8, 1999, accessed February 16, 2014, www.newyorker.com/archive/1999/02/08/1999_02_08_023_TNY_LIBRY_000017472.

  14. Lewinsky, “Shame and Survival,” 123–24.

  15. Quoted in “O.J.’s Game Day,” New York Post, February 12, 2013.

  16. Dominick Dunne, who covered the trial for Vanity Fair and deplored Simpson’s acquittal, noted that Simpson in court was “beautifully dressed as always.” Dunne, Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments (New York: Crown, 2001), 186.

  17. John M. Glionna, “Faded Star Takes the Stand,” Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2013.

  18. The county judge who presided at the hearing, Linda Marie Bell, said in ruling against Simpson: “Given the overwhelming amount of evidence, neither the errors in this case, nor the errors collectively, cause this court to question the validity of Mr. Simpson’s conviction.” Quoted in John M. Glionna, “Judge Denies O.J. Simpson a New Trial,” Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2013.

  19. Andrea Peyser, “The Glove Fits—This Head Case Becomes New O.J.,” New York Post, July 6, 2011.

  20. Marcia Clark, “Worse Than O.J.!” Daily Beast, July 5, 2011, accessed November 3, 2013, www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/05/casey-anthony-trial-marcia-clark-says-the-verdict-was-worse-than-the-o-j-simpson-case.html.

  21. Alan M. Dershowitz, “Casey Anthony: The System Worked,” Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2011.

  22. See “Top Ten O.J. Simpson Excuses,” Late Show with David Letterman, September 26, 2013, accessed February 13, 2014, www.cbs.com/shows/late_show/to
p_ten/138545/.

  23. McVeigh’s biographers, writing before his execution, stated that “he refuses to consider his actions through any lens but the single-minded one that casts him as a patriot. He clings to the position that his act was needed to right a faltering America.” Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing (New York: Regan Books, 2001), 382.

  24. See Will Englund and Michael Birnbaum, “In Attacks, Norwegians See Echo of Oklahoma City,” Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2011.

  25. See Niclas Rolander, Katarina Gustafsson, and Charles Duxbury, “Trial of Norway Killer Spurs Debate,” Wall Street Journal, April 21–22, 2012. Breivik confessed to detonating a bomb in the government district in Oslo before taking a ferry to an island nearby, where he opened fire on youths at a summer camp.

  26. “Syria’s Srebrenica,” Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2012.

  27. Michael Dobbs, “Houla: Shadows of Srebrenica,” Washington Post, June 3, 2012.

  28. See, for example, Philippe Leroux-Martin, “Bosnia’s Lessons for Syria,” New York Times, January 22, 2014, and Richard Cohen, “From Sarajevo to Homs,” Washington Post, April 2, 2012.

  29. Roger Boyes, “Images Emerging from Syria Are a Stark Reminder of Bosnia,” The Australian, January 23, 2014.

  30. Philip Kennicott, a Pulitzer Prize–winning critic for the Washington Post, addressed the conundrum of the limited impact of powerful images, noting: “The one consistent fact about the horrifying images that have come out of Syria . . . is that in many cases, we don’t know who made them and what they depict. All we see are decontextualized cruelty and misery. Cynicism creeps in, and there is a natural tendency to push the images away as a kind of insoluble puzzle.” Kennicott, “Why Syria’s Images of Suffering Haven’t Moved Us,” Washington Post, September 15, 2013.