Clinton Spin

  • Print

[Below is my letter to the editor of California Lawyer magazine (sent to all members of the California Bar), as published in the July 1999 issue, p. 14-15. The phrase in brackets in the final paragraph was omitted from the published version.]

In "Privacy as Privilege," (Books, April 1999) Jonathan Kirsch credits Amitai Etzioni for writing a book that "is largely free of the 'spin' that has so corrupted public discourse in America...."

In the same review, Kirsch writes that, "even the most priggish Clinton hater ought to be able to understand why the president might feel a bit aggrieved to discover that an intern has been yakking about their sexual adventures to someone who first rigs a homemade tap on her phone and then puts on a wire to go to lunch."

Kirsch appears to be so out of touch with the truth that he may not realize that he perpetrated the very evil that he condemned. Monica Lewinsky was doing much more than "yakking about" her "sexual adventures" with Clinton to Linda Tripp. Lewinsky was urging Tripp to commit perjury and telling her that both she and Clinton were going to do so, thereby preparing to frame Tripp for a perjury charge if she told the truth. This was a few months after Clinton's attorney, Robert Bennett, told Newsweek that Tripp "is not to be believed" about the Kathleen Willey matter.

After erroneously being told by Lucianne Goldberg that taping was legal in Maryland, Tripp did the only thing she could do to protect herself from the president of the United States, his attorney and the president's sex toy. After Tripp had about 20 hours of tapes, she delivered them to the office of independent counsel, whose staff put a wire on her for the usual reason: to catch criminals.

Rather than engaging in the spin that characterizes one who respects the rule of law under our Constitution as a "priggish Clinton hater," Kirsch might want to explore whether a president who at best admittedly misled the public and the criminal justice system for over half a year at a cost of over $6 million dollars, [which he has not offered to repay,] and at worst is a multiple felon who belongs behind bars, deserves to be hated.