Spin-proof snapshots of America                           

Bill Clinton and the Lie Posse

(not his own)

There's something funny going on with the G.O.P.

Bill Clinton lied about Monica. Let's call a spade a spade.

While a lawyer might buy his claim that he didn't "have sex with her," we know he was being asked about having an affair, and oral sex counts.

Whether or not that's the business of the American public is a separate question. Clinton hid the truth, and badly.

We learned this through the tireless efforts of Kenneth Starr, special prosecutor, who spent literally millions of taxpayer dollars going through literally thousands of pages of phone records, transcripts, memos, and letters from the Oval Office.

The judge presiding over these hearings was Henry Hyde, one of the most conservative members of the House. And, of course, behind it all was Newt Gingrich, ever pressing at Clinton.

All three men had affairs of their own.

And not just affairs.

Gingrich, too, had oral sex from a woman other than his wife, then later went to (another) wife  being treated in the cancer ward to inform her of his intent to divorce. He left her for a much younger staffer.

Hyde, the man who insisted "that "lying must have consequences" defended lying by his friend Oliver North. Apparently it's bad to deceive Congress about an affair, but acceptable when hiding a program Congress voted to eliminate.

Men willingly believe what they will.
-- Julius Caesar

Conservatives love to accuse Bill Clinton of rape. Type "Bill Clinton rape Juanita Broaddrick" into a search engine and you'll draw many conservative sites, including Dr. Spade's favorite cotton-candy, Freerepublic.com.

But what about George W. Bush's rape?

Before we get into that, Dr. Spade should state that he doesn't believe it. He doesn't believe the charge against Clinton. Neither of them have credible evidence as support. Let's review the claims against Clinton:

• Juanita Broaddick said that 20 years earlier, Clinton sexually assaulted her in her hotel room. There were no witnesses, and she did not report the incident.

That's it. There's some additional information from one of Broaddick's friends, who saw her after her encounter, but that, too, was reported decades later.

That's hardly a mountain of evidence. Susan Estrich, a Fox News analyst (yep, conservative Fox News), said Broaddrick has to "draw a line between sex and rape." "I'll be the last person to attack Juanita Broaddrick," she added. "I'm a rape victim myself. I understand the pain of it... [but] the reason we have a statute of limitations in the criminal law is because it's impossible 20, 25 years later to prove a negative."

One of the very few -- and perhaps one of the only -- times the Enquirer discredited an accusation against Bill Clinton was when they published (on the back page) the results of Palm Beach PI Jack Harwood's voice-stress analysis of Juanita Broaddrick's NBC Dateline appearance. The VSA concluded she was lying when she accused Bill Clinton of attacking her.

And George W. Bush's case?

Margie Denise Schoedinger filed charges against him in December 2002. Her claim was outrageous -- she insisted that FBI agents assisted the president -- but the handling of it some facts that are awfully suspicious, regardless of the truth of her claim:

• The Fort Bend Star, at the time the only mainstream paper to carry the story, reported that local Sugar Land police had no record of any complaints by Schoedinger.

Her charges are a matter of public record, and you can find them in the Texas civil court records here. Just type "Schoedinger" as "Plaintiff."
 

• Schoedinger died nine months later by gunshot.

        Her death was ruled a suicide.

It may well have been. Dr. Spade believes that and does not suspect a right-wing cover-up. But Dr. Spade is fascinated by the media attention given to it: nada.

Not a word.

There's an interesting article on this and other strange related events here, where author Jack Thoreau asks,

     "If this had happened to Clinton when he was in the White House, do you think the story would have been covered non-stop on FOX, CNN and the right-wing talk shows? "

Just to be clear -- Dr. Spade hates to be misread -- Dr. Spade does NOT believe George W. Bush raped anyone. Nor does he believe it of William Jefferson Clinton. His belief is not based on his political views, but rather the flimsy evidence of the claims. There's more reason to believe in a moon landing hoax.

But that's less fun than Clinton-bashing.

Speaking of which, what about his affairs? What about Paula Jones' accusations?

And what about Tammy Phillips' accusations?

Who?

On January 3, 2000, stripper Tammy Phillips claimed she had just ended an 18-month affair with George W. Bush. She had some meat to her claim, in the form of specific dates and meeting places, which matched with the actual whereabouts of Bush at the appropriate times.

Her story largely ignored. It was picked up by the National Enquirer, and (immediately discredited by) Fox TV and the New York Post.

The question here is not if the story were true. It probably isn't. She later backtracked on some inconsistencies and never provided solid evidence.

The question is why it disappeared so quickly.

Conservatives LOVE to use the phrase "liberal media." Does it sound liberal to you to bury an accusation of an affair with the Republican front-runner for president?

If a stripper stepped forward to charge John Kerry with an extended affair, it would be on every conservative talk show for a month. It would probably be in the New York Times, too.

But, say conservatives, that's a false accusation. Clinton had an actual, admitted affair with Monica Lewinsky. And that's unforgivable.

At least, that's what Ken Calvert (R-CA) concluded, stating,

                 "We can't forgive what occurred between the President and Lewinsky."

In 1993, he was caught by police receiving oral sex from a prostitute. He attempted (unsuccessfully) to flee the scene. He's still in office.

The list of Republicans like this is very, very long, so here's just one more example: Jeff Miller (state rep, Tennessee) sponsored the state's Marriage Protection Act, which he described as a means of protecting the sanctity of marriage. But he declined to support the provision that "Adultery is deemed a threat to marriage to marriage and contrary to the policy of Tennessee."

Miller's current divorce stems from an affair he conducted with an office aide.

How should we cope with the hypocrisy?

Dr. Spade has a suggestion: stop being hypocrites.

First, decide which actions matter in a politician, then apply them to all politicians, red and blue.

Dr. Spade believes that family matters, and that includes family trouble and family pain, should remain in the family. Affairs are unpleasant and harsh problems to be dealt with in the family, not by a voyeuristic nation.

What matters, then, are the actions of politicians in their offices. If someone uses Congress to embezzle thousands of dollars from the U.S. Post Office, as did Dan Rostenkowski (who pleaded guilty, and stayed in prison 15 months until pardoned by Clinton), he should NOT, for example, remain as a central consultant to any political party (Rostenkowski is now one of the key figures in the President's plan to reform Social Security).

"Three strikes and you're out" is too lenient for such abuse. ONE embezzlement of public funds (Rosti), ONE lie under oath about subverting a vote by Congress (Oliver North), ONE reckless endangerment of the life of an American agent for personally vindictive reasons (Karl Rove), and you should get the boot.

Dr. Spade believes this even applies to the President, especially when he is sending our troops off to war, citing specific figures for how many tons of neurotoxins and nuclear fuels and delivery missiles the enemy has stashed away.

You get ONE chance to tell the truth, when explaining why our boys should go to war. Changing it as you go along is to be considered "flip-flopping" at best and "lying" at worst.

Really, Michael Moore is right to ask which lie is worse to hear from a President:

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

Or ...

"He has weapons of mass destruction -- the world's deadliest weapons -- which pose a direct threat to the United States, our citizens and our friends and allies."
 

There's no question about which is more harmful to America, to our troops, to our plans for security, to our credibility, to our notion of accountability by elected officials.

There's also no question which received more attention, and which is more quoted in conservative debate.

Dr. Spade has high moral values, and believes in accountability. Abuse your office  -- Elephant or Donkey -- and you're out.

Or should be. Even if you were once the life of the (Clinton-bashing) party.