A L S O__T O D A Y The other woman By Murray Waas The one woman Clinton really hurt Secret lives of the Republicans, Part One By Jason Vest How Dan Burton outed himself in a preemptive strike against an upcoming Vanity Fair exposé Lucianne Goldberg dishes on the Starr Report By Jeff Stein The woman behind the Lewinsky affair says Clinton will be tagged with 30 impeachable offenses - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A full list of Salon coverage on the Clinton/Starr sideshow

- - - - - - - - - A_.C A L L_F O R moral renewal. The destruction of President Clinton was a laudable first step, but restoring the ethical fiber of America requires more. All of official Washington must be cleansed! BY MARK HERTSGAARD | I spent a lot of time studying the Washington press corps in the 1980s for a book I wrote about the news media's coverage of President Reagan called "On Bended Knee." I lived overseas for much of the 1990s, but I'm glad I came home in time to witness the media's recent transformation from lapdog to attack dog. Because it is now leading the most important crusade in modern times. In recent months it has been decided, by the Beltway insiders who decide these things, that sexual misconduct is a grave enough threat to the republic that a politician guilty of it must face removal from office -- either through resignation or, if the scoundrel insists on dragging out the process, impeachment. To put it mildly, this is a major change in the assumptions that have traditionally governed Washington press coverage. Now, the average citizen may wonder whether this new civic standard truly serves the commonweal. Perhaps she too has fallen short in marital matters on occasion; perhaps he fails to see the poisonous effect such lapses inevitably have on a man's workplace performance. The average reporter, however, has no time for such ruminations. The nation is in crisis, and the work of the media has only just begun. The media has played a leading and enthusiastic role in bringing down President Clinton, but its duty to the country has not been exhausted by the uncovering of sexual escapades in the Oval Office. If infidelity is as vicious and insidious a scourge as the media's Lewinsky coverage implicitly proclaims it to be, then infidelity must be investigated and exposed throughout our government. If a lusty dalliance with a young staff member reflects so poorly on a public servant's character that he loses the moral authority to lead the country, surely such dalliances cannot be tolerated among any of the high government officials who have sworn an oath to uphold and defend our Constitution. Liberty is too precious to content ourselves with half measures in its defense. Now that the danger -- to our youth, to our moral fiber, to our greatness as a nation -- has been recognized, it must be sought out and eliminated root and branch. All Americans can take part in this moral cleansing, but the media has a special responsibility. The press must continue its war against sexual immorality in the nation's capital, and it must take no prisoners. It must cast its net wider, investigating the sexual probity not only of the president but of all who wield power in Washington. And it must conduct these investigations with the same relentless energy and prosecutorial fervor it has brought to bear against President Clinton. Otherwise, what defense do reporters and editors have against the charge that their Clinton coverage was driven more by politics than by principle? Self-respect demands that the media apply the same standard to the rest of Washington officialdom, Democrats and Republicans alike. N E X T+P A G E: Those who have nothing to hide need have nothing to fear