_______________"THIS HYPOCRITE BROKE UP MY FAMILY" BY DAVID TALBOT (09/16/98)

A zealot has been described as someone who, when he has forgotten his original purpose, redoubles his efforts. As usual, Salon's in-house liberal zealot David Talbot has completely missed the point with his article about Henry Hyde's affair with a married woman in the 1960s. Talbot insinuates that because Hyde conducted an illicit affair, this makes him ineligible to preside over an investigation of President Clinton. That might be true if Clinton were being impeached/censured/insert your favored form of punishment here for having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, but he isn't. Clinton's affair was not illegal (well, oral sodomy might still be on the books in the District of Columbia, but let's leave that aside), but lying under oath to cover up said relationship is a felony offense, and that will be the basis of any action by Congress against the president. Let me say that again: Clinton's crime was not the affair, and he will not be impeached or censured because of his sexual activities. Clinton's crime was perjury, a felony, and no sitting president should be allowed to get away with committing a felony. Now unless Mr. Hyde has also committed a felony while in office, I see no reason why he would not be qualified to preside over the judgment of Clinton. Please, Mr. Talbot, spare us the liberal disinformation campaign -- even we poor benighted common citizens can understand the difference between a peccadillo and a crime. -- Jay Karamales Thank you for your Hyde story and even more for your powerful explanatory editorial. It ain't pretty, but shock treatment is what we need to restore sanity to our political process. -- Bill Jacobs Thank you for today's article and editorial about Henry Hyde. I hope the story receives widespread attention. Nothing on earth will deter right-wing "moralists" from punishing their enemies, except being exposed themselves. A few more sexual exposés of Clinton critics, and they may very well lose their fervor for punishing the wicked. -- Helen Cartwright Dunsmuir, Calif. Keep nailing the hypocrites. 'Nuff said. -- Rich Erwin The Hyde story sucks. Perhaps you could change the name of your e-zine to "National Salon" or "Star" Salon. This kind of reporting reflects your political bias (despite denials in the editorial) and contains nothing of value. Congrats! -- Richard Hudson I think you made the right decision in "outing" Henry Hyde. The GOP cannot complain about this sort of revelation: They decided that they would do anything to "get Clinton." Now they can reap the whirlwind they have sown. -- Gary Frazier Thank you! Oh thank you for the editorial on Henry Hyde and for the wonderful way you wrote it. A beautiful job! It's about time there was a little turnabout fair play in this mess. More! More! I cannot believe that the Republicans are going to publish the president's testimony while all the time saying they're going about this in a non-partisan way. Yuck! -- Andrea Golia Boydstun I enjoy your magazine immensely and find it both well-written and thought-provoking. That said, I think that the stories on Reps. Burton and Hyde are rather beneath you. Burton may have changed from a sackhound to an arbiter of family values, but so what? His affair was long ago, he supports his child, and most of us grow more conservative with age. Hyde's affair took place more than 30 years ago, so it may be new information, but it isn't exactly news, within the ordinarily understood meaning of the term. I think that Rep. Chenoweth's confession may have been her own version of "Memories" -- "I was young and beautiful then ..." If the conduct occurred within the last five years, I'm interested. Otherwise, the story may belong in a sleazy bio, but doesn't belong in Salon. -- Leslie MacKenzie You still don't get it. Yes, an affair is a lie. Yes, Hyde and Dan Burton and all of those who have committed adultery and now call for Mr. Clinton's resignation are hypocrites. All of this is true. But Henry Hyde did not lie under oath. Dan Burton did not lie under oath. Neither of them deprived Paula Jones of her constitutional right to a fair and honest trial. Whether you think that all of these charges are trivial or trumped up or whatever, one fact remains: The most powerful man in the country, the nation's leading law officer, the one man charged with protecting the public's trust, lied to us again and again to protect his own backside. When people are asked to work on classified projects, they are subjected to background investigations designed to uncover embarrassing or incriminating information. This information is uncovered not to "get" the job applicant, but to determine if that person has exposure to situations in which they might be willing to compromise sensitive information in order to "protect their families." The most powerful man in America, the man with his hand on the nuclear button, has demonstrated conclusively that he is a person who would never be given a classified clearance. That scares me. It should scare you, too. A person whose judgment in personal matters is so appallingly poor cannot be trusted to govern effectively. He should resign. -- Stan D. Smith I wish you would stop apologizing for exposing hypocritical Republicans. It is a totally fair game. They are trying to overturn a fair democratic election with their nonsense, and they have to be held up to the same light. I am not some kook saying this. I am 33 years old. I have a B.A. and M.B.A. from major universities. I work a respectable job. I am a church-goer. I do a lot of political volunteer work for candidates I believe in. I want more than anything for this country (or more specifically this country's politicians) to get serious and do the country's business. But Republicans know they can't win on the issues so they are throwing mud. President Clinton has never engaged in that kind of nonsense -- even now. But Republicans have to know that if that is the way they are going to play then they are open to exposure. As in my last e-mail, I repeat, it is time for the several gay Republican congressmen to be exposed. I am gay myself, and I don't take lightly the forced outing of closeted gay people. In most cases it is not warranted. But, in the case of a Republican party that systematically discriminates against gays and uses homophobia to further their own sleazy political ends, it is time to expose gay Republicans. -- Joe Timpson SALON | Sept. 18, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT BY SCOTT ROSENBERG

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