A L S O+T O D A Y Turning the tables on Starr By Murray Waas and Jonathan Broder Attorney General Janet Reno considers investigating key Whitewater witness David Hale Republicans to Ken Starr: Ugh! By David Corn Now that Paula Jones has gone, all the Republicans have left against President Clinton is a 20-year-old land deal. They are not thrilled - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E++T A L K Parents who do their kids' homework: Know any? Are you one of them? Discuss in the Mothers area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Second Thoughts: Nice Guys By Sallie Tisdale In the wake of the Arkansas schoolyard killings, a mother ponders guns, children, and the adults who bring them together (04/02/98) Straight-laced sisters By Lori Leibovich Liberal journalist Elinor Burkett met the enemy -- conservative women -- and found that they were, well, a lot like her (04/01/98) Drama Queen Candidates Gum-chewing kissers, egomaniacal cheaters, line-dropping Olympic losers ... and the women who endured them (03/31/98) Making sense of Jonesboro By Lori Leibovich Harvard psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint talks about what makes children kill (03/30/98) Hey hey, ho ho, the matriarchy's got to go By Lori Leibovich Gloria Steinem unleashes exciting news about young feminism. Not! (03/27/98) ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - Mamafesto By Camille Peri Why it's time for Mothers Who Think - - - - - - - - - -

W o m e n__b e w a r e__w o m e n OUR ONGOING NATIONAL CATFIGHT HAS REVEALED AN UNPLEASANT TRUTH: WOMEN HAVE ALWAYS BETRAYED EACH OTHER - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY KATIE ROIPHE | "Hi I missed you!!!!" e-mailed Monica Lewinsky to Linda Tripp. Apparently, she missed her older friend, the one she poured out her secrets to, cried hysterically in front of and shared the drama of her life with, enough for four exclamation points after several days' separation. That was before Tripp wired herself like a narcotics informant and lured the childish, effusive Lewinsky into incriminating herself on tape. Tripp emerges as the bête noire of female friendship, the friend who seduces you into hours of intimacy and then turns against you. "I see myself as a victim," Tripp asserted astonishingly to a Newsweek reporter, at the same time complaining that she didn't get to choose the photograph that would go with the article. Tripp represents female behavior at its worst, a soap opera vision of how women treat each other. "I am disturbed by the smear campaign that maligns Monica," said the sensitive Tripp of the smear campaign she herself set into motion. "I firmly believe the truth will be her friend." And what about Julie Steele, with her lovely smile and blond curls? She says Willey asked her to lie and say that Willey had come to her house and complained about President Clinton groping her on the day of the alleged incident. Steele's known Willey for 20 years. We can imagine the glasses of white wine, the Caesar salads shared at lunch, the secrets exchanged over the phone -- but she wouldn't even tell one tiny lie to cover for her friend. Nor did Willey think twice about dragging her close friend into the lurid mess of deception and possible perjury. Steele claims to have been acting out of regard for that shining abstraction The Truth, but she also sold a photograph of her friend and President Clinton to the National Enquirer for $7,000. Maybe Steele spent many dark hours of the soul wrestling with the decision to come forward and expose her friend, but one can't help detecting a certain pattern in the events of recent months: women betraying other women. No wonder the country is riveted. This is a catfight extraordinaire. These days when I read the paper I find myself remembering the times when the women I know have betrayed each other for men, for love, for lust or for temporary comfort. In this case, they are betraying each other for money, for their newly made-over photograph on the cover of a tabloid, for 15 minutes of a particularly dodgy and sordid version of fame. The lack of female loyalty in evidence in our headlines extends to families as well as friends. Before Paula Jones' case against the president was dismissed, one of her own sisters came forward and called her a liar and implied that she was a slut. And then of course there is the question that has been tantalizing news pundits: If Kenneth Starr still wants to drag Lewinsky over the coals, will her own mother testify against her? The way things are going, we have to assume, why not? We are witnessing a breakdown in the concept of female solidarity. The message seems to be: Stand by your man, but don't stand by your female friends and relatives. There is also the abstract question of loyalty to the wife. Take the example of the airline flight attendant, Christy Zercher, who complained that Clinton stroked her breasts for 40 minutes while Hillary slept two seats over. One wonders why Cristy didn't move, or get up to refill the water cooler, or do whatever flight attendants do on campaign planes, during the alleged incident. She claims to have been "shocked" and "humiliated," to have been wholly and completely on the wronged first lady's side of this disgusting matter, but apparently not enough on her side that she felt called upon to shift the president's hand off her breast during his marathon caress. The whole idea that women should respect the wife, that Monica Lewinsky should have had a shred of remorse about Hillary Clinton, does not even seem, in all of the obsessive talk about this situation, to be an issue. It may be that the idea of the wife rarely means anything to the other woman, that abstract questions of sisterhood nearly always vanish in the heat of an attraction. But what is interesting is that the idea that it should mean something, that Lewinsky should have paused for one second and thought about Hillary, does not seem to be an expectation of the American public. N E X T+P A G E: It's not just personal -- it's political too - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ILLUSTRATION BY SPAIN RODRIGUEZ