A L S O+T O D A Y One big happy family By Alan Wolfe The election was a referendum on morality, after all, but Americans voted for tolerance, not vengeance (11/25/98)   T A B L E+T A L K What would be the Republican dream ticket for the 2000 election? What about the Democrats? Play pundit in Table Talk's Politics discussion area   R E C E N T L Y Letter from San Francisco By Lisa Margonelli Twenty years after Dan White murdered George Moscone and Harvey Milk, his old neighborhood is still spawning leaders who divide by race -- but these days they're Asian, not white (11/24/98) Why "Birthright Israel" can't work By Samuel G. Freedman Diaspora in America is better than physical danger and religious infighting in Zion (11/23/98) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Starr By Gary Kamiya When the real Kenneth Starr finally stood up before the House, he turned out to have a split personality (11/20/98) Starr Wars By Joan Walsh The Democrats strike back (11/20/98) Nothing has changed Compiled by Lori Leibovich and Fiona Morgan The consensus of political experts is that no minds were changed by Starr's day in court (11/20/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.
		THE "YOUNG LADY" WHO GOT UNDER KENNETH STARR'S SKIN | PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - Salon spoke with Lofgren about congressional sexism, Starr's Judicary Committee performance and why she thinks President Clinton should be censured, but not impeached. When your Republican colleagues started calling you "young lady," I had to go online to look up your age. I am 50 years old. And I have had such a reaction to it from women, friends, people all over town. Were you surprised by it? Regretfully, sexism in the House of Representatives is not a complete surprise. I am wondering, do you think it was related to your line of questioning? It seemed as though calling you "young lady" was a way to upbraid you. What I believe is that it was intended to be dismissive. I am 50. Ken Starr is 52. If they were calling Starr "young man," at least it would be evenhanded, right? And there are other things you notice, like who gets interrupted, whose statements are repeated by more senior members -- just because, if a woman just said it, it wouldn't be understandable. Stuff that even I am usually too busy to be tuned into, to have my heart on my sleeve. It is a very weird world. Is the sexism worse than you thought when you were elected? It is. Not that any place is perfect, but it is so different than at home [in Northern California]. We have more of a meritocracy there. I wanted to follow up on your questioning of Kenneth Starr -- the information behind your question about whether he'd heard of the tapes last November. I have said that I'm not going to go into that at this point. But we just sent a letter to Starr, saying that, since he said he didn't recall [whether he'd had a conversation about the tapes in November], we wanted to follow up, now that he has had a chance to recall. I wouldn't want him to think that being called a young lady hurt my feelings so bad, I just went away! Having been through the hearing all day last week, did you learn anything? Well, yes. I learned that Starr has exonerated, and apparently quite some time ago, the president and first lady on Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate. We didn't learn anything for sure, but we certainly now have some questions about when he knew [about Tripp's tapes]. And my question about the leaks -- whether he'd release journalists from their pledge of confidentiality -- I've got to give credit to Steve Brill. It was his idea, and it was a good one. And first he said a flat-out, "No," and then to hide, and say, "It's under seal." Give me a break. Who asked for it to be under seal? I just thought it was ridiculous. The common wisdom seems to be that Starr didn't change any minds either way on the Judiciary Committee, but there are now enough Republicans in the House who will cross over and vote with Democrats to oppose impeachment. Is that holding up? What is your best count? I don't know if that is true or not. I have not done a count. I have a ballpark figure. And I think there will be a handful of Democrats who will vote for impeachment. They've said so. And the Republicans have an 11-vote margin until January; then they only have a six-vote margin. So, there need to be more than a handful of Republicans to make up for Democrats who vote the other way. And it may also be that everyone won't show [for the vote], because it is a lame duck session. So you're not convinced at this point that it will go away? What does your gut tell you about where it will go in the House? I have learned over the years to listen to what people say, and what I am hearing the Republicans say is that they are going to push this forward. It looks to me like they are still trying to impeach the president. What is the right resolution here? You oppose impeachment; what about censure? I think censure would be better, from what I have seen so far. I don't see anything that rises to the historical standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. However, to say that this is an acceptable behavior -- that's not the case. I have a preference for a statement that this is not acceptable. I think this can do a tremendous favor for those who will follow us in the centuries to come, to clarify the nature of the balance of power between the branches of government. And 200 years from now, I want people looking back at Congress to be very clear what we did about this. Not like us, [reading the Constitution] and trying to guess: "What did they mean?" SALON | Nov. 25, 1998 Starr wars The Democrats strike back. By Joan Walsh Nov. 20, 1998 Starr on the stand A raw transcript of Rep. Zoe Lofgren's cross-examination of Kenneth Starr. Nov. 20, 1998