Salon Newsreal | Witness for the prosecution?

A L S O+T O D A Y

Endgame?
By Joshua Micah Marshall
Republicans ratchet up the rhetoric while looking for a way out

Impeachment notebook
By Joshua Micah Marshall
Jesse Helms snores, Al Franken gets tossed, House managers look overmatched

T A B L E+T A L K
Why do we need a death penalty? Discuss the reasoning behind capital punishment in the Social Issues area of Table Talk
___________________
Visit barnesandnoble.com for politics books on both sides of the aisle
___________________

R E C E N T L Y
Months of sleaze
By Jeff Stein
In an interview, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says that's what Monica Lewinsky's return to Washington could herald
(01/25/99)
Unequal rights for haters
By Ishmael Reed
White hate groups and their friends get a free pass from the media, while black haters are routinely savaged
(01/23/99)
Black like me
By Joan Walsh
The smearing of White House lawyer Cheryl Mills raised my nationalist ire -- but I'm white
(01/23/99)
Ask Pat Robertson
By James Poniewozik
The reverend says his call to halt impeachment was just "political analysis." A look at Pat Robertson's worldly wisdom
(01/23/99)
Stalking the president
By Mollie Dickenson
Linda Tripp could help Julie Hiatt Steele -- and President Clinton -- refute Kathleen Willey's charges
(01/22/99)
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WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION? | PAGE 1, 2, 3
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It's been just two years since Morris, at what should have been his moment of triumph -- Clinton's imminent reelection -- was forced to resign, after his long-term affair with call girl Sherry Rowlands was revealed. Newspapers jumped on his tale of toe-sucking and sharing presidential secrets with this woman who was not his wife, and Morris resigned in disgrace. But not too much disgrace. The release of his bestselling political memoir, "Behind the Oval Office," less than a year later marked Morris' makeover. He began writing his weekly column in the Post last April. Around the same time, Morris signed on to Fox News as a political analyst and quickly joined the same punditocracy that, two years earlier, had declared him finished.
All in all, Morris has moved from punch line to pundit with head-spinning speed. But Morris is not without his skills. Even his detractors concede his knowledge, experience and political acumen. Until August 1996, he was known for being relentlessly low-profile and serious about his work. Time once called him "the most influential private citizen in America," a title that -- at least while he was running Clinton's 1996 campaign -- may have been appropriate. After all, Morris is credited with almost single-handedly putting a Democratic incumbent president back in office at a time when Republican ascendancy was practically taken for granted. Morris is articulate, brash, knowledgeable and -- thanks to Sherry Rowlands -- infamous. In other words, he's perfect for both Fox and the Post.
True, his 1998 election predictions were wildly off-base ("a likely GOP gain of 30-40 seats"), but in the pundit world, this puts him in excellent company. At the very least, Morris' two-decade relationship with Clinton and two-year stint as his chief strategist were adequate credentials, if credentials were necessary, to appear on "Larry King Live" and take viewers inside the mind of Bill Clinton.
Dick Morris is, in other words, a consummate insider. There's just one problem: Despite his insider status, he has offered not a single shred of evidence that a White House secret police exists or that such a group has had anything to do with the "outing" of Republicans' marital infidelities. A look at Morris' work in the Post reveals a columnist inordinately fond of such words and phrases as "likely," "probably" and "almost certainly." "In fact" is frequently followed by someone else's opinion. Morris relies heavily on unspecified "published reports," other people's unnamed, loosely described sources -- never does he cite his own -- and the ever-judicious Matt Drudge. And the reporting of many of the more creditable sources he cites specifically, such as Cokie Roberts and the Washington Post, frequently suffers from the same drawbacks. What exactly is a "source close to the White House," anyway?
The most recent example is the now-discredited "Clinton love child" story, in which tabloid newspaper the Star financed DNA testing for Danny Williams, a boy whose mother claimed he had been fathered by Clinton during her days as a prostitute. Most of the nation's papers of record ignored the story, but Matt Drudge reported it, after which not just the Post, but the Boston Herald and the Washington Times all followed. Then Fox News and MSNBC immediately jumped on-board. When asked by Fox's Bill O'Reilly whether he thought the allegations where true, Morris responded, "I have no idea, and there's no point in speculating." Good so far, but Morris couldn't help himself. "But if you're working for Bill Clinton," he went on, "you have to wonder. The country's not going to permit another impeachment trial. So that his hope is that he has to wind this thing down before there is conclusive evidence as to whether that boy is his child, if he is ... I think that therefore, his handlers want to close this thing down before the DNA test comes out, because once the impeachment is over, it's never going to be restarted ... and that's why the White House wants it closed down before any other shoes drop." In other words, decline to speculate, then speculate. And implicitly confirm the notion that there are more "shoes" -- tales of Clinton sexual misconduct -- to drop.
It's not that Morris' claims are always bereft of fact. White House counsel David Kendall is indeed an attorney for the National Enquirer. Information about Henry Hyde's and Dan Burton's affairs did come out just as the GOP was preparing to open impeachment proceedings. And yes, Sidney Blumenthal was a Clinton apologist even before he went to work for the White House -- where, after all, one would expect him to be one -- and once wrote a nasty article about Republican political consultant Ed Rollins.
And the president is certainly no angel. It seems likely, for instance, that Clinton has used Terry Lenzner's services to investigate Paula Jones and other women claiming to have had affairs with him. But this is standard practice for such cases, especially high-profile ones. Kenneth Starr, for instance, has hired private eyes to do investigative work for the OIC. But a vast, left-wing conspiracy to uncover Republican sexual indiscretions, masterminded by a woman -- Ann Lewis -- who Morris frequently describes as incompetent?
N E X T+P A G E+| But where's the evidence?

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A L S O+T O D A Y Endgame? By Joshua Micah Marshall Republicans ratchet up the rhetoric while looking for a way out Impeachment notebook By Joshua Micah Marshall Jesse Helms snores, Al Franken gets tossed, House managers look overmatched T A B L E+T A L K Why do we need a death penalty? Discuss the reasoning behind capital punishment in the Social Issues area of Table Talk ___________________ Visit barnesandnoble.com for politics books on both sides of the aisle ___________________ R E C E N T L Y Months of sleaze By Jeff Stein In an interview, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says that's what Monica Lewinsky's return to Washington could herald (01/25/99) Unequal rights for haters By Ishmael Reed White hate groups and their friends get a free pass from the media, while black haters are routinely savaged (01/23/99) Black like me By Joan Walsh The smearing of White House lawyer Cheryl Mills raised my nationalist ire -- but I'm white (01/23/99) Ask Pat Robertson By James Poniewozik The reverend says his call to halt impeachment was just "political analysis." A look at Pat Robertson's worldly wisdom (01/23/99) Stalking the president By Mollie Dickenson Linda Tripp could help Julie Hiatt Steele -- and President Clinton -- refute Kathleen Willey's charges (01/22/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION? \| PAGE 1, 2, 3 - - - - - - - - - - It's been just two years since Morris, at what should have been his moment of triumph -- Clinton's imminent reelection -- was forced to resign, after his long-term affair with call girl Sherry Rowlands was revealed. Newspapers jumped on his tale of toe-sucking and sharing presidential secrets with this woman who was not his wife, and Morris resigned in disgrace. But not too much disgrace. The release of his bestselling political memoir, "Behind the Oval Office," less than a year later marked Morris' makeover. He began writing his weekly column in the Post last April. Around the same time, Morris signed on to Fox News as a political analyst and quickly joined the same punditocracy that, two years earlier, had declared him finished. All in all, Morris has moved from punch line to pundit with head-spinning speed. But Morris is not without his skills. Even his detractors concede his knowledge, experience and political acumen. Until August 1996, he was known for being relentlessly low-profile and serious about his work. Time once called him "the most influential private citizen in America," a title that -- at least while he was running Clinton's 1996 campaign -- may have been appropriate. After all, Morris is credited with almost single-handedly putting a Democratic incumbent president back in office at a time when Republican ascendancy was practically taken for granted. Morris is articulate, brash, knowledgeable and -- thanks to Sherry Rowlands -- infamous. In other words, he's perfect for both Fox and the Post. True, his 1998 election predictions were wildly off-base ("a likely GOP gain of 30-40 seats"), but in the pundit world, this puts him in excellent company. At the very least, Morris' two-decade relationship with Clinton and two-year stint as his chief strategist were adequate credentials, if credentials were necessary, to appear on "Larry King Live" and take viewers inside the mind of Bill Clinton. Dick Morris is, in other words, a consummate insider. There's just one problem: Despite his insider status, he has offered not a single shred of evidence that a White House secret police exists or that such a group has had anything to do with the "outing" of Republicans' marital infidelities. A look at Morris' work in the Post reveals a columnist inordinately fond of such words and phrases as "likely," "probably" and "almost certainly." "In fact" is frequently followed by someone else's opinion. Morris relies heavily on unspecified "published reports," other people's unnamed, loosely described sources -- never does he cite his own -- and the ever-judicious Matt Drudge. And the reporting of many of the more creditable sources he cites specifically, such as Cokie Roberts and the Washington Post, frequently suffers from the same drawbacks. What exactly is a "source close to the White House," anyway? The most recent example is the now-discredited "Clinton love child" story, in which tabloid newspaper the Star financed DNA testing for Danny Williams, a boy whose mother claimed he had been fathered by Clinton during her days as a prostitute. Most of the nation's papers of record ignored the story, but Matt Drudge reported it, after which not just the Post, but the Boston Herald and the Washington Times all followed. Then Fox News and MSNBC immediately jumped on-board. When asked by Fox's Bill O'Reilly whether he thought the allegations where true, Morris responded, "I have no idea, and there's no point in speculating." Good so far, but Morris couldn't help himself. "But if you're working for Bill Clinton," he went on, "you have to wonder. The country's not going to permit another impeachment trial. So that his hope is that he has to wind this thing down before there is conclusive evidence as to whether that boy is his child, if he is ... I think that therefore, his handlers want to close this thing down before the DNA test comes out, because once the impeachment is over, it's never going to be restarted ... and that's why the White House wants it closed down before any other shoes drop." In other words, decline to speculate, then speculate. And implicitly confirm the notion that there are more "shoes" -- tales of Clinton sexual misconduct -- to drop. It's not that Morris' claims are always bereft of fact. White House counsel David Kendall is indeed an attorney for the National Enquirer. Information about Henry Hyde's and Dan Burton's affairs did come out just as the GOP was preparing to open impeachment proceedings. And yes, Sidney Blumenthal was a Clinton apologist even before he went to work for the White House -- where, after all, one would expect him to be one -- and once wrote a nasty article about Republican political consultant Ed Rollins. And the president is certainly no angel. It seems likely, for instance, that Clinton has used Terry Lenzner's services to investigate Paula Jones and other women claiming to have had affairs with him. But this is standard practice for such cases, especially high-profile ones. Kenneth Starr, for instance, has hired private eyes to do investigative work for the OIC. But a vast, left-wing conspiracy to uncover Republican sexual indiscretions, masterminded by a woman -- Ann Lewis -- who Morris frequently describes as incompetent? N E X T+P A G E+\| But where's the evidence? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.