1998 | Whoops & Squawks

The key fact is that we have in the White House a man who can swear falsely on a Bible and then trash those who tell the truth--a man completely without honor or decency.” --Columnist Mona Charen, writing in the March 18, 1998 edition of the Indianapolis Star.

“No matter how hard James Carville and Co. spin, Bill Clinton’s presidency is likely to go down in history as the punchline to a dirty joke. . .A political culture that finally recoils from Clinton’s relentless shabbiness is not likely to continue marveling at his mastery of the techniques of deception. . .Al Gore, Bob Kerrey and Bill Bradley will all run for President in 2000 as modified versions of Clinton, with zipper control.”--Ramesh Ponnuru, writing in the March 23, 1998 issue of National Review.

“(It was) truly creepy. . .coming face to face with the utter shamelessness of a certain type of Clinton defender. These defenders do not believe that the president is innocent. They are not even agnostic. They simply don’t care that he is guilty--whether of sexual misconduct or perjury or even obstruction of justice. Indeed, they appear almost liberated by the president’s behavior, and buoyed by his public support. It’s as if in the president’s ability to skate free, they have finally found personal absolution in their own lives.” --Danielle Crittenden, writing in an article titled “Geraldo’s America (And Bill Clinton’s)” in the March 23, 1998, issue of The Weekly Standard.

“The American people hunger for a statesman magnetized by the truth, unwilling to give up his good name, uninterested in calculation only for the sake of victory, unable to put his interests before those of the nation. What this means in practical terms is no focus groups, no polls, no triangulation, no evasion, no broken promises, and no lies. These are the tools of the chameleon. They are employed to cheat the American people of honest answers to direct questions.” --Mark Helprin, author, contributing editor of the Wall Street Journal, in a February, 1998 speech at Hillsdale (Michigan) College.

A final argument is that capital punishment is the redemption of a contract society owes to all human beings: to protect them and to guard posthumously their dignity, by taking the life of those who took their lives.” --William F. Buckley, Jr., writing in the March 9, 1998, National Review

And We Know What That One Word Is

“Rep. Dan Burton is being vilified by the liberal press. He’s the first elected official to tell the truth and he did it in one word.” --Ron Ziarnick, Sandpoint, Idaho, in a letter to the May 4-10 issue of the Washington Times. (The word was: scumbag)

“Governments will always do the right thing--after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” --John Fund, editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal, in a speech at Hillsdale College’s Shavano Institute for National Leadership last October.

“We’ll have a lot of nudity and lesbians. We plan to have a lot drunken dwarfs on the show. I don’t know why it gets ratings, but it does.”--Howard Stern, hyping his new CBS TV show, quoted in Daily Variety’s April 2, 1998 issue.

“Mr. Clinton, Sir, Americans didn’t trust you with our health care systems, and Americans didn’t trust you with gays in the military, and we don’t trust you with our 21-year-old daughters. . .”--Charlton Heston, newly elected president of the National Rifle Association, calling a thing what it is during his speech June 6 at the NRA’s annual convention.

“Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics.” --George Bernard Shaw

“Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women’s clothes; men who like women never notice what they wear.” --Anatole France

God, I Wish I’d Have Written That

“Democrats complain that the Starr investigation costs $30,000 a day merely for office space. That and $20,000 will get you a cup of coffee at the White House.”--The editors of National Review magazine, commenting on the week’s news in the July 6, 1998 edition.

“Impeachment is a means of clarification for politicians who believe anything is permitted that is not forbidden by criminal statutes or other “controlling legal authority”. . .Impeachment is not a “constitutional crisis,” it is a remedial mechanism provided for political hygiene. . .” --George Will, published in the Indianapolis Star August 20, 1998.

“. . .Bill Clinton’s career is built on lies. . .he has learned that lying pays. . .he has learned that he will be rewarded for telling the right lies at the right time, and that while many will recognize his dishonesty, few will hold him accountable for it. . .the toadies, the kneejerks and the Clinton-right-or-wrongers instruct us to drop the subject now that the president has spoken. . .Our long national nightmare is of Clinton’s making. He abused his position shamefully, then jabbed his finger at us and denied everything. . .if he really believed that was a defense, he would be a fool. But the president is no fool. He is a liar. And a disgrace.” -- Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe columnist, published in the Indianapolis Star August 22, 1998.

“Any President that lies to the American people should resign.” --Bill Clinton, in a 1974 political debate.

This is a President who says he does it all for the children. Well, now we know he does it with the children.” --Oliver North, September, 1998, regarding Sick Willie.

“Mr. Clinton’s model isn’t John F. Kennedy or (Martin Luther) King. It’s Johnny Cochran. He’s emblematic not of the ‘60s but of the ‘90s. He belongs in the company of everything that is tackiest about American culture today: Larry Flynt, Al Sharpton, Howard Stern and Jerry Springer.”--Joseph Sobran, writing in the September 14-20 issue of the Washington Times.

That's Our Willie!

“Yes, Mr. President, of course we can get that stain out.”--Brand new signs on delivery trucks whizzing about Gotham for one of New York's upscale drycleaning establishments, Meurice, which bills itself as the "garment-care counselor to the stars," according to the Wall Street Journal. (September, 1998)

“Most Americans no longer really doubt that the president is a disgrace as a human being; they merely assert that his gross character flaws have no relevance to his performance in office.” --Creators Syndicate columnist Stephen Chapman.

B-1 Later Got To Eat These Words

“Bill Clinton is evil. He is roadkill. When they quit polling the Hooters crowd and start polling real Americans. . .his numbers will be in the gutter.” --“B-1 Bob” Dornan, former U.S. Congressman from California, on television Sept. 17, 1998.

“Yes, the President should resign. He has lied to the American people time and time again, and betrayed their trust. He is no longer an effective leader. Since he has admitted guilt, there is no reason to put the American people through an impeachment. He will serve absolutely no purpose in finishing out his term; the only possible solution is for the President to save some dignity and resign.”--Bill Clinton, 1974, in a quote made up by the vast right-wing conspiracy and now circulating on the Internet.

“Any man who would conduct himself in such an emotional, unstable manner and bring worldwide shame, first to his family and then to a vulnverable young woman, and finally to the United States of America, is unfit to be president of this great country. If he loves his country, he will go. The part of the brain that controls morality and honesty never got connected. The President is mentally and emotionally unstable.”--Ross Perot, during an address Sept. 26 to the Reform Party’s second national convention in Atlanta.

“For the White House the Starr Report was a political neutron bomb; it left the institution standing but fatally poisoned everyone inside. Ann Lewis, Rahm Emanuel, Paul Begala and the others who had lied and attacked for the President had been hiding in their fallout shelters since the President’s non-apology on August 17. The Starr Report incinerated them even so. Bill Clinton himself can stand the heat longer because, over the years, he has developed an immune system commonly referred to as “shamelessness.” But those around him are gone. Few people would now take Rahm Emanuel’s word on the spelling of his own name. . . Still, the Gunga Din of water carriers in this scandal has been Lanny Davis. . .Holding onto her skirt, the First Lady’s liars and lawyers, fools and assassins, marched behind her in a phalanx carrying out what one White House official called “our continuing campaign to destroy Ken Starr”. . .The worst of it was David Kendall (Clinton’s lawyer) on This Week when he was asked if his wife held to the same definition of sex that the President had used before the grand jury. When the cameras went dark, Kendall reportedly walked off in a silent fugue of rage. . .The only people left who will unabashedly and shamelessly defend the President--outside of a few stragglers in Congress and Geraldo Rivera--are the true bottom-feeders.” --Jonah Goldberg, National Review, October 12, 1998 issue.

“Censure sounds good, and it means nothing; a perfect punishment for the age of Clinton. . .The President is conducting a slightly higher-toned Jerry Springer Show.He weeps; Kendall, Ken Starr, and Congress throw chairs; we hoot. Sen. Joseph Lieberman gives the Final Thought.”--Richard Brookhiser, National Review, October 12, 1998 issue.

“Bombshell revelation; DNA testing reveals that the odds against Mr. Clinton telling the truth are 7.8 trillion to one.”--The Editors, October 12 issue of National Review .

Ornery Little Devils Department

“Basically, we needed to keep checking his fly every few hours because people keep taking photos of him with his zipper down.” --Joanne Ashby, sales manager at Madame Tussaud’s traveling wax museum exhibition in Sydney, Australia, on why managers decided to sew shut the fly on a figure of American President Bill Clinton. (from the “Quotables” section of a December, 1998 Chicago Tribune).

“The suicide of nations” begins “when sentimentality prevails over sense.” --English philosopher Roger Scruton, writing in his book, On Hunting, and quoted in the Dec. 31, 1998 issue of National Review.
“(The Democrats) constantly invoke the idea that a Senate trial could take months, thus distracting that August body from its everyday work of killing bills sent over from the House.” --Richard Lowry, writing in the Dec. 31, 1998 issue of National Review.

“The new (American) sensibility reacts negatively to strong personalities. It is uncomfortable with sharply defined arguments; it wishes to defer tough choices. . .it is emotional rather than logical. . .one reason the impeachment debate has hurt Republicans is that they have been perceived as trying to force the public to make a choice it would rather not make. Several polls have found that the public says that law-breakers are not fit for public office, that Clinton is a law-breaker, and that Clinton is fit for office. In one focus group, women broke down in tears when asked to resolve this cognitive dissonance.” --Ramesh Ponnuru, writing in the Dec. 31, 1998 issue of National Review.

“(Father Robert) Drinan also refused to concede that a President could be impeached for murder--murder, that is, committed for strictly private, not governmental, reasons.” --Jay Nordlinger, writing in National Review’s Dec. 31, 1998 edition about Father Drinan’s testimony and responses to questions before the House Judiciary Committee considering Impeachment articles.