The week's big news, and how's it's being spun.
Nov. 28 1997 3:30 AM

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Financial crises are casting a pall over the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. First, Thailand's currency crisis infected Hong Kong, Japan, and stock markets around the world. Then South Korea was forced to seek an International Monetary Fund bailout. Then Yamaichi Securities, Japan's oldest and fourth-largest brokerage, suffered that country's worst bankruptcy since World War II. Analysts fear an economic "domino" effect throughout southeast Asia (analogous to the Vietnam War-era theory of Communist contagion), in which economic collapses breed political collapses. President Clinton assured investors that Asia's woes are just "a few little glitches" but warned the troubled countries to clean up their act. The countries promised they would. (11/26)

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The Arlington National Cemetery cash-for-crypts story collapsed. Insight, the Washington Times magazine, initially reported that burial plots "allegedly have been 'bought' by fat-cat donors to Clinton's reelection committee and the DNC." Rush Limbaugh, Ollie North, and Gordon Liddy made hay of the story, and several congressional Republicans demanded investigations, thereby entitling the mainstream press to wade in. The Army eventually released the list of those getting waivers for burials. It showed only one major donor, and he had served in the Merchant Marine in World War II. Conservatives fell back on three arguments: 1) So what if it's a lie? The larger truth is that Clinton's record made it plausible. (See Slate's "Readme" for more.) 2) The White House prolonged the story by failing to disprove it more quickly. 3) By broadcasting a lie, conservatives laudably hastened its exposure as such. Democrats consoled themselves with the observation that with enemies like these, Clinton hardly needs friends. The media, as always, pondered what it all means for the media. (11/26)

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Former South African first lady Winnie Mandela was accused of murdering a 14-year-old boy. A former bodyguard told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he saw her stab the boy to death. Mandela was previously convicted of assaulting and committing the boy, but not of killing him. Problems with the accusation: The ex-bodyguard hadn't implicated her in his previous accounts of the murder, and another of her henchmen has already been convicted of it. Analysts questioned whether her appearance before the commission, which was supposed to help revive her political career, might end up killing it. (11/26)

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Media moves: 1) Mort Zuckerman hired Harry Evans away from Random House to oversee the New York Daily News, U.S. News & World Report, and the Atlantic Monthly. Evans says he's delighted to resume "Boy Scout" journalism. Critics say he's all glitz and no talent. Media reporters are looking forward to a resumption of Evans' feud with Rupert Murdoch, who owns the rival New York Post. 2) Geraldo Rivera agreed to stay at NBC. He gets $4 million a year and gives up his lucrative lowbrow syndicated talk show in exchange for more highbrow assignments. Geraldo's spin: "This is something I need for my honor, for my family, for my own self-image." (NBC News President Andrew Lack added, "I am America's news leader.") 3) Isiah Thomas quit as vice president of the Toronto Raptors to broadcast basketball games for NBC. (11/26)

William Saletan William Saletan

Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right.

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British tabloids are having a field day with the divorce of Earl Spencer, Princess Diana's brother. The attorney for Spencer's wife says that Spencer 1) committed adultery with a dozen women; 2) summoned his wife to his bath to inform her, "I no longer love you and you're no good as a wife"; 3) expressed remorse by telling one of his mistresses that his wife deserved a husband who could "help her deal with her shortcomings." After Diana's death, Spencer had questioned the royal family's ability to raise her children properly and accused the tabloids of residing "at the opposite end of the moral spectrum" from the saintly Diana. In view of this week's divorce proceedings, the Sun crowed, "He is not fit to lecture anyone about morality and decency." (Also see Slate's assessment.) (11/26)

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Civil-rights groups are spending $300,000 to remove an affirmative-action case from the Supreme Court's docket. The money will help settle a white teacher's complaint that a New Jersey school board laid her off--instead of laying off a black teacher with equal seniority--on purely racial grounds. Liberal legal strategists regretted the tactical retreat but defended it as a smart political move, since 1) the case had offered the court an ideal opportunity to issue a sweeping decision against affirmative action and 2) the longer the court has to wait for such an opportunity, the more likely it is that Chief Justice Rehnquist will have retired. Conservative legal strategists called the payment hush money and accused affirmative-action advocates of prolonging divisive racial policies by ducking the fight. (11/24)

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu floated a plan to withdraw Israeli troops from another 6 percent to 8 percent of the West Bank. Analysts say he made the offer to 1) appease U.S. demands for Israeli fulfillment of the Oslo accords and 2) distract critics from his simultaneous promise to build more Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem (thereby appeasing right-wingers in his own party). Palestinian leaders dismissed the withdrawal scheme as unserious on the same grounds. (11/24)

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FBI officials criticized the Justice Department's plans to rule out an independent counsel to investigate fund-raising phone calls by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. According to the New York Times, the FBI thinks an independent counsel is necessary to ensure that the probe is credible. Conservatives decried the department's apparent disregard for the FBI's position, accused Attorney General Janet Reno of betraying her pledge to share such decisions with FBI Director Louis Freeh, and held out hope that Freeh would publicly dissent if Reno lets Clinton and Gore off the hook. The Times heaped scorn on Reno's "manipulations" and "damage-control operation."(11/24)

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U.N. weapons inspectors, including Americans, returned to Baghdad to resume their work. Saddam Hussein rescinded his expulsion of the Americans in exchange for Russia's promise to seek U.N. Security Council approval to lift sanctions against Iraq. The United States continued sending ships and planes to the Persian Gulf to ensure that Saddam stops obstructing the inspectors, and promised to veto any Russian attempt to lift the sanctions. The United States says it won because Iraq reversed itself unconditionally. Pundits declared defeat, on the grounds that whatever Saddam agrees to--and whatever makes the Russians look good--must be bad for the United States and the forces of peace and goodness. (Slate gives you "The Gist" on Iraq since the Gulf War.) (11/21)

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An Iowa woman gave birth to septuplets after taking fertility drugs. The babies are on ventilators but in relatively good shape. If all survive, they'll be the first septuplets to do so. Forty specialists participated in the Caesarean delivery. The sunny spin: "It's a miracle," rewarding the couple's faith in God. (They had refused to abort some of the embryos, which would have increased the survival chances of the others.) The surly spins: 1) What the hell were these people and their doctors thinking? Carrying septuplets to term is a great way to kill them all--and maybe the mother--or to cause those who survive to be born with catastrophic defects. 2) Don't try this in your own home. 3) Fertility drugs have run amok. 4) We can't afford the expense of saving all these premature babies. 5) Fertility physicians, regulate thyselves, or Congress will do it for you. (11/21)

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President Clinton endorsed an HMO"bill of rights." It calls for 1) an independent arbiter to whom patients can appeal adverse coverage decisions by their health insurers; 2) patient access to data comparing their providers with the alternatives; 3) direct patient access to specialists, instead of having them go through referrals; and 4) a right to emergency care. While urging insurers to meet these standards voluntarily, Clinton also asked Congress to mandate them. Analysts foresee a repeat of the 1994 health-care debate, with Republicans blasting the new plan as "ClintonCare II." The Washington Post called the plan less ambitious than Clinton pretends and lamented that each side will exaggerate it "to strike a heroic pose and ... milk some campaign contributions."(11/21)

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President Clinton's advisory commission on race relations is under fire for excluding critics of affirmative action. Chairman John Hope Franklin declined to ask the leading critic, Ward Connerly, to testify at the panel's meeting on diversity in education, asserting that Connerly had "nothing to contribute." Nor did the panel ask other critics to testify. Newt Gingrich erupted, protesting that 1) the panel's putative "dialogue" has "become a monologue" and 2) true diversity would include Newt Gingrich's view, i.e., that we should stop obsessing about diversity. The New York Times agreed that the commission "must do more than preach to the converted." (Also see Slate's "The Sound of One Hand Talking.") (11/21)