The week's big news, and how's it's being spun.
Nov. 1 1998 3:30 AM

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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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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived a no-confidence motion in the Israeli Parliament. The motion was supported by right-wingers who think he gave away too much at his Oct. 23 peace deal (by ceding another 13 percent of the West Bank in exchange for Yasser Arafat's crackdown on Palestinian terrorism) and left-wingers who think he's been giving too little. The motion failed 21-8 (with 15 abstentions, because the opposition Labor Party fulfilled its pledge not to vote for Netanyahu's ouster over a peace agreement). Most legislators skipped the vote altogether. Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian extremists staged new attacks, protesting and hoping to derail the peace process. Analysts who had hailed the deal as a triumph resumed their previous warnings about the difficulty of achieving peace in the violent Middle East. (See "International Papers" for more reactions to the agreement and "Frame Game" for reactions to Clinton's role in it.) (10/26/98)

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A sniper murdered a doctor who performs abortions near Buffalo, N.Y. Since the sniper is still at large, other local doctors who do abortions are in seclusion. Editorialists linked this murder to the recent killings of other abortion providers, including the January bombing of an Alabama clinic, as well as to frequent nonfatal bombings and burnings of clinics around the country. The media's spins, in order of ascending pitch: 1) The victim, Dr. Barnett Slepian, lived and died for reproductive freedom of choice. 2) His murder underscores the besieged tenuousness of reproductive freedom of choice. 3) Anti-abortion protesters fostered the climate of hatred that encouraged his murder. The solemn view: He was murdered because he was a hero. The cynical view: He became a hero because he was murdered. (10/26/98)

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Yugoslav President (read: Serbian strongman) Slobodan Milosevic withdrew troops, "police," and tanks from their assaults on separatists in Kosovo just in time to avoid NATO airstrikes. NATO had threatened the airstrikes in the hope of clearing out Serbian forces, luring Kosovar refugees back from the hills, and delivering humanitarian aid. Skeptics grumbled that Milosevic has toyed with NATO, has forced it to extend its deadline, and will send his troops back to the front as soon as NATO leaders once again lose their nerve or interest. (10/26/98)

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The countdown to John Glenn's return to space has begun. The 77-year-old senator will be aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery when it lifts off Oct. 29. The crew's official mission is to conduct experiments and restore a satellite, but nobody cares about that. The real story is Glenn, who in 1962 became the first American to orbit Earth and who now will become by far the oldest person in space. President Clinton, 70 members of Congress, and thousands of journalists will attend the liftoff. The official NASA spin on Glenn's participation: He is needed to conduct geriatric experiments in orbit. The half-cynical spin: It's just a feel-good publicity stunt. The totally cynical spin: So what? We love feel-good publicity stunts. (See a Slate"Assessment" of Glenn from earlier this year.) (10/26/98)

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The New York Yankees swept the World Series, beating the San Diego Padres. Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius was named the Series' most valuable player. Yankee fans debated whether this was the greatest team of all time. The New York Times argued that 1) the Yankees won more games than any other team in a season (never mind that if you don't count playoff games--which have been inflated by the recent inauguration of the wild-card system--the 1906 Chicago Cubs won more); 2) they won 18 of their last 20 games; 3) they "were a team that even Yankee-haters could like," with subdued egos, selfless cooperation, hard work every day, and a "nice guy" manager; and 4) even nasty old owner George Steinbrenner "mellowed" and "choked up" in the locker room. The sunny spin: The Yankees taught us the grace of "inner conceit." The cynical spin: New Yorkers are teaching us the art of outer conceit about "inner conceit."(10/23/98)

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A political candidate has been charged with murdering his opponent. The victim is Democratic state Sen. Tommy Burks of Tennessee. The suspect is local county property assessor Byron "(Low Tax)" Looper, who, among other things, 1) had legally changed his middle name to "(Low Tax)"; 2) had reportedly won the assessor's job with "a highly negative campaign"; 3) had been indicted for theft and misuse of office; 4) was facing a lawsuit from an ex-girlfriend who accused him of forcing her to have sex; and 5) had won the Republican nomination for Burks' seat. According to the Associated Press, Burks had been "a heavy favorite." Possible motive: The Democrats can't substitute another nominee for Burks, since he died less than 30 days before the election. Instead, his widow will run as a write-in candidate. In response to Burks' death, the Tennessee Republican Party "issued a statement Wednesday distancing itself from Looper."(10/23/98)

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Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law a half-trillion-dollar spending bill. It is 4,000 pages long and weighs 40 pounds. Senators called it a "colossal monstrosity," complained that they had no time to read it, accused a back room "oligarchy" of crafting it, and then voted for it, 65-29. Scorecard: President Clinton gets 1) $18 billion for the International Monetary Fund; 2) $1 billion for (a small down payment on) 100,000 elementary-school teachers; 3) a big boost in aid to farmers; 4) elimination of nearly all the Republican Party's tax cuts; 5) reduction of GOP environmental riders; and 6) birth control insurance coverage for federal employees. The GOP gets 1) the biggest peacetime military spending hike in 13 years; 2) more money for the drug war; and 3) postponement of the fight over census sampling. The spins: 1) The cowardly GOP caved to Clinton. 2) By caving to Clinton, the GOP deprived him of a government shutdown or legislative fights, thereby protecting the likelihood of Republican gains in the Nov. 3 elections. 3) What's the point of Republicans winning elections if they won't use their clout in budget negotiations? 4) Both parties got what they wanted. 5) By getting what they wanted, both parties raided the surplus and busted the 1997 balanced budget deal. (10/21/98)

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The Microsoft antitrust trial opened. The government argued that Microsoft has violated antitrust laws by arm-twisting its business partners, seeking a noncompetition pact with Netscape to divide the Web browser market, and punishing Netscape's refusal by bundling its Windows operating system, which controls 90 percent of the operating system market, with a free browser, thereby undercutting Netscape's sales. Microsoft argued that its competitive behavior has been legal, that Netscape has misrepresented its discussions with Microsoft, that the software industry is competitive and innovative, and that government regulation would punish competition and stifle innovation. The media are covering the trial as though it were a boxing match but are having trouble making it look as interesting as the Lewinsky grand jury proceedings, which took place in the same courthouse. (Check out Michael Lewis'episodic sketches of the trial; also see a "Frame Game" titled "The Microsoft Trial: The lesson of Flytrap is to attack the inquisition.") (10/21/98)

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Paula Jones' lawyers asked a federal appeals court to reinstate her sexual harassment case against President Clinton. Their chief argument is that Clinton's apparent lie about Monica Lewinsky in his deposition for the Jones case deprived Jones of justice. The Clinton camp's spin: The Lewinsky affair was deemed immaterial by the trial judge and was irrelevant to her basis for throwing out the case, namely, that even if Jones' allegations were true, they didn't amount to sexual harassment. The Jones camp's spin: "This court needs to send a message to Washington that the civil justice system will not countenance perjury, obstruction of justice, or subornation of perjury." The media's spin: The judges' questions show they're going to reinstate the case. The lawyers' out-of-court spin: We're still trying to settle the case. (10/21/98)

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President Clinton's new chief of staff will be John Podesta, who is currently deputy chief of staff. His predecessor, Erskine Bowles, is going back to North Carolina, probably to run for governor. The sentimental spin: Clinton will miss Bowles. The unsentimental spin: Bowles won't miss Clinton. Podesta's facetious spin: "Bowles, blue blood. Podesta, blue collar." The upbeat media spin: new chief of staff! The downbeat media spin: same president. (10/21/98)