Slate's Bizbox
the breakfast table: An e-mail conversation about the news of the day.

Jeffrey Goldberg and Jack Shafer

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Jack Shafer

Clinton and Gore's Lovers' Quarrel

Posted Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2001, at 11:33 AM ET

Dearest Goldberg,

Did you get a load of the Clinton-Gore lovers' spat story in today's Washington Post, "Clinton and Gore Clashed Over Blame for Election"? According to John F. Harris' story, Gore "forcefully" told the president that his corn-dogging had helped botch his campaign. Clinton apparently bit his lip and then flamed Gore for not running on the administration's record.

Only Potus and the Veep attended the session, and nobody talked to Harris on the record. Ordinarily I write a snarky press item when stories are so thoroughly blind-sourced as this one, pissing and moaning about how corrupting the whole background/not-for-attribution/off-the-record journalism is. But when the dish is this good, even I am prepared to cut a reporter all the slack he needs.

That said, did you get a gander at the sourcing? Here's who Harris cites:

"people close to [Clinton]"
"people close to both"
"one adviser to Clinton"
"a Gore aide"
"One Democrat"
"Some Democrats who heard descriptions from one or the other of the two participants"
"one Democrat"
"Others"
"one Democrat close to Clinton and Gore"
"one adviser to the former vice president"
"Many Clinton advisers"
"A senior White House official close to Clinton"
"aides close to Clinton"
"one aide" (presumably a Clinton aide)
"many Clinton people"
"a Democrat close to both men"
"many Clinton supporters"
"one Democratic operative who has worked with both men"
"Some senior Clinton advisers"
"sources"
"One Democratic strategist" who is then re-identified as "this Clinton supporter"



Who didn't talk on the record? Harris writes, "Jake Siewert, a spokesman for Clinton, and Kiki McLean, a spokeswoman for Gore, said their bosses would not comment on a private conversation."

I understand that you're not only a professional journalist but a New Yorker staff writer, a successful screenwriter, and the author of a forthcoming book, so maybe you can help me with a question I have. Did Harris talk to 40 people or four? Does it matter? Is "one Democrat" also "one aide"? Is "one adviser to the former vice president" the same guy as "one Democrat close to Clinton and Gore"?

What's clear from a cursory reading is that President Bill's people fueled the story. Should we expect blowback from Gore's folks tomorrow?

In other news, how about those wacky Israelis? Should we expect Sharon's victory lap to include a visit to Temple Mount?

Hey, it's 11 a.m. Don't you have to go pick up one of your many children?

Love,
Jack

the breakfast table
entries
12345678910111213141516
from: Jack Shafer

Clinton and Gore's Lovers' Quarrel

Posted Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2001, at 11:33 AM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Jack Shafer is deputy editor of Slate. Jeffrey Goldberg is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His book on the Middle East, Prisoners, will be published next year by Knopf.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES

Reader Comments From The Fray:




[Notes from the Fray Editor: There was a spirit of friendly enquiry in the Fray: "Do you guys like each other?" asked Beth. "What is a CVS?" came from Dea--and do you need to be rich to find out? (Fletch tells us it's a drugstore.) And Mark wanted to know "What's wrong with a little Masada?"

Posters who weren't asking questions were trying to draw blood. "Breakfast Table" Fray regulars are a nest of trouble-makers. Neill Hamilton demonstrates this here and here, and so does Joseph Britt, whose comment below provoked a thread well worth reading, including a debate on whether basketball is prominent in American culture.]


In response to last week's "Breakfast Table", I and several other Fray posters made the suggestion that this feature would be more interesting if it involved writers who actually disagreed with each other about something.

By "something," I was referring to American politics or something especially prominent in American culture.

Disagreements about whom Israelis should vote for do not count. This is because Israel is a foreign country. Now, I wish Israel well; I like most of the Israelis I have met in my life; I even think how the American government should respond to whatever Israeli government emerges from this week's election is a topic worthy of exploration.

But who would I vote for? Stupid question

--Joseph Britt

(To reply, click here.)

(2/6)

Washington Post