HOME / the week/the spin: The week's big news, and how's it's being spun.
Updated Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET
By William Saletan  |
 The House Judiciary Committee recommended impeachment. On a party-line vote, the committee approved the first impeachment article, which accuses Clinton of lying under oath. Just before the vote, Clinton issued another apology ("I am profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong") but did not admit to lying. Meanwhile, the White House is lobbying incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston, R-La., to let the House vote on censure, which might relieve some lawmakers of pressure to vote for impeachment. The spins: 1) Clinton's latest apology won't work, because Livingston will rule out censure and House Republicans will impeach Clinton. 2) Clinton's apology will work, because polls will show a backlash when the public realizes he is about to be impeached and moderate Republicans will chicken out of impeaching him. 3) The GOP will impeach Clinton anyway and face the backlash afterward. (For more on the hearings, see David Plotz's "Dispatches" in Slate.) (12/11/98) |
|
The House will take up impeachment articles Thursday. Clinton, his aides, and other Democrats are lobbying moderate Republicans to support censure instead of impeachment. The lobbying involves toughening the censure proposal to satisfy enough Republicans and taking some GOP members along on Clinton's trip to the Middle East. The spins: 1) Clinton's lies are offensive. 2) The Republicans' charges are excessive. 3) Clinton's lawyers refuse to admit anything that could put him in legal jeopardy. 4) Duh. 5) The pro-impeachment closing argument: The rule of law is at stake. 6) The anti-impeachment closing argument: The Constitution is at stake. 7) Impeachment is excessive, so vote instead for censure. 8) Impeachment without conviction is censure. 9) Impeachment is too serious to treat as censure. 10) Impeachment is only a vote for a trial. 11) A trial would be too awful because it would paralyze the government and force the Senate to delve into sexual details. 12) The impeachment juggernaut is good because it has scared the White House into embracing heavy censure. 13) Impeachment is good for the Democrats because it would hurt the GOP more than it hurts Clinton. 14) Clinton will persuade the GOP not to impeach him because they both care more about their own skins than about the Democrats. (12/11/98) |
| Iraq is defying U.N. weapons inspectors again. Inspection chief Richard Butler told the U.N. Security Council that Iraq has: 1) moved apparent germ weapons equipment and won't say where to or why; 2) disrupted or prohibited the videotaping, photographing, and photocopying of evidence; and 3) prohibited inspections on Fridays. Meanwhile, Iraq has declared its political offices off-limits to inspectors, disregarding U.N. Security Council resolutions that give the inspectors free rein. U.S. officials, having previously threatened military strikes if Iraq failed to cooperate, now say they want more time to study the inspection efforts. The sunny spin: Iraq is isolating itself again. The cynical spin: The United States is humiliating itself again. (12/11/98) |
| The Federal Election Commission unanimously rejected its staff's proposal to fine President Clinton and Bob Dole for violating campaign finance laws. The staff had proposed making Clinton and Dole repay $7 million and $17.7 million, respectively, for taking federal matching funds while circumventing federal election spending caps by promoting their candidacies with party-sponsored "issue" ads. The three Democratic and three Republican commissioners said that the staff had treated the parties unfairly and that the issue ads were legal as long as they didn't explicitly tell voters to "vote for" either candidate. Critics say the ruling validates the issue-ad loophole, guts the campaign finance laws, and invites presidential candidates to extend the same tactics in 2000. The sunny spin: The FEC is fair because it's split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. The cynical spin: The FEC protects both parties from the law because it's split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. (12/11/98) |
| Businessman Abe Hirschfeld, who had offered Paula Jones $1 million to settle her suit against President Clinton, has been arrested on murder-for-hire charges. Hirschfeld initially staged a ceremony in which he presented Jones with a mock $1 million check, then he reneged. The White House refused to coordinate its settlement payment to Jones with Hirschfeld's offer because he was under indictment on tax evasion charges. The new indictment says Hirschfeld paid the first half of a $150,000 contract to have a former business partner killed. The judge has set his bail at $1 million, calling it Hirschfeld's "favorite number." The spins: 1) It's a good thing Clinton steered clear of Hirschfeld's offer. 2) Why is getting Clinton out of a sexual harassment suit worth $1 million if killing a man is worth only $150,000? 3) Maybe Hirschfeld will offer the district attorney $1 million to get rid of the new charges against him. (12/11/98) |
|
| Japanese scientists have cloned eight calves from a dead cow. This follows previous clonings of mice and a lamb. The spins: 1) The experiment erases any doubt that adult cells could be turned into embryos. 2) Its success rate (eight of the 10 implanted embryos survived until birth) indicates that cloning may be more efficient than in vitro fertilization of cattle. 3) Soon we'll be able to clone cows that excel at producing milk or meat. 4) Then we'll be able to engineer cows that produce human medicine in their milk. 5) Human cloning will be next. 6) Since the experiment was done at Kinki University, does that make it the Kinki Experiment? Meanwhile, a British government advisory committee urged the government to legalize the cloning of tissue from human embryos. (For a moral analysis of the latest biotech breakthroughs, see Slate's "Brave New World.") (12/9/98) |
| British Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that Chilean ex-dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet can be extradited to Spain to face charges of genocide and torture. Straw ruled that Pinochet is physically fit to be tried. He also rejected Pinochet's argument that one of the judges who rejected Pinochet's claim of immunity was improperly biased because he runs the fund-raising division of Amnesty International. Human rights groups applauded Straw's decision. The spins against the decision: 1) It sets a dangerous precedent. 2) It's cruel because Pinochet is too frail to endure a long court fight for his freedom. 3) According to the head of the Pinochet Foundation, it's "yet another expression of Britain's colonialism and punishment for a small country [Chile] that is struggling to develop." (12/9/98) |
|
| Dr. Jack Kevorkian will be tried for first-degree murder. A judge ordered the trial based largely on the videotape, shown recently on 60 Minutes, in which Kevorkian injected a consenting terminally ill man with lethal drugs. Kevorkian was acquitted in three previous trials, but in those cases the charge was assisted suicide. The pious spin: He's getting exactly what he deserves. The cynical spin: He's getting exactly what he wants. (12/9/98) |
| Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his top aides again. His chief of staff and other aides had recently suggested that Yeltsin should relinquish many of his responsibilities because he is too ill. Yeltsin responded by leaving his hospital bed, firing the chief of staff and his deputies, and going back to the hospital. (Yeltsin's comment as he announced the firings: "You can see how vigorous I am.") The Associated Press noted that Yeltsin "rarely seems so energized as when he is firing someone." The old spin: Yeltsin is too sick to do anything. The new spin: If only that were true. (12/7/98) |
|
Former Sen. Bill Bradley announced he has formed a presidential campaign exploratory committee. The media's spins: 1) He says there's too much money in politics. 2) He can't keep up with Vice President Al Gore in the money race. 3) No, Bradley should be taken seriously--because he can raise money. 4) He wants to run a positive campaign, refraining from attacks on rivals. 5) To get our attention, he'll have to attack Gore. 6) Bradley says we're "superficial and sensational." 7) He's boring. 8) He may not have enough fire in his belly. 9) He wants to talk about ordinary people, not himself. 10) He wants to talk about his "inner voice." 11) He's got authenticity, in contrast to Clinton's salesmanship. 12) He's selling authenticity. (12/7/98) |
| Former Sen. Albert Gore Sr., the vice president's father, died. Editorialists praised his progressive courage in the face of cultural conservatism and bigotry, noting his refusal to sign the segregationist Southern Manifesto in 1956, his opposition to the Vietnam War, and his defeat over busing, civil rights, and Vietnam in the 1970 Tennessee Senate race. The sunny spin: His example teaches today's politicians to put principle before politics. The cynical spin: His defeat taught today's politicians to put politics before principle. (12/7/98) |
|
| The Clintometer stands at zero and has been retired. Click here for the complete archives. |
PRINT
E-MAIL
RECOMMEND...
RSS
Facebook
MySpace
Mixx
Digg
Reddit
del.icio.us
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Sphere
StumbleUpon
More Week/The Spin, The columns
TODAY'S PICTURES
TODAY'S CARTOONS
TODAY'S DOONESBURY
TODAY'S VIDEO
Oral Roberts.
Cartoonists' take on banks.
Baby, you're a rich man.
featured advertiser links
The Tea Party Protesters Are Getting Smarter
The Slatest: Why Are So Many American Men Listening to Soft-Rock Stations?
Who Is Mrs. Cohen From Hadera, and Should Israelis Care Where She Puts Her Money?
What Wired, Esquire, and Hooters Magazines Think You Should Give for Christmas
Save the Planet. Eat More Brie.
How Easy Is It To Hike Into Iran Accidentally?
