Salon Newsreal | Witness for the prosecution?

A L S O+T O D A Y

Endgame?
By Joshua Micah Marshall
Republicans ratchet up the rhetoric while looking for a way out

Impeachment notebook
By Joshua Micah Marshall
Jesse Helms snores, Al Franken gets tossed, House managers look overmatched

T A B L E+T A L K
Why do we need a death penalty? Discuss the reasoning behind capital punishment in the Social Issues area of Table Talk
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Visit barnesandnoble.com for politics books on both sides of the aisle
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R E C E N T L Y
Months of sleaze
By Jeff Stein
In an interview, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says that's what Monica Lewinsky's return to Washington could herald
(01/25/99)
Unequal rights for haters
By Ishmael Reed
White hate groups and their friends get a free pass from the media, while black haters are routinely savaged
(01/23/99)
Black like me
By Joan Walsh
The smearing of White House lawyer Cheryl Mills raised my nationalist ire -- but I'm white
(01/23/99)
Ask Pat Robertson
By James Poniewozik
The reverend says his call to halt impeachment was just "political analysis." A look at Pat Robertson's worldly wisdom
(01/23/99)
Stalking the president
By Mollie Dickenson
Linda Tripp could help Julie Hiatt Steele -- and President Clinton -- refute Kathleen Willey's charges
(01/22/99)
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Witness for the prosecution?
News DICK MORRIS, CONSPIRACY THEORIST, COULD FIND A WAY TO HURT THE PRESIDENT AGAIN.

BY NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Two days after the House managers of President Clinton's impeachment trial "interviewed" potential witnesses at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington (translation: Relax, we're wearing sweaters. It's all off the record. Try the clam dip), the big story is that Monica Lewinsky "gave them nothing." But what did Dick Morris -- pundit, prognosticator, political consultant extraordinaire and Witness No. 2 -- give them?
Try this: a secretive network of sleazy private investigators, vengeful politicians, shadowy financiers and partisan journalists working to bring down perfectly respectable public figures. That's right: It's the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, according to Dick Morris.
In the last six months, Morris has become one of the major purveyors of the notion that there is indeed a conspiracy behind the nation's current crisis. But whereas Hillary Rodham Clinton sees her husband as the victim, Morris says the targets are congressional Republicans Henry Hyde, Robert Livingston, Helen Chenoweth and Dan Burton, who've had sexual indiscretions revealed. Instead of lambasting gossipy dirt-digger Lucianne Goldberg, Morris sets his sights on Terry Lenzner, an investigator with the firm IGI and putative White House enforcer. In place of shadowy right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife, we get libertine Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.
If Morris sticks to his charges, he could be the perfect witness for the prosecution: a source from within the Clinton White House who testifies to a corrupt operation to obstruct justice -- based on absolutely no evidence.
Morris fired his first salvo in an October New York Post column. He revealed how the 1992 Clinton campaign had "maintained a staff of detectives to dig up dirt on women" and how "Paula Jones' husband [was] dismissed from his decades-long job with Northwest Airlines just as the CEO of the airline [sought] the Democratic nomination for governor of California." Morris named the dark forces responsible "the Clinton Secret Police," and wrote that they were probably the same miscreants who tried to silence Clinton accuser Kathleen Willey by stealing her cat and slashing her car tires.
Then, in a Dec. 8 column, Morris theorized that Clinton aides had hired Jack Palladino to investigate members of the White House's own Travel Office staff, "presumably to get material to tarnish their reputations." Two weeks later Morris wrote: "Can anyone seriously believe that the 'outing' of incoming House Speaker Robert Livingston's extra-marital affairs is not the work of the White House Secret Police?"
And so it goes. According to Morris, the secret police dig the dirt, White House staffers like Sidney Blumenthal and communications director Ann Lewis quietly shop the goods and compliant White House propagandists in the media publish the salacious details.
It sounded faintly paranoid when Hillary Clinton accused the president's enemies of belonging to a vast, right-wing conspiracy. But whereas the first lady was mocked -- despite the evidence that a coterie of right-wing lawyers has been behind efforts to smear the president all along -- media figures can't get enough of Dick Morris. Because of his longtime proximity to President Clinton, anything Morris says is automatically assumed to have some basis in fact. And because Morris was formerly a Friend of Bill, the usual standard of neutrality is reversed: Morris actually becomes more credible as he gets more vitriolic. Fox News and various talk shows have rushed to bring Morris on the air to explain the machinations of the White House secret police. And although the White House has vigorously denied the accusations, Republicans have become increasingly emboldened in accusing Clinton of being responsible for the revelations about House Republicans.
It should be noted that Salon itself has been the victim of repeated Morris smears. He wrote in two December columns that the White House was certainly behind the story of Henry Hyde's "youthful indiscretion" with married hairstylist Cherie Snodgrass, and cited as proof the fact that the magazine featured an interview with President Clinton in an early issue -- which isn't true. He attacked investigative journalist Russ Baker's meticulously documented exposé of Dan Burton, writing that Ann Lewis "has her fingerprints all over" Baker's story, and that "the likelihood is that Lewis was involved in the decision to give Baker the green light to publish." Morris politely refused to be interviewed for this article. "I don't feel comfortable talking to Salon," he said when we contacted him in the green room at Fox News. "I don't like it, I think it's an administration mouthpiece -- at least it was when I was there. Goodbye."
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A L S O+T O D A Y Endgame? By Joshua Micah Marshall Republicans ratchet up the rhetoric while looking for a way out Impeachment notebook By Joshua Micah Marshall Jesse Helms snores, Al Franken gets tossed, House managers look overmatched T A B L E+T A L K Why do we need a death penalty? Discuss the reasoning behind capital punishment in the Social Issues area of Table Talk ___________________ Visit barnesandnoble.com for politics books on both sides of the aisle ___________________ R E C E N T L Y Months of sleaze By Jeff Stein In an interview, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says that's what Monica Lewinsky's return to Washington could herald (01/25/99) Unequal rights for haters By Ishmael Reed White hate groups and their friends get a free pass from the media, while black haters are routinely savaged (01/23/99) Black like me By Joan Walsh The smearing of White House lawyer Cheryl Mills raised my nationalist ire -- but I'm white (01/23/99) Ask Pat Robertson By James Poniewozik The reverend says his call to halt impeachment was just "political analysis." A look at Pat Robertson's worldly wisdom (01/23/99) Stalking the president By Mollie Dickenson Linda Tripp could help Julie Hiatt Steele -- and President Clinton -- refute Kathleen Willey's charges (01/22/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		Witness for the prosecution? DICK MORRIS, CONSPIRACY THEORIST, COULD FIND A WAY TO HURT THE PRESIDENT AGAIN. BY NICHOLAS CONFESSORE Two days after the House managers of President Clinton's impeachment trial "interviewed" potential witnesses at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington (translation: Relax, we're wearing sweaters. It's all off the record. Try the clam dip), the big story is that Monica Lewinsky "gave them nothing." But what did Dick Morris -- pundit, prognosticator, political consultant extraordinaire and Witness No. 2 -- give them? Try this: a secretive network of sleazy private investigators, vengeful politicians, shadowy financiers and partisan journalists working to bring down perfectly respectable public figures. That's right: It's the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, according to Dick Morris. In the last six months, Morris has become one of the major purveyors of the notion that there is indeed a conspiracy behind the nation's current crisis. But whereas Hillary Rodham Clinton sees her husband as the victim, Morris says the targets are congressional Republicans Henry Hyde, Robert Livingston, Helen Chenoweth and Dan Burton, who've had sexual indiscretions revealed. Instead of lambasting gossipy dirt-digger Lucianne Goldberg, Morris sets his sights on Terry Lenzner, an investigator with the firm IGI and putative White House enforcer. In place of shadowy right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife, we get libertine Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. If Morris sticks to his charges, he could be the perfect witness for the prosecution: a source from within the Clinton White House who testifies to a corrupt operation to obstruct justice -- based on absolutely no evidence. Morris fired his first salvo in an October New York Post column. He revealed how the 1992 Clinton campaign had "maintained a staff of detectives to dig up dirt on women" and how "Paula Jones' husband [was] dismissed from his decades-long job with Northwest Airlines just as the CEO of the airline [sought] the Democratic nomination for governor of California." Morris named the dark forces responsible "the Clinton Secret Police," and wrote that they were probably the same miscreants who tried to silence Clinton accuser Kathleen Willey by stealing her cat and slashing her car tires. Then, in a Dec. 8 column, Morris theorized that Clinton aides had hired Jack Palladino to investigate members of the White House's own Travel Office staff, "presumably to get material to tarnish their reputations." Two weeks later Morris wrote: "Can anyone seriously believe that the 'outing' of incoming House Speaker Robert Livingston's extra-marital affairs is not the work of the White House Secret Police?" And so it goes. According to Morris, the secret police dig the dirt, White House staffers like Sidney Blumenthal and communications director Ann Lewis quietly shop the goods and compliant White House propagandists in the media publish the salacious details. It sounded faintly paranoid when Hillary Clinton accused the president's enemies of belonging to a vast, right-wing conspiracy. But whereas the first lady was mocked -- despite the evidence that a coterie of right-wing lawyers has been behind efforts to smear the president all along -- media figures can't get enough of Dick Morris. Because of his longtime proximity to President Clinton, anything Morris says is automatically assumed to have some basis in fact. And because Morris was formerly a Friend of Bill, the usual standard of neutrality is reversed: Morris actually becomes more credible as he gets more vitriolic. Fox News and various talk shows have rushed to bring Morris on the air to explain the machinations of the White House secret police. And although the White House has vigorously denied the accusations, Republicans have become increasingly emboldened in accusing Clinton of being responsible for the revelations about House Republicans. It should be noted that Salon itself has been the victim of repeated Morris smears. He wrote in two December columns that the White House was certainly behind the story of Henry Hyde's "youthful indiscretion" with married hairstylist Cherie Snodgrass, and cited as proof the fact that the magazine featured an interview with President Clinton in an early issue -- which isn't true. He attacked investigative journalist Russ Baker's meticulously documented exposé of Dan Burton, writing that Ann Lewis "has her fingerprints all over" Baker's story, and that "the likelihood is that Lewis was involved in the decision to give Baker the green light to publish." Morris politely refused to be interviewed for this article. "I don't feel comfortable talking to Salon," he said when we contacted him in the green room at Fox News. "I don't like it, I think it's an administration mouthpiece -- at least it was when I was there. Goodbye." N E X T+P A G E+\| Sucking toes and sharing presidential secrets - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.