To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > News May 4, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/05/04/soundbite "I don't think we need a big show" The Senate GOP's No. 2 backs away from prickly hearings on Janet Reno. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Daryl Lindsey Interviewed by the New York Times, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, Don Nickles of Oklahoma, said his collegues in the Grand Old Party are backing away from plans to investigate Janet Reno's raid on Little Havana. "It could be turned into political theater, and I don't think anyone wants that," Nickles said. "I'd like to get some answers to some questions, but I don't think we need a big show." Warp back to an earlier time ... say, a week before. In a Chicago Tribune interview, the zealous (if factually impaired) Nickles called for blood: "The administration keeps doing things that seem excessive. Waco was one. Ruby Ridge was another. This is another one. To me, it's an abuse of power." In his now-discarded outrage, Nickles apparently didn't realize that the Ruby Ridge incident took place five months before Clinton took office. Spoof of the day comes from the Matt Drudge-mocking "Drudge Retort." "ELIAN TRADED FOR HARD-THROWING RIGHTHANDER!" the main headline screams. "In a deal that has the backing of the U.S. Department of Justice and representatives of Miami's Cuban-American community, Elián González was traded to Cuba today for right-handed pitcher Jose Ariel Contreras and a defector to be named later." And what about poor Elián? "A child's freedom is a small price to pay for starting pitching." salon.com | May 4, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - -