- Whitewater
Wonderland
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-
Originally
published March, 1994
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By
Jay Perkins
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"Let the jury consider their
verdict," the King said, for about the
twentieth time that day.
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"No, no, said the Queen. "Sentence
first -- verdict afterwards."
"Stuff
and nonsense," said Alice loudly.
"The idea of having the sentence
first."
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Alice in Wonderland
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----------------------------------------------------
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The idea, indeed.
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Anyone observing the media's conduct in trying
to manufacture another constitutional crisis
out of Whitewatergate probably has been
wondering lately if the nation's press corps
has been popping a few too many of Alice's
pills.
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Only Lewis Carroll is capable of coming up
with an explanation that could explain how
such tiny intelligence got inside such big
heads.
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Certainly, anyone who has paid even the
slightest bit of attention to the media's
attempt to make a mountain out of this pustule
and to abrogate the role of the judicial
system has to wonder about the comparisons to
a true constitutional crisis called Watergate.
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Certainly, anyone who has examined the
Clintons' involvement in what was a shaky
Arkansas land deal some 16 years ago has to
question whether the proper comparison might
not be Watergate but the Carter peanut
warehouse "scandal" that the media
tried unsuccessfully to hype to Aegean Stables
proportions.
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There may not (or may) have been a breach of
ethics or a conflict of interest involved in
the Whitewater land transactions that then
Gov. Bill Clinton and then-lawyer Hillary
Clinton were involved with in the 1982-84
period. There may not (or may) have been a
potentially criminal transaction.
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There may not (or may) have been a shoddy
attempt by the White House in the past year to
impede the investigation (or a rightful
attempt to halt the political machinations of
the Republican party) involving the Whitewater
affair. There may not (or may) have been
illegitimate (or legitimate) shredding of
documents in Hillary Clinton's old law firm
that may (or may not) have involved the
Clinton's involvement in the Whitewater case.
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And there may (or may not) be a decision by
the special prosecutor to bring one or more
people to trial to see what a jury of his or
her peers might think.
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All of the above is pure speculation at this
point. The allegations involving Whitewater
are simply that - allegations.
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The battle that is being played in the media
has little to do with any of the above. It is
simply a battle of perception, an attempt by
Republicans and Democrats to control public
opinion.
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Having said that, anyone who has paid the
slightest attention to this media excess knows
that the sentence already has been handed
down.
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All we are waiting for now is the verdict.
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Well, here it is.
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The media's conduct in reporting on the
investment of Bill and Hillary Clinton in a
savings and loan in Arkansas a decade ago is
shamefully bad, an abrogation of everything
the profession claims to stand for, an example
of how a good spin doctor can totally
manipulate most reporters, an example of pack
journalism at its worst, and a total sellout
to self-promotion by men and women who claim
to have dedicated their lives to serving the
public's need to know.
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The only legitimate media function the
coverage has served is entertainment.
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And come to think of it, that's the only value
of today's media far too often.
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"What do you know about this
business?" The King said to Alice.
"Nothing,"
said Alice.
"Nothing
whatever?" persisted the King.
"Nothing
whatever," said Alice.
"That's very
important,:" the king said, turning to
the jury. They were just beginning to write
this down on their slates when the White
Rabbit interrupted"
"Unimportant, your Majesty means, of
course," said he in a very respectful
tone, but frowning and making faces at him as
he spoke.
"Unimportant, of
course, I meant," said the King.
-
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Alice in Wonderland
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For those who have
not yet noticed Whitewatergate yet, and polls
indicate the majority are not really aware,
perhaps a primer is in order.
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First, a disclaimer. There are several
legitimate questions raised by the Clintons'
involvement in a small savings and loan in
Arkansas. Some of those questions have been
legitimately raised by the media. But for
every legitimate question raised, at least
three illegitimate conclusions have been
issued by media outlets trying to get ahead of
each other, pushing to be first with yet
another angle.
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Greg Gordon, a veteran Washington
investigative reporter for the Minneapolis
Star and Tribune and a critic of the media's
conduct so far in this caper, summed it up
best when he said "journalists once again
have made it hard for the public to separate
innuendo from evidence."
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The most outrageous example of innuendo
masquerading as evidence is the comment being
circulated by several Republican oriented
columnists and newspapers that Whitewatergate
is more important than Watergate because in
Whitewatergate "there's a body."
Yes, there is a body
- that of former deputy White House counsel
and family friend Vincent Foster. The
authorities concluded he committed suicide a
little over nine months ago. The New York Post
concluded last month that he might not have.
That maybe/maybe not has now become a
justification for all types of unsubstantiated
allegations. After all, if murder is involved,
the unstated rationale goes, no allegation can
be too outrageous.
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There are other examples of reporting that is
clearly slanted toward the sensational.
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Time Magazine, for example, concluded the
Clintons should have paid capital gains tax on
about $23,500 in profit from a partnership
sale but failed to note that the higher
selling price (which it used to determine
profit) resulted from improvements such as
gravel roads and subdividing the property.
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The Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Clinton
had a "glaring conflict of interest"
in a settlement involving a failed savings and
loan in Arkansas. Perhaps so, but the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp. earlier had found
there was no conflict of interest and, in
fact, no evidence that Mrs. Clinton did
anything but sign off on the agreement as
co-counsel.
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Several newspapers have reported that the Rose
law firm in Little Rock, the firm with which
Mrs. Clinton was associated, shredded numerous
documents dealing with the Whitewater episode
just recently. The implication clearly is that
there is a massive coverup going on.
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But other newspapers have quoted sources
inside the firm as saying the only documents
that were shredded were the firm's own
reconstruction of its involvement in
Whitewater - documents prepared to help it
answer questions from the special prosecutor.
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The fact is much of what is being reported
about this episode has little to do with law
and everything to do with politics. Time
Magazine summed it up well by noting the
charges against the Clintons are "so
complex that it is difficult even to summarize
the suspicions let alone cite the evidence
supporting such suspicions. Violations of law,
if any, would be extremely difficult to
prove."
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One cannot fault the Republicans for
attempting to make political hay out of the
Clintons' problems. That is to be expected.
The Democrats certainly scored points by
charging the Republicans with letting the
savings and loan scandals occur on their
watch. Now that the Republicans have an
opportunity to make that scandal bipartisan,
they certainly will use it. That the way of
Washington.
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But one can fault the media for being used so
easily.
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"Please,
your majesty," said the knave. "I
didn't write it and they can't prove I did.
There's no name signed at the end."
"If you didn't sign it," said the
King, "that only makes the matter worse.
You MUST have meant some mischief, or else
you'd have signed your name like an honest
man."
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Alice in Wonderland
