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As Impeachment Looms, Clinton Attack Dogs Conduct High Level Smear Campaign"It's a Sad Day When Members of Congress Can't Speak Before Groups..."
By Mary Mostert Congressman Bob Barr, Republican of Georgia, in a statement Friday, December 11, blasted President Clinton's defenders for conducting a scorched-earth campaign to smear members of the House Judiciary Committee with false allegations. The statement followed an attempt by trial lawyer Alan Dershowitz to call Barr a racist, based on his appearance before a group in South Carolina called the Council of Conservative Citizens. In another case, White House operative Sidney Blumenthal has attacked Committee Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The National Enquirer, which is represented by Clinton Attorney David Kendall, also reportedly published an article today alleging an affair involving Committee Member Mary Bono (R-CA). Barr also noted a report in the New York Daily News today that White House Chief of Staff John Podesta is ordering prominent businessmen to pressure Members of Congress on the upcoming impeachment vote. "It is a sad day in our country when a Member of Congress cannot speak before a group without subjecting them to an exhaustive investigation to determine if one of their members has ever written an offensive or ridiculous column." Barr said, "Sadly, there appears to be no despicable conduct the President's defenders will not stoop to in order to protect him." The mad-dog attack defense from the Clinton supporters will get more vicious in the days ahead. At this point an overwhelming majority of Americans, 71%, believe, according to the most recent Gallup Poll (December 10) that "The charge that Clinton committed perjury by providing false and misleading testimony to Ken Starr’s grand jury" is true. Almost two-thirds, 63%, of those polled believe that Clinton "misused and abused his office and impaired the administration of justice by making false and misleading statements to the public, his aides and Congress. And, in spite of years of media bashing of Paula Jones, now 50% believe that "Clinton obstructed justice by trying to influence the testimony of Monica Lewinsky, his secretary, and others in the Paula Jones lawsuit. It gets worse. A mere 8% of those polled still cling to the notion that Clinton did nothing illegal. When people like Clinton, who have no personal integrity, is in that bad a shape, the only thing they can to is to find someone else to attack. While that kind of attack can be dangerous, since it’s hard to tell sometimes just how unbalanced the attackers are, generally their game plan is to try to frighten their targets into silence. And, it appears it has worked pretty well for Clinton. I find an occasional attack e-mail in my computer these days, among the hundreds of e-mail urging members of Congress to vote for impeachment. Several such e-mail, from someone who never signs his name, has used the attack on Bob Barr to also try to attack me. I’ve been around a long time. In fact, I was writing back in the McCarthy era when I amused myself by quoting the Declaration of Independence to people and asking them if they agreed with it. Few people recognized my quotes and, convinced I was quoting from the Communist Manifesto, (since they disagreed with my politics), would angrily declare that they would NEVER believe such nonsense. We seem to be going through a very similar period. This time the scare word that people in public life much avoid being labeled at all cost is "racist" or "right-wing extremist." My e-mail correspondent thought that Dershowitz was "right" about Rep. Barr’s willingness to speak to the Council of Conservative Citizens "proving" he was a "racist." This is the same Dershowitz who said a few weeks ago on nationwide TV that "all 435 members of the House of Representatives" - also are sexually unfaithful to their spouses, and therefore they shouldn’t criticize Bill Clinton. I responded to the e-mail writer, much as Barr himself did, that that most of us in public life often talk to people with whom we don’t agree. He wrote back saying that his mother had told him "people judge you by the company you keep" - so, he is convinced, anyone who would speak to a group like the Council of Conservative Citizens must be a racist. While he doesn’t seem to have a very clear idea of what the word "racist" means, in his feeble mind "racists" should be eliminated. Sort of the same notion that the Ku Klux Klan once espoused about "negroes." So, here I am, having spoken by e-mail on several occasions with this apparent mad-dog anti-white person. With his philosophy, I guess I am now forever branded as a pro-Clinton nut case, because I’ve spoken to him on not one, but on at least three occasions. In fact, I even pointed out that many groups ask for permission to print my column. Since I have never been one to support censorship, I don’t demand a loyalty oath or a list of all the books they have read or written before allowing them to reprint my column. If people want to reprint my column, I let them, whether they are conservatives, liberals, moderates, or undecideds. I observed that with his view, he would never have anything to do with Jesus Christ, since he was always hanging out with sinners and even would talk to hypocrites. His response was, "As usual you display one of the many phony and sanctimonious characteristics of the fanatical element of the Christian right. Daring to compare our wonderful Jesus’ works and deeds with the likes of Bobby Barr, Trent (Lott), Jessie (Helms), Mike Reagan and yourself et al as they bed down with race baiters and haters is an outrage beyond belief." I haven’t a clue as to how Trent Lott, Jessie Helms and Mike Reagan (whose newsletter I edit) got into that sentence, but I am honored to find myself in such august and distinguished company. Rep. Barr was speaking to the group about the impeachment process. Everyone in America, even if they are unbalanced, as my e-mail correspondent appears to be, ought to learn about the impeachment process, especially the many TV talking heads who seem to believe that impeachment is a verdict, rather than an accusation. Barr noted in his press release that, "I strongly disagree with many of this group's (Council of Conservative Citizens) ridiculous views, and have said so publicly. …It is no coincidence that, days before a vote on impeachment, one of President Clinton's most ardent supporters is falsely accusing me of harboring racist views. The President's operatives have already proven their willingness to try to destroy the reputations of others who have dared stand up to this Administration, including Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp. Need we remember the abuses represented in Filegate? "All Americans should be outraged that they are now directing the same machinery at Members of Congress working to fulfill their Constitutional responsibilities. This is exactly the conduct that led to President Nixon's impeachment. This is truly a sad, sad day for America." What we have here with Dershowitz is a Harvard professor who is basically attacking Rep. Barr’s right to speak. This is a timeworn tactic of tyranny - of both the right and the left. It makes me wonder just what kind of education young people are getting for that incredibly high tuition their parents are paying to get them into Harvard. From what I have heard and read of Alan Dershowitz, he is teaching his own brand of anarchy. This is the same person who used his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee as a Democrat witness, to condemn every police force and prosecutor in the country by claiming "they all routinely commit perjury." That is a time-honored position of anarchists, who believe that governments can and should be overthrown. They begin, as has Dershowitz, by making extreme accusations and it usually ends in violence. What exactly is Dershowitz advocating as the "solution" to his charge that every police force and prosecutor in the country "routinely commits felonies?" The tactic is supposed to get you so mad that you don’t notice who it is that is full of hate. It isn’t Bob Barr. If you would like to let Alan Dershowitz know that his hate-mongering, name calling and scare tactics against Bob Barr, the nation’s police force and the United States Constitution are not appreciated, he can be reached by phone at 617-495-4617 or by fax at 617-495-7855. |