Word: mudding
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WASHINGTON: It's getting dirty out there. House Judiciary Chair Henry Hyde got slung with a faceful of mud Wednesday night when it was revealed -- by the pro-Clinton netzine Salon -- that he had an extramarital affair with a married woman for five years back in the late 1960s. Soon enough, the aggrieved husband was telling reporters that Hyde was a "super hypocrite" who ruined his life and broke up his family. "He had an affair with a young woman with three children," said 76-year-old retiree Richard Snodgrass. "At least the President didn't do that...
...denied a White House connection and defended the article by claiming it proved both Hyde and Clinton were still fit for office. But now that Hyde has joined Dan Burton and Helen Chenoweth in the sexual-skeletons-in-the-closet club, Washingtonians have to wonder just how much more mud is waiting to be slung...
...promised, somewhat half-heartedly, to take "appropriate steps." (White House Aide Sidney Blumenthal, who has been known to retail mud to Clinton-friendly reporters, can probably expect a cursory visit from the G-men.) But the outrage on both sides of the House is genuine. "This is a way to push back against the Hyde story, which infuriates all of the leadership," says TIME congressional correspondent John Dickerson. Republicans, however, could profit from the example of Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, who when faced with a sex scandal of his own -- gay-themed, no less -- just took his beating and moved...
Much as they might enjoy the President's deepening humiliation, and they do, even Republicans are wary. Playing in the mud is a messy game for everybody. Starr's report is likely to mean a new cycle of smutty particulars to be worked over endlessly by the news-entertainment continuum. A public already sick to death of unlaundered dresses and dirty jokes about cigars could blame Republicans for starting and prolonging the whole thing even as citizens turn away in disgust from the President himself...
...mash note and the suggested cover stories, rely on Monica's account alone. "Anything substantive took place out of earshot of anyone else -- it's all dependent on that," says TIME senior writer Jeffrey Kluger, who is also a lawyer. And Starr's relentlessly salacious drags Monica through the mud right along with Clinton. "Starr may have done himself a disservice by presenting the naked Lewinsky," says Kluger. "She becomes a less credible, less stable witness." Of course, this case isn't going to court -- it's going to Congress. But if House members need a reason to try this...