Word: newt
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...sober, you're sober enough to choose not to drive. An industry member at a state hearing argued that a couple of drinks "might improve driving ability." The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee, legislating under the influence of liquor-lobby money (nearly $17 million since 1987; Speaker Newt Gingrich got the most), killed the tougher standard last week. So let's raise a glass--or four--to the audacious more-careful-drunk theory...
...then the new Newt returned from his contrition tour promoting his book, Lessons Learned the Hard Way, and abruptly withdrew his support from the McCain effort, calling it "a big government, big bureaucracy" bill, language almost identical to the industry's. Had he suddenly bought into one of its most ludicrous arguments, that the price hike places an unfair burden on the poor, who smoke the most and, ironically, save the country money by dying early? Industry advocates contend that a smoker with a pack-a-day habit pays so much in cigarette tax and collects so much less...
...snoozer: Executive Privilege 101. But pick apart the professorial text, and you get Starr's most savage attack on the President to date. Take the ending: "No one, absolutely no one, is above the law." Technically, a quote from Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski, but also the exact words Newt Gingrich has spent the last week crafting into a rallying cry for the right. Was Starr trying to be simpatico with the Speaker? It's hard to imagine otherwise...
WASHINGTON: There he goes again. Weeks ago, Speaker Gingrich unveiled a kinder, gentler Newt -- complete with new and improved poll numbers. But in the past few days, Gingrich has done a 180 by launching his most vicious verbal volley yet. Accusing Clinton of "the most systematic effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history," the Speaker lambasted White House attacks on Ken Starr -- advising the "unpatriotic" administration to "shut up." More bemused than angry, Clinton's staff is handling Gingrich like the naughty kid at the back of the class. "As soon as he comes back...
...little badly timed. Why go negative now? Because, says TIME congressional correspondent James Carney, the Speaker is taking the fall for the entire GOP. "To win in November, Republicans have to motivate their base." And the Lewinsky investigation is one heck of a wedge issue. Never mind about Newt 2000 -- "Gingrich is not as sure about running for President as he once was," adds Carney. Greater love hath no man than he lay down his candidacy for his party. With Gingrich promising to mention this in every speech he makes "so long as I am Speaker," his numbers look...