Word: wrighting
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ritual is eerily familiar. A public figure under fire for wrongdoing rises to defend himself, proclaiming his honesty, years of service and adherence to the rules. Last Thursday it was Jim Wright's turn before the TV cameras. The House Speaker's passionate statement was reminiscent of other notable political apologias: Richard Nixon's I-am-not-a-crook, Ed Meese's They-did-not-indict-me and, most recently, John Tower's I-am-a-man-of-some- discipline. Like the others, Wright's performance only emphasized how much trouble...
Vowing to "fight to the last ounce of conviction and energy," Wright offered a point-by-point rebuttal of the three main charges against him. What made the nightly news, however, was his tearful defense of his wife Betty, whose salary from a Fort Worth developer is alleged to have been a way of funneling cash to the Speaker. Chin trembling, he declared, "I will damn well fight to protect her honor and integrity from any challenge, from any source, whatever the cost...
With that statement, Wright raised the stakes of this in-House scandal for the Democrats assembled around him. It is said that Dwight Eisenhower snapped a pencil in half when his embattled vice-presidential nominee, the younger Richard Nixon, came to the part of his Checkers speech about Pat and the cloth coat. Eisenhower knew then that Nixon was not going to go away but would fight to the death to hold on to his nomination. No one heard any No. 2 lead pencils breaking when Wright said, "There are some things worth fighting for." But it is far from...
...Wright's dramatic statement came as the House Ethics Committee was preparing to vote on whether there is "reason to believe" the Speaker has violated congressional rules. After the vote, the committee will publish a report of some 500 pages detailing the alleged violations. The committee will release raw data compiled by counsel Richard Phelan -- the kind of unsubstantiated innuendos that Republicans succeeded in keeping out of the public domain / during the Tower investigation. Wright will have 21 days in which to respond in writing. The committee will then decide if the case requires any action. If it recommends...
...time Wright took to the podium, he knew that the vote of the committee, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, was likely to be 8 to 4 in favor of finding some violations. The defection of two Democrats is not a mortal wound, but if the same percentage abandons Wright when the entire House votes, his hold on the speakership would be in peril. Democrats had been urging Wright to launch a pre-emptive defense. Says a House leadership aide: "We were being procedural nerds with our pants drawn up to the armpits saying, 'We have to wait...