But even weirder, the editorial sportingly stressed that Ms. Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy gave "a passionate, almost teary response to the allegation of anti-Semitic language." Huh? A Clinton denial is supposed to mean something now?
When did we make this seamless transition from treating a Clinton denial -- subsequently discredited or retracted -- as just so much necessary political filler (because "anyone would have lied in those circumstances") to suddenly becoming truth, because the Clintons said it? Wouldn't anyone have lied about using the phrase "f-ing Jew bastard," too -- particularly if that anyone was running for a Senate seat from New York?
Why do we have to keep considering each successive denial by the Clintons as if the press corps, pundits and American people have a collective case of amnesia? It's like an eerie "Twilight Zone" episode in which no one can remember what happened yesterday.
Moreover, it's not as if Tipper Gore stands accused. This is Hillary. Hillary of the lamp-throwing temper and f-word profanity. (Neither Hillary nor her husband questioned that she had used the phrase "f-ing bastard," only that she would have identified the ethnicity of the f-ing bastard. Even when she's throwing lamps and cursing like a sailor, she's ethnically sensitive.)
This is Hillary, whose warm Southern charm was widely credited with costing her husband his second race for the Arkansas governorship and whose concern for the little guy resulted in the travel office bloodbath.
In addition, there are three witnesses to this particular charming utterance: Paul Fray, the campaign manager of Clinton's failed 1974 congressional bid and the target of the slur; Fray's wife, Mary Lee, who was in the room at the time; and a third campaign worker, Neil McDonald, who was standing outside the room. (Fray's wife said Hillary shouted so loudly that "it rattled the walls.")
Other witnesses, from Dick Morris to the Arkansas state troopers, corroborate similar statements from the Dragon Lady. If you can break free from the collective case of "Twilight Zone" amnesia for a moment, you will recall that the troopers have been completely vindicated on even their most bizarre charges against the Clintons. It goes without saying, their track records on truth-telling are somewhat more impressive than America's Most Famous Perjurer and his wife.