1) Northeastern Republicans who voted not guilty are the only Republicans "still in touch with the people," Eleanor Clift insisted.

2) Clinton vindicated like Gingrich? Equating the Senate vote on Clinton with the IRS ruling on Gingrich, Juan Williams demanded that Brit Hume "apologize to Clinton since he's been cleared."

3) The Clintons may have complained, but People delivered a fawning portrait of the Hillary-Chelsea relationship and revealed that in 6th grade Chelsea alerted mom to how her stock was doing.

4) The February 8 edition of Notable Quotables.

1 

Northeastern liberal, I mean moderate, Republicans are the only Republicans "still in touch with the people." And so are the two female Republican Senators who voted not guilty, though they fit into both categories. So asserted Newsweek's Eleanor Clift on the McLaughlin Group:
     "The Republican managers pushed a case that was bogus from the beginning. It should have been a vote of censure in the House and be done with it. And look at the defectors, the Republican defectors in the Senate. Northeastern Republicans. That's the aspect of the party that's still in touch with the people. And two of the three female Republicans Senators voted to, against removing this President."

 2

Clinton now vindicated, just like Gingrich. On Fox News Sunday last week Juan Williams and NPR's Mara Liasson dismissed the relevance of the IRS ruling on how Newt Gingrich did not violate tax laws, claiming Democratic attacks were just politics as normal with Liasson actually suggesting Gingrich got what he deserved as Democrats treated him the same way he treated Jim Wright. That prompted Brit Hume to scold the two for faulty reasoning and argue that Democrats owe Gingrich an apology.

     A week later Fox News analyst Juan Williams recalled the argument, suggesting that Hume now apologize to Bill Clinton. Viewers of the February 14 Fox News Sunday heard this exchange between Williams, a Washington Post reporter on perpetual leave, and Fox News Washington Managing Editor Brit Hume:

     Williams: "Last week you asked me to apologize to Gingrich. Are you guys going to apologize to Clinton since he's been cleared in this charge?"
     Hume: "I'll apologize when I think he's not guilty."
     Williams: "Oh, different standard Mr. Hume."
     Hume: "Well Juan you've often said you thought he lied under oath. Do you mean you've now changed your mind?"
     Williams: "No, but I'm saying Gingrich was cleared by that committee, Clinton has cleared by the Senate of the United States."
     Hume: "By a Senate which was in a big hurry to say that they didn't think he was, that they thought he did it, they just didn't want him removed. That's not the same."

     To read more about the exchange on the February 7 show, go to the February 8 CyberAlert which is posted on the MRC site: http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/cyberalert/1999/cyb19990208.html#6

 3

Venerating, adoring, glowing, flattering. All those words are understatements for People magazine's February 15 issue cover story titled "Hillary & Chelsea: Grace Under Fire." White House complaints, about how the Clinton parents were supposedly very upset about the invasion of Chelsea's privacy, became a major media story back on February 3 and 4. One passage in the article even raises the possibility that Chelsea was the brains behind the miraculous $100,000 profit on commodities as People recalled how when Chelsea was in 6th grade she alerted her mother when a stock she owned was mentioned on TV.

     More pressing Senate trial bias kept me from examining the actual story at the time, but a look at it now shows that the Clintons sure weren't hurt by the additional readership for the article their complaints generated. There is not a negative word in the article and amongst the friends quoted is Dr. Nancy Snyderman of ABC's Good Morning America. After the magazine excerpts, a look at what Snyderman said about her relationship with Hillary Clinton.

     Some representative fawning from the People story by Susan Schindehette headlined "The Ties That Bind: Separated by a continent, united by a lifelong bond, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton rely, in these worst of times, on each other."

....At this past New Year's Renaissance Weekend, while a pensive President walked alone on the deserted beach in Hilton Head, S.C., Hillary and Chelsea stayed behind in their borrowed oceanfront house. Following an unspoken rule of their relationship, mother and daughter have always refused to let the world see their private pain. This past year, too, each has faced the world without flinching. "Chelsea has her mother's strength," says ABC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman, a longtime friend of Hillary's. "She's been bred for it."....

The closeness between mother and daughter shows up in the smallest gestures. When Hillary began to shiver at a beach picnic on Martha's Vineyard with friends in 1997, it was Chelsea who took off her own jacket to drape over her mother's shoulders. The two also share a spiritual bond: Chelsea often prays with her mother, having chosen Hillary's Methodist faith over her Baptist father's. Now, in the wake of the current crisis, "both Hillary and Chelsea have this inner glow," says Rev. Don Jones, who was Hillary's childhood pastor from suburban Chicago. "It's as if they've both reached their higher selves."....

In a sense, Chelsea is the living embodiment of her mother's ideas about child rearing and feminism. As a young mother often on the road, Hillary frequently left messages at Chelsea's elementary school in Little Rock ("Just tell Chelsea that Mommy loves her"). She also encouraged her daughter to write back to her -- a practice that, as Hillary notes in her latest book, Dear Socks, Dear Buddy, not only helped keep the family close but also "helped Chelsea practice her language skills." And as half of the most-traveled mother-daughter team in the history of the presidency, Hillary once wrote, "I am beyond grateful for the times we have circled the globe together. And if those travels have changed minds in countries where daughters are not as prized as sons -- well, all the better."

Hillary's determination to shape her daughter's life manifested itself early on. "Hillary did everything she could to bring her into the world under the best circumstances," says Rose Crane of Little Rock, a longtime friend of Hillary's. While pregnant, "Hillary once told me that what she wanted more than anything was a great big [diet] Tab over crushed ice," but she abstained because she was afraid it might harm the baby. In the early years after Chelsea was born, following a difficult labor and C-section delivery, it was obvious that both parents adored her, even if they expressed it differently. Bill kept a child's desk in plain view for Chelsea in his office, while Hillary would quietly spread a quilt in the backyard of the Little Rock governor's mansion so she and her toddler could just stare up at the clouds. "Bill drove Chelsea to school, and you would see them holding hands," says Maraniss. "It was a more public demonstration than Hillary and Chelsea have, but that doesn't mean it's any deeper."....

Hillary was also determined to encourage her little girl's independence. Chelsea wasn't allowed to wear shoes with Velcro closures -- a gift from her grandma Virginia Kelley -- until she first learned to tie laces, Hillary later wrote, because "I loved the look of accomplishment on her face when she showed us all what she could do for herself."

It was a look her mother would see many times. When Chelsea was in sixth grade, recalls [Carolyn] Staley [childhood FOB], "I was in the kitchen when the TV news came on. Chelsea was watching, and I heard this shriek of delight: 'Look, Mom, it's up!' Hillary had been trying to sock away some money for the family and had given Chelsea a lesson in how investing works. Chelsea was watching the stock report."....

But Hillary's true priority has always been Chelsea, as was evident whenever she wore -- over conservative business attire -- the gaudy, plastic-beaded necklace that her little girl had made. At Little Rock's Forest Park Elementary School, "right up front, Mrs. Clinton made it clear that Chelsea came first," recalls Sadie Mitchell, Chelsea's first-grade teacher. "She gave me all the family's private numbers and told me to call them anytime." Mitchell also recalls that Hillary helped perform science experiments with Chelsea's classmates, took them on outings to theaters and museums and read stories to the class with Chelsea curled up in her lap. Hillary's former press aide Mary Ellen Glynn remembers one harried moment during the 1992 presidential campaign. "Even though she had a million people sitting around her in this hotel room and her schedule was backed up to eternity, Hillary called Chelsea, who was home with a sore throat, and spent 45 minutes saying, `How are you feeling? Are you drinking lots of juices?' Everything else just stopped."....

Days before Chelsea's departure [for college], Hillary rushed home after a 20-hour trip to Mother Teresa's funeral in Calcutta to help her pack, and when Chelsea finally moved out, on Sept. 18, 1997, "it left an emptiness," says a friend, "that I don't think even Hillary expected."....

Today, friends have no doubt that Chelsea, grateful to be 3,000 miles from the Lewinsky earthquake's epicenter, will, like her mother, survive this latest crisis. "They are both forgiving people who don't feel alone. They don't feel sorry for themselves," says a longtime friend of Hillary's. So far, says a male pal of Chelsea's at Stanford, "I have never seen her visibly upset. Before Christmas she looked exhausted. She's under a lot of stress. That's pretty obvious, and it all adds up after a while." But tabloid reports that she had suffered a collapse and visited the university health center after the breakup with her boyfriend were "blown way out of proportion," the friend insists.

At present, Hillary and Chelsea are "still healing, but it's going to take time," says a friend. In her 1996 book, Hillary included an anecdote that may speak more about her sorrow and solace in this time of betrayal than anything that she has otherwise disclosed. It is the story of a then 4-year-old Chelsea, who was asked in church on Mother's Day what gift she would most like to give her own mother. "Life insurance," she announced.

Later, after questioning her, Hillary learned that the little girl believed such a thing could keep her mother from ever dying. "This tiny child wanted me to live forever," she wrote. "Isn't that what being alive is all about -- being loved like that?" In a world where affection and allegiance are so often conditional, that simple realization seemed, to Hillary, like something of a miracle.

END Excerpt

     AOL subscribers can read the entire article since People has an exclusive deal with AOL. Keyword: "People."

     GMA's FOH, Friend of Hillary. The morning after People released their story quoting Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Good Morning America brought aboard their medical correspondent and frequent fill-in host to define her connection to the Clintons. As transcribed by MRC analyst Jessica Anderson, on February 4 co-host Diane Sawyer asked about Snyderman's ties:
     Snyderman: "They did call me about this article and it's not a secret for a lot of people to know that those who know this family, well usually..."
     Sawyer: "You're from Arkansas."
     Snyderman: "...don't talk a lot. You know, they've been, the people have been very loyal to them, and Hillary has been a friend of mine for a long time. The questions asked, I thought, were something I thought I could give some insight to, and frankly I think it's a very upbeat piece. However, I know it's controversial because it's the first time Chelsea's been on a magazine cover."
     Sawyer: "Did you worry about being quoted in it?"
     Snyderman: "No, because I was very conscious of what I said."

     And she's not worried about sleeping with the Clintons either. As reported in the February 27, 1997 CyberAlert, a "Dr. Nancy Snyderman" was amongst the 831 names released on February 26, 1997 of those who spent a night in a White House bedroom during Clinton's first four years.

 4

The February 8 edition of Notable Quotables, the MRC's bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media.

Assuming Ken Starr's Guilty

"...You have a guy [Ken Starr] exposing himself as a nut job, making this announcement through 'associates say,' yet again revealing himself, not just to be as many of his apologists say, you know, tone deaf to public opinion. This man really seems a true believer to me."
-- Geraldo Rivera on New York Times story on how Starr has decided he can indict Clinton, February 1 Rivera Live.

"Why did your office leak this and leak it now?"
"The Times story says it comes from your office."
"Well, the Times story says it comes from associates of Judge Starr's, and I'm curious that you know for certain that it couldn't have come from the office. How do you know that? There've been leaks from the office before."
"But I'm struck that you can say this so certainly, that you can speak with absolute assurance about everybody in that office, that they wouldn't have leaked this story."
-- Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson to Starr spokesman Charles Bakaly, February 1.

"Another question, the timing of this story. As you must have read, members of the Senate on both sides have criticized Judge Starr's office for, in effect, they say, trying to intervene in the impeachment process. What do you think about it?"
"I guess one of the questions is, some, some, the White House certainly has said, that it's a sign that he's out of control. At any point have you suggested to Judge Starr that it's time to shut the office down or that he may be pressing too hard?"
-- Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer to Judge Robert Bork, same show.

Clinton, a Republican?

"All right, then let me ask you this. Why, under any circumstances would the Republicans want to impeach a 'Republican' President?"
-- MSNBC's John Hockenberry to GOP Sen. Charles Grassley, January 20.

"And Tim, in terms of the content of this address, if you closed your eyes and listened you might swear it was a Republican who was delivering that speech."
-- Today co-host Katie Couric, January 21.

"Why, Lesley, do you think he's so hated? He's a moderate to a conservative right, basically?"
-- CNN's Larry King to CBS reporter Lesley Stahl, February 2.

Managers Have Too Much Sway?

"Is the population of the Senate now at 113? Now here's what I mean: Are the House managers getting a disproportionate voice in how you should proceed?"
-- MSNBC's Brian Williams to Democratic Senator John Kerry during live coverage in the afternoon, January 25.

Canonize St. William Clinton?

"One thing I can't figure is how did this guy thrive so much in adversity. I mean, if they indicted him now, he'd be canonized for God's sake."
-- Geraldo Rivera to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, January 20 Upfront Tonight.

Republicans Remind One of Nazis

"As she watches Republicans in Congress push ahead with impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, Ellen Mendel of Manhattan says she feels the same despair that she did as a girl in Nazi Germany when the efforts of a stubborn group of leaders snowballed, crushing the will of the people. 'It is apparent that the bulldozing campaign by the Republicans will not end,' said Ms. Mendel, a psychotherapist. And in a moment of self-analysis, she added: 'Their efforts are so abusive that I was beginning to feel a sense of discouragement. I have been feeling very isolated.'"
-- Opening to a January 25 New York Times story by Ginger Thompson on liberal Manhattanites enraged by the Republican push for removal.

....And/Or Stalinists, So Clinton Should Sue for False Arrest

"Although Jonathan, if the Senate does go ahead with this finding of fact idea after the Republicans argued so strongly against censure, doesn't that make this a show trial? And you might even go as far to suggest, as Lanny Davis almost does, that the President could sue for false arrest if he's not allowed to present a case?"
-- MSNBC host John Hockenberry on his show to law professor Jonathan Turley, January 27.

"But 'uniquely stupid' is not the word I would describe this process. It's Stalinist. It seems as though it's gone on behind closed doors. Everything is according to a script. It's just arcane and impenetrable in the extreme and it has nothing to do with what we would consider normal fairness and trial procedure to be."
-- Hockenberry to Turley after he asserted that the process can be constitutional while allowing for stupid actions, January 28.

Clinton, Soaring Internet Stock

"They're just tickled pink down here. The polls show the President went up in every respect after the [State of the Union] speech last night. You know, I've talked to one [White House] staff member who said, 'We worry. He never worries. He just always pulls it through' and I noticed in the paper there was a cartoon this morning comparing President Clinton to one of these great Internet stocks, one of these dot-coms that just go way up despite the fact that there may be no value there. That's what his critics say about him, and he just says 'yeah, yeah' and it goes up. The public loves it. They loved him last night and down here they're ecstatic."
-- Sam Donaldson on Good Morning America, January 20.

Clinton on Pope's "Lofty Plane"?

"If there was any doubt that by virtue of his position, Clinton occupied as lofty a plane as the Pope on Tuesday -- or that the Pope, by virtue of being human, had some of the same needs as Clinton -- it was erased by the sign marking a rest-room near their meeting room: 'President or Holy Father Only,' it read."
-- Last sentence of a January 27 New York Times story by reporter James Bennet on Clinton's St. Louis visit with the Pope.

Mills Rebuffed Racist Republicans

"Her [White House lawyer Cheryl Mills] rhetoric wasn't fancy, but it was on target. The G.O.P. is a party, after all, that owes its post-Barry Goldwater resurgence to opposition to civil rights. And while its leaders from time to time proclaim their belief in racial justice, their pledges have been mostly lip service. They're too genteel for a sheet-wearing bigot like David Duke but all too willing to embrace bigotry if it's dressed in a suit and tie. Mills, 33, is just the sort of hard-nosed advocate to drag such hypocrisy to the surface."
-- Time's Jack E. White, February 1 "Dividing Line" column.

"America's Business" On Hold

"The Republican leadership has decided, and spoken....They want the calling of witnesses and the lengthening out of the process. This is where the matter now stands. Questions such as what to do about Social Security, improving the nation's schools, and the drug menace among America's youth basically are on hold. So is what to do about threats to health of the U.S. economy by what is happening in Asia and Brazil; the threats to U.S. security posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea; and the peril represented by a collapsing Russia and an emerging China - all important parts of the people's business - all remain pretty much on hold, while the trial drags on."
-- January 25 "Dan Rather's Notebook" radio commentary posted on the CBS News Web page.

"Secret Clique" of Conservatives

"This time last year, Hillary Rodham Clinton described, in a now-famous appearance on the NBC News program Today, how a 'vast right-wing conspiracy' was trying to destroy her husband's presidency. As it turns out, some of the most serious damage to Bill Clinton's presidency came not from his high-profile political enemies but from a small secret clique of lawyers in their 30s who share a deep antipathy toward the President, according to nearly two dozen interviews and recently filed court documents."
-- Opening of a front page New York Times story on January 24 by Don Van Natta Jr. and Jill Abramson.

Thank Heaven for Dan Quayle and His "Backward Remarks"

"Yes, in a campaign that promises us such brilliant but boring candidates as Bill Bradley and Al Gore, the return of Dan Quayle can only be seen as a plus. And it would appear he's off to a good start. In a recent fundraising letter, he wrote, 'I have ordered my staff to never, ever, utter the words "compassionate conservative." This silly and insulting term...is nothing more than a code for surrendering our values and principles.' That's a dirty word, all right, 'compassion.' God forbid the GOP should ever be connected with such an atrocious idea. The great thing about Quayle is that he never backpedals on his backward remarks. Or in his words, 'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'"
-- ABC News Los Angeles-based reporter Judy Muller in her weekly column on the abcnews.com Web page, January 25.

Bipartisanship: Republicans Do What Democrats Want

"Republicans Seem Poised to Call Witnesses, Risk Bipartisan Spirit."
-- Headline over a January 27 Washington Post "analysis" piece by Eric Pianin.

GOP Response: Out of Date

"The Republicans are forced back on the issues they were touting in the '80s: tax cuts, Star Wars, opposition to abortion. It wasn't really a forward-looking proposal."
-- Newsweek's Howard Fineman on MSNBC after the Republican response, January 19.

Not the Best Wording

"This is quite a blow to the White House...."
-- NBC reporter John Palmer opening a January 23 Nightly News story on White House reaction to the news Monica Lewinsky would be interviewed by House managers.

-----------

More Linda Tripp Monday night, February 15: She's the scheduled guest for CNN's Larry Ling Live at 9pm and 12am ET/6pm and 9pm PT. -- Brent Baker

3

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