DANCING WITH THE TRUTH
Clinton's wordsmithing has pushed the envelope of accuracy.
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's entire public life has been full of examples where his careful choice of words seems to indicate one thing but a careful examination shows he is saying something entirely different.
Whether it was sex with Gennifer Flowers or smoking marijuana or his intentions on campaign finance or cutting Medicare or telling Arkansans he wasn't running for president, Clinton's truth often has been different from what others might think is the truth:
- When Clinton ran for president in 1992, Gennifer Flowers alleged in a tabloid newspaper that she had had a 12-year affair with Clinton. Clinton and his wife went on "60 Minutes" and said the story was not true. When the interviewer tried to pin him down, Clinton said that he had made mistakes and caused "pain" in his marriage.
He was never asked flatly whether he had any kind of sex with Flowers, who said after the CBS show that Clinton "was lying."
In his Jan. 17 affidavit in the Paula Jones case he confirmed that he had had an affair with Flowers.
- He said he never "dodged" the draft. Then it came out that he had gotten a draft notice, applied for deferment and only later registered. When he got a high number in the national lottery, he didn't have to go to Vietnam during the war.
- He said he didn't "inhale" while smoking marijuana and did not break any state laws about it because he was overseas when he tried it.
- He said he didn't violate campaign finance laws when he asked for donations because he was in the White House residence, not the Oval Office, and because he had asked on behalf of the Democratic Party, not his own candidacy.
- Then-Gov. Clinton decided not to run for president in 1988 after his aide Betsy Wright pointed out his tendency toward self-denial and warned him his extramarital relationships would hurt his family. In 1990 he ran again for governor, promising not to seek the presidency.
In 1992, when reporters asked him about widespread reports of philandering, he answered that it was a trivial question, the kind that obsessed ancient Romans while their civilization fell apart.
Then he added, "Like nearly everybody who has been together for 20 years, our relationship has not been perfect or free from difficulties, but we feel good about where we are and we believe in our obligation to each other, and we intend to be together 30 or 40 years from now, whether I run for president or not."
- From January until Aug. 17, Clinton vehemently denied having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Then, on Aug. 17, after testifying to a grand jury, Clinton admitted on TV that he had "misled people" in his deposition in the Paula Jones case about his relationship with Lewinsky.
"While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information," he said. Then he added: "But I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action."
Further, he said, "I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that."
By ANN McFEATTERS
Scripps Howard News Service
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