Byline: TED ANTHONY Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Snapshot one: joke. David Letterman. Top Ten Bill Clinton Campaign Slogans If He Were To Run Again. No. 7: ``Clinton -- In Touch With America's Young People.''
Snapshot two: Congressionally funded investigation. The Starr Report. ``Ms. Lewinsky testified that her physical relationship with the president included ... . According to Ms. Lewinsky, she performed ... . On all nine of these occasions, the president... .''
Snapshot three: TV. CBS correspondent Sheryl Atkisson reporting an encounter during which Monica Lewinsky, meeting Clinton, ``showed him the straps of her underwear.'' And then? ``Then we have details of a sexual encounter that took place,'' Atkisson said. ``I don't suppose we should show the details.''
America, circa late 1998, is a nation in the throes of contradiction. Across the political spectrum, few dispute the basics: It's about sex. It's about morality. It's about when walls fall, when the intimate becomes the public, when ``Jerry Springer'' spills into ``World News Tonight.''
The Starr Report has crystallized this paradox, sending Americans into a mind-spinning realm of distaste, double entendre and self-analysis. We say high-mindedly that we don't want to hear any more, yet many Americans just couldn't help watching the daylong coverage and cracking cigar jokes. …
No comments:
Post a Comment