It’s Raphael’s Patriotic Duty to Tell

Oh, my. What’s a poor talk show host to do?

It’s always something. Take Sally Jessy (There’s Nothing She Won’t Do for Ratings) Raphael, for example.

Imagine her dilemma. On July 13, the first day of the Democratic National Convention, a public relations firm faxed her office a release about a woman (not Gennifer Flowers) claiming to have had an affair with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who on Thursday was named the party’s presidential nominee.

She and her staff “went back and forth” about it, Sally said on Friday’s installment of her syndicated show (seen locally on KCAL-TV Channel 9). “We do this with a bit of skepticism and a bit of reluctance,” she said with a sigh. You could feel her anguish, her humanity.

But look, she had to stifle her own pain and do what was best for America. “Does the American public really care about the private lives of politicians?” she asked with weighty concern in introducing Sally Perdue, who said she was a 53-year-old former Miss Arkansas and Pine Bluff mayoral candidate who had a 3 1/2-month affair with Clinton nine years ago.

Actually, Perdue added, “it wasn’t an affair, it was an encounter.” Ooooooh, those are even worse.

Raphael immediately attacked. “Would you say you were the pursuer or he was the pursuer? . . . What I’m understanding is that you feel that he dropped you.” You just knew that throughout America, from the biggest city to the smallest hamlet, people were caring.

Perdue said she was appearing on “Sally Jessy Raphael” because she didn’t want her story told in a “slimy or bimbo way.” Raphael, who shrinks at bad taste, nodded. Perdue also said that she was worried that Republicans would exploit her story. To avoid that, apparently, she was telling it to millions of TV viewers.

Someone in the audience asked Perdue if she wasn’t damaging Clinton’s candidacy. She said she would never do that. She urged Americans to vote for neither Democrats nor Republicans.

Moving in again, Raphael asked Perdue if Clinton really supported women’s issues. Perdue, now firmly established as an expert on Clinton, was doubtful. “I think he’s saying what people want to hear,” she said.

Raphael got Perdue’s daughter on the phone. The daughter lauded her mother. Raphael introduced a friend of Perdue, who lauded her.

But now Raphael was really getting tough. “We’ve done research,” she said, citing “reports” of Perdue “extorting people for sexual blackmail.” Perdue called those “very incorrect.”

Some viewers may have wondered why Raphael would provide a stage for Perdue’s accusations if there were questions about Perdue’s own credibility in sexual matters. Raphael gave no clue, but perhaps she had shrewdly allowed Perdue to smear Clinton’s character so that she could smear Perdue’s character. In tabloid terms, a two-smear show is rated a blockbuster.

Raphael then introduced Rita Jenrette, a former Playboy model and ex-wife of a congressman, who immediately accused Perdue and the show of unfairly slurring Clinton. Jenrette suggested that instead of worrying about the nine-year-old alleged sexual exploits of candidates, America should be concerned about the national deficit and other epic issues. Jenrette was obviously out of touch, and Raphael let her know it.

“I can’t tell you . . . how many times I have heard people say, ‘I would not vote for a man who has cheated.’ ” Raphael suffered a momentary lapse of confidence: “It’s quite possible that I don’t have my pulse on the American people.” She quickly recovered. “But I don’t think so.”

Perdue also lit into Jenrette. “I didn’t pose for Playboy,” she said.

“I’m sure you didn’t,” Jenrette replied.

“I was asked,” Perdue shot back.

The audience was abuzz. “I urge you to maintain some decorum,” said Raphael, for whom decorum is essential. The hour’s quality was really soaring when Raphael introduced Spy Magazine writer Rudy Maxa, who proceeded to share his suspicions about the timing of Perdue’s appearance on Raphael’s show and the manner in which her story surfaced. “I mean, people just don’t fall out of the heavens during convention week.”

Mr. Cynic--just what an earnest, just-serving-America-the-best-she-could talk show host didn’t need.

Raphael now was in the audience with Phyllis Goldberg, who had written a story about Perdue in the National Alliance, an alternative New York newspaper. Goldberg said the paper paid Perdue’s air fare to New York so that she could share her Clinton story with other media. “We think he’s abused his power in this situation,” she said.

The National Alliance is an “independent” paper with an “anti-two party bent,” executive editor Jackie Salit said later by phone from New York. The paper is supporting Lenora Fulani for president, Salit said. Fulani is a sharp critic of Clinton.

Is it just possible that the paper planted Perdue on “Sally Jessy Raphael” to make its case against major party presidential candidates at a time when Clinton was about to become the Democrats’ standard-bearer? Did Raphael’s staff fail to check that out? Or did they check it out and just not care?

In any event, Raphael ended the hour obviously assured she had done a patriotic public service by sharing Perdue’s unsubstantiated story with the nation. “I tend to believe,” she said, very seriously, “that there are still a great many people who look at moral character.”

So, if you too want to go on her show and say you slept with a major political figure--Margaret Thatcher, Boris Yeltsin or anyone else--send her a fax. Painful as it is for her, she’s only doing her job.