Salvo Hot as Dornan Aims Verbal Broadside at Clinton

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) got into a verbal sparring match on the House floor Wednesday after he attacked the character of Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton.

The incident began when the loquacious conservative exceeded the one-minute time limit on his speech attacking Clinton, who, Dornan said, is suffering from a self-inflicted “bimbo eruption.”

As Dornan continued, Rep. W. G. (Bill) Hefner, a North Carolina Democrat and 18-year House veteran, decided he had had enough. In an unusual move, Hefner strode across the House chamber to the table where Dornan was speaking. Standing in front of Dornan, Hefner demanded that the Speaker enforce the time limit and cut off Dornan’s speech.

As Dornan walked away from the microphone, he and Hefner began a conversation that some onlookers described, with obvious understatement, as “animated.”

In a private colloquy that was not picked up by House microphones, Hefner said he called Dornan’s attack on Clinton a “cheap shot.” Then, Hefner said, Dornan described the Arkansas governor as “a goddamned, womanizing, draft-dodging son of a bitch.” Three times.

Others reported that Dornan’s index finger was flailing as he spoke, although they could not hear the exchange.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Hefner, who underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery seven weeks ago. “Here’s a guy who is always talking about the family and Christian values talking like that.”

But Dornan said Hefner got it all wrong. “I said, (Clinton) is a womanizer, and it was a cheap shot for you guys to nominate a womanizer and a draft dodger, and you’re stuck with it,” he said. “That doesn’t sound like son of a bitch.”