Is Clinton Getting a Free Press Ride? Give Me a Break

The latest Bill Clinton draft story will go away but the issue will not. After failing miserably to turn Hillary Clinton into Jane Fonda and unable to find another Gennifer Flowers to pay off, the Republicans are finding ammunition against Clinton harder and harder to come by. For each of the last several presidential campaigns, the Republicans have found an issue to exploit against the Democratic nominee. Willie Horton was Michael S. Dukakis’; the draft story is Clinton’s. The Republicans will try to make the draft his character issue.

I say character, because the fact that Clinton didn’t serve in the military will not cost him the presidency. It is the way in which he avoided service, according to Republicans, and the many different stories he has told about it, that will become the Republicans’ principal line of attack. They will try to make it an issue of trust.

Forget whether you believe Harry Britt, a Republican lawyer who is central to the most recent story, or Robert Corrado, the last-living member of the Hope, Ark., draft board. The Republicans say their recollections add a new dimension to what has already been reported, and that dimension contradicts Clinton’s previous versions. This gives the Republicans the opening they need to constantly badger Clinton to “come clean.”

In other words, Clinton is a liar, has never told us the whole truth, and we can’t have that in a President. Since the most recent story broke, you could hear that same refrain throughout George Bush’s campaign and White House. The most disingenuous came from the vice president, who said, “Clinton has a credibility problem. He is going to have to come clean with the American people and answer the questions.”

Clinton and his advisers announced they have said everything they are going to say on the subject. I’m afraid that won’t be enough. The Bushies will never let the story die. You need a plan to counterattack. For starters, the next time Dan Quayle raises the issue, turn it right back in his draft-dodging little face. Clinton could say, with a good deal of sincerity, that he opposed the war and didn’t want to participate in it. Quayle wants you to believe he loved the war and did his duty. What a bunch of crap. Here’s a guy who used far more connections than Clinton ever had to do chump duty in the Indiana National Guard. What a brave thing to do!

Second, the Clinton campaign needs to remind the press and the public that every time this story takes a new turn, it comes from a questionable Republican source or Clinton enemy. Clinton needs to make the draft issue not one about his character but about the character of the people who keep reviving it. He needs to remind the public that, for the last 25 years, Republicans have honed the art of dirty tricks. This is just another chapter. Whether it was prostitutes and the Democratic National Committee, the infamous Canuck letter against Ed Muskie, or Willie Horton in 1988, these gutter players will always find their story.

As the most recent Clinton draft story fades, let’s allow one other story to fade with it--that the press is giving Clinton a free ride. One has only to go back to the incredibly bad journalism on the Gennifer Flowers issue, or to watch the press eagerly pounce on each new version of the draft story, to realize Clinton ain’t getting any breaks.

Think about this: Within the same time period that the Clinton draft item made front pages, it was revealed that former Secretary of State George P. Shultz told an aide, who dutifully made notes, that George Bush did, in fact, know about the arms-for-hostage Iran-Contra deal. Shultz is a pretty damn good source--a far sight better than a tired old Republican from Arkansas, and yet the story barely lasted a day.

Think about it: a former secretary of state confirms that the President of the United States lied, and the press finds a Navy ROTC slot for Clinton more interesting. Give me a break!