Lewinsky Scandal
Crusty veteran political reporter Jack Germond (interview, Opinion, Jan. 16) parrots the questionable line about the impeachment scandal that is, thanks to the press, becoming conventional wisdom: The president spoiled his second term by dallying with a young intern.
Did Thomas Jefferson ruin his presidency by his liaison with an underage household slave? Did Dwight D. Eisenhower ruin his military career by his affair with his attractive jeep driver? Did John F. Kennedy mess up the Cuban missile crisis because he bedded a Mafia girlfriend?
If the answer is no, perhaps we should ask when the rules about revealing presidential lust changed? Why did they change, and what was the agenda of the architects of that change? By the way, whatever happened to the “talking points” memo that was spread all over the front pages? Could it have been a hoax the press fell for?
JEAN E. ROSENFELD
Pacific Palisades
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