Where Sun's readers stand on presidential sex, lies and 0) impeachment
This investigation is the result of President Clinton's behavior.
He had sex with a young intern while some laid-off government workers were worried about putting food on their tables and gifts under their Christmas trees. He stood before God and made marriage vows that he has flagrantly disregarded.
Twice, he took the oath of office and promised to faithfully execute the laws of 2his nation.
It was his stonewalling for seven months that kept this story going.
Why is Kenneth Starr getting the bad press? Aren't we shooting the messenger?
Lori Retta
Elicott City
Forgiveness and gratitude
Listening to graphic descriptions of anyone's sex activities is disgusting to most of us. To display on the Internet volumes of explicit details of our president's sexual experiences without first allowing him or his attorneys to review the report is tricky and unfair.
The obvious purpose is to influence the mind-set of the public before they hear the president's side of the story.
I wonder if the illicit activities of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower or John F. Kennedy might not have repulsed us had they been so sordidly portrayed to the American public.
No president has been more dedicated to the interests and needs of his countrymen than Bill Clinton. He is a great president.
We owe him our forgiveness for his human sins and gratitude for all the good he has done for us at home and for other people abroad.
Inez Rhodes
Baltimore
First family will survive
I have sifted through the Starr report and concluded that the president did harm to his family, our families, our country and future presidents.
Some sympathetic readers may be trying to reconcile what will happen to the first lady and Chelsea Clinton if the president leaves office. Mrs. Clinton will retain her status as a top-notch lawyer and retain some respect; Chelsea Clinton will still get a first-class education at Stanford and have the respect of her peers.
Will the country or our families be so well off? I think not. My kids can't go to Stanford, my family won't have a large retirement and a guarantee that they will have "protection" because they are special. The president should cut his losses before it's too late for the rest of us.
Rose Edwards
Baltimore
Mishandled investigation
The president hurt his family, friends, associates, staff and the American people, but the handling of the investigation also was wrong.
Monica Lewinsky's mother should not have been summoned to testify about her daughter's sexual activities. No mother should be placed in that position.
New precedents were established when Secret Service agents were summoned to testify and when the president's lawyer was summoned before the grand jury -- lawyers agreed that this could destroy the lawyer-client privilege that has always existed.
The media was wrong in its constant reporting of the Clinton-Lewinsky matter. When the president visited Ireland where men, women and children had died in a terrorist bombing, reporters asked about the Lewinsky affair. Reporters asked the wrong questions at the wrong time.
The Starr report was immediately put on the Internet in graphic detail. No consideration was given to minimize the embarrassment to the president's family or to Ms. Lewinsky's family.
It would be nice if the investigators would review the manner in which they obtained and distributed their information. Do the means justify the ends?
Clarence G. Shelley
Baltimore
Lewinsky should apologize
When will Monica Lewinsky apologize to the people of this country? A woman of 22 should have reached the age of accountability and should know right from wrong. What of her morals of pursuing an illicit affair with the president, where the results could break up his family and embarrass this nation?
Dorothy M. Christopher
Catonsville
Young woman's deviance
However disgusted I feel about our presidents behavior, nothing us more abhorrent to me than Monica Lewinsky's deviant acts in their sexual encounters. She is not deserving of any apology.
As for that ever-smirking Kenneth Starr, I think he missed his calling. Mr. Starr should have been a reporter for one of those trashy tabloid. They, too, love to look for dirt.
Betty Eisenberg
Baltimore
Reasons for impeachment
Yes, the president of the United States has made himself look almost like a clown in most people's eyes, and yes, Bill Clinton is the perfect example of a lying, slimy, scumbag. But has he performed an impeachable act?
The fact that it just happened to be the president does not call for impeachment. What does call for impeachment is how he has played the American people for fools. What does call for impeachment is the leader of our armed forces lying under oath and teaching low morals to our youth.
I spend a lot of time teaching my son not to be dishonest, not to be adulterous and to have nothing but respect for women, just to have the president of the United States say it's OK, as long as you say you're sorry after you're caught.
Carol Glorioso
Baltimore
Lessons from Starr report
Many of us want to establish good guidelines for our children. Therefore, Kenneth Starr's performance, sanctioned by Congress, is indeed disturbing. It would be reasonable for children to formulate the following guidelines:
Do not discuss your problems with or confide in your parents. Someday they may be forced to testify against you.
Do not discuss your problems with or confide in friends. Someday they may be forced to testify against you.
Do not discuss problems with or confide in professionals. They, too, may someday be forced to testify against you.
Beware of tape-recorded private conversations. It matters not that tape-recording without consent is illegal.
No one has a right to privacy.
L Beware of friends. They may be conning you for selfish gain.
It's your duty to squeal on your friends.
Any material, no matter how lurid, is OK for delivery to the general public, especially if it's put out on the Internet.
It's OK for a grand jury to leak secret information.
It's OK for the news media to report non-factual information as long as a sensational story is created.
Shame on the Congress for allowing this to happen. Indeed, it is time for a House cleaning.
Larry Guess
Havre de Grace
Consenting adults
Common-sense would have dictated that as soon as it was determined that President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinski involved consenting adults, the investigation should have stopped.
Ms. Lewinsky was not an agent of a foreign power and had no nefarious domestic connections, factors which might have made the affair questionable and worthy of investigation.
The final assault on common sense was the decision to put Mr. Starr's report on the Internet, a decision agreed to by an astoundingly large majority of our legislators (but not, I am proud to say, my congressman, Elijah Cummings).
Shirley Cammack
Baltimore
Enabled and enabler
As a certified addictions counselor, I am struck by the language of our president and his wife. It has an uncanny resemblance to the alcohol addicts I work with in Towson.
President Clinton's inability to take personal responsibility, his thoughtless exploitation of "good friends" and colleagues and his expectation that we should believe him when he says it won't happen again smack of addiction.
Further, his wife's support of him simply gives him permission to carry on as he has. As much as our president's sex addiction is becoming apparent, so is Hillary Clinton's codependency.
They both need support and counseling but only if they are willing. Counseling an unwilling addict is pure folly.
Steven M. Delbanco
Baltimore
Deplorably detailed
L
Publishing the Starr report in such detail was deplorable.
The country did not need to know the explicit details of the affair, and I do not think the people of this country wanted to know them.
There were other ways to make the report accessible by individual request. I do not count accessing the Internet as by request. I am sure a lot of children have read this report, although their parents would not approve.
Joyce F. Stahl
Baltimore
Assess a fine, end it
Certainly, thoughtful and perceptive bipartisan leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives can reach an agreement with this president to avoid this morass. A sanction with a severe fine (greater than Speaker Newt Gingrich's for his ethics violations) ends this pursuit with honor and justifiable punishment.
It appears that some conservative Republicans want this president tied in a burlap bag and tossed into the Potomac. Some liberal Democrats want the entire matter forgotten because after all, it's only about sex.
This is politics, and politics is neither government nor leadership. Politics would take them, and this entire nation, into an unexplored darkness.
Paul Kinnear
Abingdon
Sex on our dime
Our elected officials have a duty to work for all of us. I stress work during working hours. President Clinton's behavior was done on our tax-paid working hours in our tax-paid White House. We all must realize that anything or many things could have needed his immediate and responsive attention during any of these incidents with Monica Lewinsky.
David M. Dean
Catonsville
An ordinary citizen
Your lead editorial Sept. 14 observes, "The president, however, is not an ordinary citizen" ("Disgrace, little more, is placed before nation"). Many times I have seen the statement, "No man, not even the president, is above the law." That, of course, is correct. But implicit in that statement is the constitutional precept of equality in the eyes of the law.
When it comes to legal proceedings, as opposed to the forums of public and political opinion, the president is constitutionally subject to the same rights, protections, and yes, penalties that would be meted out under similar circumstances to any United States citizen of whatever public or political standing.
In that respect, I take strong issue with your statement.
Stephen Clarkson
Ellicott City
This is no Watergate
No one condones the actions of President Clinton. But, it's about time we get a grip on reality and examine his "crimes" in the clear light of day.
For just a moment, let's forget that Mr. Clinton may have lied about having an affair with Ms. Lewinsky and examine what he is guilty of compared with the only precedent we have available in modern times -- Watergate.
President Nixon was guilty of knowing about and/or condoning several cases of breaking and entering, stealing sensitive private documents, coercing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and possibly the Central Intelligence Agency to violate the constitutional rights of his fellow Americans and an amateurish attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee. If memory serves, he or his chief lieutenants denied it all and lied about it to Congress and the American people.
Any one of these crimes is a major felony with almost certain jail time. Their denial of these actions is a legitimate example of big-time perjury. Oh, and let's not forget the infamous 18 minute gap in the audiotape that gave new meaning to "tampering with evidence."
W. Cary deRussy
Timonium
President, not moral leader
President Clinton was elected to be our president. He was not elected or appointed our spiritual leader. He is not the Pope, a rabbi, a minister or the head of any other religion. He is not our moral leader.
Frances J. Kuchlewski
Glen Burnie
Confess or be impeached
President Clinton has confessed his adultery. He has yet to confess, however, that he is a perjurer, has suborned perjury and has obstructed justice. As long as he refuses to take responsibility for these acts, the only logical course is an impeachment proceeding in Congress. It is unacceptable to dismiss without consequence such criminal allegations against
our nation's chief executive.
If the president's newfound sense of contrition enables him to admit that his sins involved more than mere degrading sex, Congress should consider a compromise that would enable Mr. Clinton to serve out his term: The President should be indicted for his perjury and related crimes, should plead guilty and a court should agree to defer sentencing until he leaves office.
The country would be spared an ordeal, Mr. Clinton could maintain his office and the rule of law, which depends on truthful testimony of all witnesses in all contexts, would be enhanced.
Stephen Walters
Lutherville
Womanizing is old news
It is hypocritical for some of the American public to call for the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He has been duly elected by voters who had heard allegations for years before his election that he may be an adulterous womanizer, an evader of the truth and a draft dodger.
The Democratic Party has chosen him as its symbol of leadership, and the majority of women have voted for him. The relaxation of the requirement of strong moral character is apparently the course that the public has chosen and should be allowed to live with.
In addition, Mr. Clinton has refrained from disruption of programs formulated by the Republican-led Congress and by American business that have contributed greatly to the growth of the U.S. economy. Mr. Clinton should be allowed to complete his term in office.
Tom Barnes
Lutherville
Important issues ignored
We now know that President Clinton is unfaithful, that Ms. Lewinsky is a conniving, aggressive sexpot and that Ken Starr is consumed with relating titillating details of the president's sexual escapades. We know that Congress is sanctimoniously declaring a nonpartisan investigation of the charges.
Meanwhile, health-care reform is unaddressed, campaign finance reform dies and issues relating to education of children are ignored -- not to mention the threat of terrorism, the Russian economy and other global issues.
Miriam Zadek
Baltimore
One-party rule needed
Getting a handle on the national problem cannot be done with a presidency and a congressional majority of different political parties.
When Al Gore takes over as president, he will need a Democratic congressional majority or there will be more of the same investigations, ad nauseam.
John Bauer
Martinez, Calif.
Deception and disdain
President Clinton's deceiving his own friends and supporters, knowing they would have to give statements to the press, was the most damaging revelation. Having said that, however, it must also be said that Ken Starr's pernicious and unrelenting character assassinations of our country's democratically elected president, his disdain for the presidency and disregard for the welfare of the nation are the greater evils.
Thomas Nastoff
Baltimore
Dumb acts by a smart man
Regarding your editorial ("Starr report contains less than was promised," Sept. 12), kudos for a reasonable, judicious assessment of the unfortunate events in Washington. However, it does make one wonder; how dumb can a smart man get?
Frank Streich
Baltimore
Shameful prosecutors
After skimming the report in The Sun (I couldn't stomach the whole thing), I concluded that if the Office of Independent Counsel prosecutors elicited the responses that they got from Monica Lewinsky, they should be ashamed of themselves and severely reprimanded or worse. If Ms. Lewinsky gratuitously gave those answers, she is a nymphomaniac and an idiot.
Evelyn Schabb
Brooklandville
A serious offense
President Clinton has committed the gravest of offenses. He used his office to mislead the American people and an investigation by independent counsel Ken Starr. Regardless of whether one agrees with the basis for Mr. Starr's investigation, one must take seriously the charges brought forth against the president.
The president lied under oath and his lie led to millions of dollars spent by the Independent Counsel to continue the investigation.
nTC Any member of Congress who makes his or her decision to
impeach based on polls is not fulfilling his or her duty. If the polls showed that the American people were in support of looting, would Congress allow it?
Members of Congress must decide to impeach based on precedent and their oath to uphold the constitutionally protected laws of this land.
David Pinder
Baltimore
Lady Linda Tripp
Referencing the editorial ("Disgrace, little more, is placed before nation," Sept. 14) and the Mike Lane cartoon captioned "Lady Linda Tripp," I want to commend those responsible for a great job. The cartoon really hit the nail on the head.
I also want to commend Susan Baer on her reporting ("Starr focus on sex deplored," Sept. 13) with particular emphasis on the last several paragraphs in regard to the possibility of tape doctoring by Ms. Tripp."
I certainly hope she pursues this. I think the public needs to know the flip side of the coin.
Milton Rifkin
Pikesville
History will judge us
I am sickened, humiliated and embarrassed for the American people. How did we get here?
How in the world has it happened that I am reading in The Sun what I have about the president of the United States? What must the world think -- not of him, but of us?
What is wrong with a media or a populace that has pursued "truth" to the point of pornography in our newspapers?
It is apparent that President Clinton has done wrong, perjured himself and deserves consequences. But we knew that before the Starr report. I'll bet Miss Manners didn't approve of the special section in the Sept. 12 edition.
Whatever will they say about this in the history books? 1998 -- the year the media shoved the American people into the sewer and made us the laughingstock of the planet.
Kristine Wickfield
Baltimore
Devouring the country
President Clinton used very poor judgment in his affair and coverup.
I do, however, believe that any effort by the Republican Party to derail this administration would be disastrous to the country.
They have the taste of blood in their mouths, and they think it belongs to the president, but deep down it is the whole country they are about to devour.
Our elected officials should be more concerned with stabilizing this country and getting it back on track as the leader of the free world.
Ken Miskimon Jr.
Baltimore
Pub Date: 9/19/98