Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Readers Fight Back As soon as I read David Brock's account of President Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs in The American Spectator's January issue, I knew that I would not miss...
...Hey, did Gorby end the Cold War and single-handedly bring peace in our time...
...For there, right there in the Correspondence section, were page after glorious page of the finest examples of liberal hypocrisy since Ted Kennedy sat in judgment of Clarence Thomas's character...
...Yessir, the full measure of liberal hypocrisy came whining through...
...Timothy Gregerson Loves Park, Illinois After Whitewatergate, how can you believe Brock is wrong...
...Your final comment was "Who Bill Clinton sleeps with is Bill Clinton's business . . ." You sound like you must be a close, personal friend, so would you give him a message for me...
...Georgia B. Makiver Lansdowne, Pennsylvania After reading the diatribes of hatred leveled against your magazine and David Brock (mostly by the preachers of the gospel of "tolerance"), I am struck by a vexing question...
...What interested me were the two letters accusing you of treason, plus another that called you anti-American...
...Several responses to David Brock's article displayed a typical New-Christian ideological reversal of the condemn-thesin-not-the-sinner admonishment in characterizing Mr...
...3) In contrast to Anita Hill, the troopers did not claim victim status...
...Laura L. Dove Anacoco, Louisiana Your February Correspondence file was a revelation...
...Once again, I ask you to please cancel my subscription, as my grandchildren are avid readers and I do not wish to corrupt them any more than they are...
...Apryl Jump Paso Robles, California What was most interesting was this: Not one of those who assailed you fundamentally challenged the truth of what was reported...
...Maureen McSpadden Phoenix, Arizona I must compliment you on the balance of your Correspondence section in the February issue regarding David Brock's article...
...Why in God's name is no one interested in the truth...
...Earl Parchia, representing the Florida Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, who accuses TAS of treason (Does he even know the meaning of the word...
...They are corroboration, confirming Gennifer Flowers's accusations as well as long-standing rumors...
...One writer found "delicious" parallels between the accusations against Clinton and the accusations against Clarence Thomas...
...To my knowledge, no Pulitzer-seeking liberal journalist has been able to put a dent in Brock's methodical analysis of either the Anita Hill story or "Troopergate...
...Thomas J. George Richardson, Texas The February issue of The American Spectator was excellent...
...After receiving the February issue, am Ito assume that you couldn't find a whore house worthy of The American Spectator...
...I was especially intrigued by the negative letters you received about David Brock's article...
...In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else . ." The emphasis is mine, but the words belong to Theodore Roosevelt...
...Presumably, these critics would not demand the same restraint for, say, President Reagan, since his policies—being in opposition to those of the 10 The American Spectator April/May 1994 Clintons—would (again, in their opinion) hurt the country...
...John O'Donnell Henderson, Nevada P.S...
...And so, to letter writers St...
...Drivel it is, but not your drivel...
...One letter called TAS a hate-filled, poisonous, vile/vicious, scurrilous, irrational publication...
...During the Revolution, the most feared enemy of the British was the Black Regiment—the colonial preachers who withstood the might-makes-right, divine-right-of-kings heresy of King George and his minions...
...Brock's exposé on the First Cesspool have a pretty good grasp on reality...
...Earl Parchia, Harry and Verda Burns, Carmela Chirico, Ruth St...
...Most didn't even question Brock's veracity, merely his so-called bias and lack of corroboration...
...Timothy Condon Tampa, Florida Thank you, American Spectator, for still being "old-fashioned" enough to understand that most of us in America aren't living the lifestyle lived by Bill and Hillary...
...have said the same of Caesar Nero as his own body glittered in flames to light the festive Roman orgy...
...God help Christians everywhere to stand up and be counted in this morally bankrupt world...
...I'm sure you will, when he does something positive...
...My oldest child is the same age as Chelsea—I wonder how he explained that remark to her...
...It is bad enough that individuals of questionable character can and do occupy very powerful positions within our government...
...The American Spectator has a moral obligation to citizens of this country to present the facts...
...Michael E. Martin El Verano, California Addressing Dr...
...I'm more offended by what the Clintons do than I am by the fact that it is reported...
...He told us Louisianans that he had owned an El Camino in his younger days and that the back of it was lined with Astroturf...
...Those who objected to the article remind me of people who once whimpered, "Stalin (or Hitler, Mao, Castro, Khadafy, Idi Amin, Ortega, et al...
...4) Prior to Hill's accusations, Clarence Thomas' character was unimpeached, Thomas having already undergone prior FBI background checks before appointments...
...The personification of liberal hypocrisy...
...The troopers were not a single witness...
...Meyers Phoenix, Arizona I enjoyed reading the desperate, outraged liberal responses to David Brock's article on the Clintons' misbehaviors...
...Earl Parchia, I am wondering where this gentlemen was when the Washington Post, the media in general, and the Congress of the United States were butchering the sitting president Richard Nixon...
...This is not information I would like my two young children privy to...
...Leslie Woolf Hedley Sonoma, California Upon reading the scathingly vitriolic criticisms of your magazine and David Brock this month in the letters column, I have concluded that (a) an inordinate number of the Troopergate issues fell into the hands of ROiis (Relatives of Bill) and (b) having no substantive defense against the charges, their strategy will be to shoot the messenger...
...It was liberal hypocrisy so potent that at times it even bled into those letters which sounded almost conservative...
...One of your readers, a librarian, having mentioned her own objectivity and balance, accused you of "attempt[ing] to drive public opinion down a narrow path...
...It was truly awesome...
...I knew the Correspondence section would hold wonders of liberal hypocrisy not seen since the 1993 budget "fight...
...Richard H. Lewis Merced, California In a previous letter to your rag, I asked that you cancel the balance of my subscription and suggested that you might send it to your favorite whore house...
...You deserve a Pulitzer Prize...
...Patriotic Americans should be more concerned about their president's relations with the enemies of this country during the Cold War rather than articles written under a still-somewhat intact First Amendment...
...It even had references to book burning and censorship...
...On the other hand, Clinton and character have become oxymorons...
...To be fair to the president, at least he once went so far as to give Ronald Reagan some credit for ending the Cold War, something most liberals refuse to do...
...Personally, I'll stick with Brock for now...
...And not that namby-pamby Dee Dee Myers–George Stephanopoulos double-talk type liberal hypocrisy, either...
...Mrs...
...Contrary to what you say, now is the time to work against him being ever elected again...
...I couldn't help but note the following differences: (1) The troopers, whatever their motives, were not recruited by powerful politicians from Washington to engage in a fight to stop an appointment to high office...
...2) The troopers are not without corroboration...
...The whiners on the other hand seem to'be in reality denial and don't have a very good grasp on just what this country is really all about...
...We don't have to like Nero—but he's Caesar...
...Now, all a person has to do to qualify to make a doormat out of these people is to get 43 percent of the electorate to vote for him...
...It is another thing to give them the mantle of respectability simply because they have been able to finagle themselves into it...
...The people lauding Mr...
...Whatever Nixon's faults were, I never heard him attacked for moral turpitude, and he and Pat never appeared on "60 Minutes" to deny any extramarital affairs...
...After all, he is the president now...
...Marks, Florida The degree of righteous indignation expressed by the hostile letters this month is just astonishing...
...jeers...
...Itmay not always be pretty, but The American Spectator reports it like they see it without the fake gloss you see in most of the media...
...Not one of them defended Clinton's character...
...After much discussion, we finally got his drift...
...I would rather have the letter column devote more space to serious discussion of the topics and less space to the type of letters in the February issue (i.e., cheers vs...
...You were magnificent...
...originally, four of them spoke with Brock...
...Would I be disappointed by what I found there...
...With Whitewater revelations in the offing, Boy Clinton may be looking at impeachment for bribery under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution—or would that also be treason because it "berate[s] and demean[s] a sitting president...
...Bob Ernst, whose letter appears just below .Parchia's, very aptly indicated what the problem is with Mr...
...Is criticizing the president about to become politically incorrect...
...I was shocked to discover that none of these seven purveyors of balance, justice, and apple pie found it necessary to defend Ronald Reagan's presidency and George Bush's presidency from the scurrilous attacks of the left...
...If the story is not true, then David Brock is a schlock journalist who is at best very gullible and at worst guilty of malicious irresponsibility...
...Beneath the invective, their common message appeared to be that the truth of Brock's article is irrelevant...
...With great trepidation, I turned to the Correspondence section...
...To counter her towering bigotry, may I say thank you for the way you persist in treating me as a literate person capable of navigating my own intellectual terrain...
...One of the major problems today is that many Christians have stood back and allowed—even aided—people with no morals to be elected to government offices on every level...
...Unfortunately, some conservatives consider their social conservatism moreimportant than the issues raised...
...We therefore should thank the editors for their integrity and courage...
...Regarding those who accused Brock of treason, I was unclear about whether they thought Brock was betraying trust by showing the world what a naughty boy Clinton is or by showing how stupid we are as a nation for electing him...
...Daniel H. Frazier St...
...Your critics say that you never say anything positive about President Clinton...
...Legitimate subscribers, as opposed to The American Spectator April/May 1994 11 the curious and the usual suspects just waiting to take offense, cannot but hail your reporting and your courage in printing these stories...
...The very essence of liberal hypocrisy...
...If Brock's article reads like something out of the National Enquirer, it is because the subject demanded it...
...Too many of us-57 percent it seems—thought we could stop Bill Clinton from being elected president by just turning out to vote...
...His observations seem to indicate that it was okay for the media to delve into a candidate's past, but once elected none of the past mattered anymore...
...There is a difference...
...Marvin B. Hoffman Newington, Connecticut P.S...
...When he brags to the media about his sexual escapades, it really upsets the little, ignorant people like me...
...All of these patriots proudly defended the presidency of the United States from the vile attacks of the "treasonous" David Brock...
...If Brock's story is accurate, then Bill Clinton is an adolescent lying sack of bovine byproducts who doesn't deserve his office...
...Dawn Brockman Noblesville, Indiana Would Dr...
...H B. Jandewerth Eagan, Minnesota It is characteristic of the "New Christianity" to run roughshod over the warnings of Ecclesiastes against human vanity, to believe it is possible for human beings to be ingenious or evolutionary, to believe we can perceive a truth not eternally pre-existing in the mind of God, and to ignore our propensity to formulate self-worshiping ideologies from our self-serving definitions of truth...
...So many who loathe the plain, awful truth...
...Many of us believe that the man holding the greatest office in the world should somehow exhibit a higher level of dignity...
...Would everything I knew to be true about liberals and liberal hypocrisy be cast away with the perusal of the next few pages...
...When he spoke at the General Motors plant in Shreveport, Louisiana recently, he thought we would enjoy some "good old boy" bragging...
...Parchia's comment in the correspondence section of February's issue it must be pointed out that treason is the betrayal of one's country by giving aid to the enemy...
...Yes, I do believe that the presidency should be respected, but the respect afforded this position should first be shown by the occupant...
...Wayne D. Maki Mechanicsville, Maryland For those who still accuse David Brock of writing his piece without corroboration, they need only look up corroboration in the dictionary...
...It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country...
...CORRESPONDENCE Readers Fight Back As soon as I read David Brock's account of President Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs in The American Spectator's January issue, I knew that I would not miss the following issue...
...Why did they subscribe to TAS initially, if not to find David Brock and others of his point of view...
...It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country...
...I'll just bet these folks did not even laugh at the Dan Quayle jokes...
...Paul deParrie Portland, Oregon After reading the letter to the editors by Dr...
...The president is the world's leading free-standing, living, breathing monument to snivel and drivel...
...In typical liberal fashion, they were impaired in assigning responsibility for the scandal, directing their outrage not against Clinton for doing the deeds, but against Brock for reporting them...
...That's a formula for tyranny...
...Earl Parchia...
...people who don't, aren't...
...John, and Freda Burks...
...It was not the office of the president that planted flowers in Astroturf, it was Bill Clinton...
...For the whiners, I have to say: "Patriotism means to stand by the country...
...We are not only free to challenge our president to face up to the consequences of his actions, but it is patriotic to do so...
...Speaking as a Pentecostal of another affiliation, I would like to urge Dr...
...If Mr...
...Did he lie, or did he provide her with all the details...
...In essence, their argument is: People who agree with us are above the law...
...It is abundantly clear from the reaction that your story has struck a very sensitive nerve...
...This was full throated, lusty, screaming, I-am-outraged, I-am-ashamed, cancelmy-subscription, industrial-strength liberal hypocrisy...
...Who'd have thought your readership contained so many intellects slumbering so placidly at the bosom of our contemporary monolithic sovietized press...
...Barbara S. Goodwin...
...Another referred to the article as pornographic...
...Who have no understanding of an ancient legal term, treason...
...Clinton's credibility has been weakened it is due to his own reckless and often immoral behavior, not to the very few members of the media who have been courageous enough to call him to account for his actions...
...John, Brown, Hoffman, et al., please accept my heartiest congratulations for a job well done...
...Brock's soul (which only God can see) as mean and hate-filled while ignoring the objective evil and ultimate consequences of Clinton's possible fornicative abuse of office...
...Anthony P. Danno Glendale, Arizona February's Correspondence introduced me to Barbara Goodwin, Dr...
...Jeffrey C. Ayer Yorba Linda, California I wasn't aware that you had so many whining, sniveling, sixties crybabies as readers and subscribers...
...Richard W. Fulmer Houston, Texas Quite revealing was the letter by Dr...
...Comments on two letters published in the February 1994 issue: First, Ms...
...Earl Parchia, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, to reconsider his admonition to "touch not a sitting president...
...I wish liberals would get over their belief in their own infallibility before it becomes terminal...
...Regarding the gentleman who suggested a Clinton resignation would, just leave us with equally left Al Gore, at least then we would have a president perceived here and abroad as having some personal class...
...John Haynes Bakersfield, California Appreciate David Brock's revelations re the first Marxist president of the USA...
...is our leader, so don't offer unpleasant truths against him...
...I have no doubt there were many Germans in the thirties and forties who were concerned about the actions and values of their leader but were not free to challenge him...
...I was so touched by the writings of these great Americans that I ran a Nexis name search...
...To all Americans, consider the consequences of your actions: It is America that must be defended, not the president...
...Were they selected for their humor potential, or are they representative of the mail you received...
...If the latter, does this represent a new-found liberal patriotism...
...What matters, apparently, is not whether the Clintons did illegal and immoral things, but that (in the opinion of the letter writers) the Clintons' policies will help the country, and they should therefore not be criticized...
...We are afraid of the sharp-tongued liberals who lash out and try to make us look like dim-wined hicks with no better sense than to believe that we were created to serve a living God...
...Edward J. Baker Flushing, New York The letters you received in response to the David Brock article were quite strong...
...71 12 The American Spectator April/May 1994...
...They were merely tattling on their boss...
...Especially so were the two men who asked that their subscriptions be canceled...
...or worse, see the president as their sovereign...
...It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country...
...Finally the day came, and I held the February issue of The American Spectator in my trembling hands...
...Clinton already has the job...
...When a second person sees the same thing the first person sees, that is corroboration...
...They are of course entitled to their opinion...
...But, he chuckled, we wouldn't want to know why it was so lined...
...My lord, what pusillanimous bog mires the minds of our religious leaders today...
...Few magazines of opinion, either on the left or the right, would bend over backwards like you did, giving your opponents more space than your supporters...
Vol. 27 • April 1994 • No. 45
