Hypocrisy in Washington
Cohen, Mitchell
I FIND THE word "recuse" poignant. It seems weighty, official—perspicacious rather than apologetic. "Excuse me" sounds as if there is something to be pardoned, even if that is not necessarily...
...IO n DISSENT / Fall 1998...
...And why not improve the ratings with moral commentary by a panel of prominent public philosophers...
...No insinuations here...
...Clinton...
...3) Would you always answer questions about such behavior truthfully...
...Johnnie Cochran, Bay Buchanan, Maureen Dowd, Matt Drudge, Arianna Buffington, Larry King, Geraldo Rivera—any combination will do...
...Still, we Americans, especially our representatives and media, recognize that pressing issues arise when a president has dissembled about his sex life...
...2) Have you ever done so on government or public property...
...DISSENT / Fall 1998 n 9 COMMENTS & OPINIONS (6) Would you please do so now...
...The idea behind all this is to eliminate prejudices, conscious or subliminal, when it comes to justice...
...Well, yes, it might be difficult politically to do so, but grin and bare it— you were elected by the people...
...Starr himself could pose them since he finds the subject matter so compelling: (1) Have you ever committed adultery or engaged in illicit sexual relations (as most people conceive them...
...Judges sometimes recuse themselves to avoid the slightest suspicion of partiality, as viewers of television's myriad court programs know...
...It should loom large in neon across from Capitol Hill...
...Then we can get down to business, secure that a cad will not be probed by louts...
...MITCHELL COHEN is co-editor of Dissent...
...We must remember: nothing threatens our liberty more than clouded judgments in personal affairs...
...There should, of course, be no penalty for a representative who doesn't want to answer these inquiries and asks to be recused from the proceedings instead...
...Starr's interrogation of our representatives should certainly be carried live on C-Span...
...It's just that "high crimes and misdemeanors" are serious things...
...That's why Mr...
...After all, destroyers of a presidency should be unimpeachable...
...5) If you haven't revealed him or her to the leaders of Congress or to the press, why not...
...If you don't believe me, poll your friends...
...A little like pleading the Fifth Amendment...
...Excuse me" sounds as if there is something to be pardoned, even if that is not necessarily so...
...it's just to be sure that there is no pattern of problematic behavior among those acting against the president...
...I feel that we should have at least as much confidence in them as we have in Republicans who demand investigation of the 1996 Democratic campaign yet oppose campaign finance reform...
...Who could be against that...
...Follow-up questions on any subject—even on Whitewater!—will be allowed...
...Since Judge Starr teaches us that excess in the pursuit of any truth is no vice, and since public servants should surely be held to the same personal standards as the president, our legislators ought to be asked some questions in Joint Session before they proceed against Mr...
...Fortunately, true Americans rarely make such errors...
...The plaintiff is suing a hospital...
...But if I am asked to perform a task of consequence and I "recuse myself' because there might be a conflict of interest or the appearance of one, then I am an exceedingly responsible citizen...
...Have you any doctors or nurses in your family...
...4) Have you ever known of a public official— say, a member of Congress—who engages in such behavior...
...In this era of "values," family and otherwise, any representative who would charge the president and each senator who would judge him ought to be up to moral snuff...
...And jurors are often disqualified if something in their lives might elicit bias in their determinations...
...Consequently, I think that the word "recuse" should loom large in discussions of congressional action against the president, and not (apologies to Jesse Jackson) because it rhymes with other words germane to the scandal— abuse, accuse, confuse...
...The point is not to place members of Congress under legal scrutiny...
Vol. 45 • September 1998 • No. 4
