Posted on 01/15/2003 7:58:49 AM PST by HAL9000
5 YEARS AGO: INTERNET ROCKS U.S. PRESIDENCY, MEDIA
Five years is hardly a long time in God's wild and wonderful world, unless you're in jail, if you're starving or lonely, or if you're Harvey Weinstein making GANGS OF NEW YORK.
But it is the time between yesterday and tomorrow when the internet rocked Washington, DC, and beyond, like it has never been rocked before, or since!
What began exclusively in this space on January 17, 1998, and continued exclusively for more than 72 hours, launched a million headlines and directly led to an impeachment count of a sitting United States president.
[After reading the DRUDGE REPORT, Clinton called in his secretary Currie to match stories, igniting an obstruction charge.]
While the mainpress legacy media will continue to mark the moment the WASHINGTON POST printed their version of the story on January 21 as the start of the Lewinsky news cycles, those who were on the internet, and President Clinton himself, know and lived a different truth.
In fact, the mainpress continuing to ignore the internet timeline of those yesteryear events is proof of their inability to reflect a reality that is not of their own making.
The intern, the investigation, the tapes, the dress, the cigar; nearly every aspect of the drama was first introduced to those who wanted to know in this space.
Speed beat the spin. Computer beat the newspaper. The magazine. The TV show. The staticy radio broadcast, and all the ships at sea.
The AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, the world's oldest newswire, and should be noted not owned by American corporate media concerns, thus free from American anchor/editor personality-bias, would later name the night of January 17, 1998 one of the top ten dates in 20th Century media.
(AFP)December 12, 1901: Guglielmo Marconi sends the first radio waves across the Atlantic, paving the way for worldwide broadcasting.
November 2, 1920: First commercial broadcast program airs.
1926: John Logie Baird invents television.
1936: The BBC kicks off high-definition public television in Britain.
November 18, 1951: Ed R. Murrow "See it Now" series launches nationwide television programming in the United States.
Late 1960's: A US defense department project to link computers lays the foundation for the internet.
1980: Ted Turner launches CNN, world's first all-news network.
August 1, 1981: The all-music channel MTV goes on the air.
1992: The browser Mosaic brings the internet to non-technical computer users.
1998: Matt Drudge airs Monicagate on the internet.
"From Marconi to Murrow to -- Drudge?" the COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW later cried on its cover with a byline from a former president of NBC News and PBS.
But the intellectuals at The Review may have been right this time, oddly enough.
The dispatches of 5 years ago were much less about any person, or website, or president, or garment stains.
It was about the power of any individual working outside of the system with new technology.
And freedom as the only safety net!
Matt Drudge
January 2003
Miami Beach, FL
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Web Posted: 01/17/98 21:32:02 PST -- NEWSWEEK KILLS STORY ON WHITE HOUSE INTERN X X X X X BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: 23-YEAR OLD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT
BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: 23-YEAR OLD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
At the last minute, at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, NEWSWEEK magazine killed a story that was destined to shake official Washington to its foundation: A White House intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the United States!
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that reporter Michael Isikoff developed the story of his career, only to have it spiked by top NEWSWEEK suits hours before publication. A young woman, 23, sexually involved with the love of her life, the President of the United States, since she was a 21-year-old intern at the White House. She was a frequent visitor to a small study just off the Oval Office where she claims to have indulged the president's sexual preference. Reports of the relationship spread in White House quarters and she was moved to a job at the Pentagon, where she worked until last month.
The young intern wrote long love letters to President Clinton, which she delivered through a delivery service. She was a frequent visitor at the White House after midnight, where she checked in the WAVE logs as visiting a secretary named Betty Curry, 57.
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that tapes of intimate phone conversations exist.
The relationship between the president and the young woman become strained when the president believed that the young woman was bragging about the affair to others.
NEWSWEEK and Isikoff were planning to name the woman. Word of the story's impeding release caused blind chaos in media circles; TIME magazine spent Saturday scrambling for its own version of the story, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. The NEW YORK POST on Sunday was set to front the young intern's affair, but was forced to fall back on the dated ABC NEWS Kathleen Willey break.
The story was set to break just hours after President Clinton testified in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
Ironically, several years ago, it was Isikoff that found himself in a shouting match with editors who were refusing to publish even a portion of his meticulously researched investigative report that was to break Paula Jones. Isikoff worked for the WASHINGTON POST at the time, and left shortly after the incident to build them for the paper's sister magazine, NEWSWEEK.
Michael Isikoff was not available for comment late Saturday. NEWSWEEK was on voice mail.
The White House was busy checking the DRUDGE REPORT for details.
Web Posted: 01/18/98 22:33:48 PST -- FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN CALLED; NEW BACKGROUND DETAILS EMERGE
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, 23, has been subpoenaed to give a deposition in the Paula Jones case.
About the young woman, this is known:
WORK EXPERIENCE
*Summer of 1995 Intern, Office of Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, The White House.
*November 1995 Staff assistant, Office of Legislative Affairs, The White House. "Wrote drafts and correspondence for Staff Secretary's approval and ultimately the President's signature. Processed and vetted all incoming mail to the President from Congress."
*April 1996 Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, The Pentagon.
EDUCATION
May 95 Lewis and Clark College. Major: Psychology.
MISC.
Holds current TS-SCI clearance, allowing access to top secret and sensitive information. Proficient in Macintosh for Microsoft Word 6.0, WordPerfect for Windows, and Infosys.
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, 23, has denied having any "sexual relationship with President Clinton" in a sworn affidavit, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Lewinsky's sworn written statement was executed last week after she was served with a subpoena in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
NBC was busy developing a story Tuesday afternoon on Lewinsky. Through a suspected leak, the network obtained a copy of Lewinsky's affidavit and was reading portions of it to sources to provoke comment.
---------
Web Posted: 01/20/98 18:07:47 PST -- TONIGHT ON THE DRUDGE REPORT: CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND TAPES OF FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, AS STARR MOVES IN! ...
Web Posted: 01/20/98 19:57:07 PST -- CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND TAPES OF FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, AS STARR MOVES IN!
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
Federal investigators are now in possession of intimate taped conversations of a former White House intern, age 23, discussing details of her alleged sexual relationship with President Clinton, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
The tapes were made by a federal employee who has been granted immunity. MORE
According to sources in and out of government, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr became involved in the situation when he received intelligence that senior administration officials may have offered federal jobs to a young woman in an effort to prevent stories from going public -- stories involving sexual episodes that allegedly occurred in a room off the Oval Office.
"Starr is not on the bimbo beat," one source close to the situation told the DRUDGE REPORT late Tuesday. "He's looking at a potential for obstruction of justice charges."
A breakfast meeting that took place at The Watergate Hotel has attracted the attention of investigators.
The development has completely consumed high-level Washington, with Starr's investigators working past midnight in recent days.
Developing...
REPORT: LEWINSKY OFFERED U.N. JOB; INVESTIGATORS: DNA TRAIL MAY EXIST
U.N. AMBASSADOR RICHARDSON OFFERED ME A JOB DURING A BREAKFAST MEETING AT THE WATERGATE HOTEL -- WORDS WHITE HOUSE INTERN MONICA LEWINSKY, 24, ALLEGEDLY TOLD PENTAGON WORKER LINDA TRIPP LATE IN DECEMBER 1997.
THE OFFER CAME AS LEWINSKY WAS ASKING TO RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE, THE DRUDGE REPORT HAS LEARNED, UNHAPPY IN THE PENTAGON JOB SHE HELD -- A JOB THAT SHE STARTED IN APRIL 1996 AFTER BEING RELEASED FROM A WHITE HOUSE POSITION.
"THEY WANTED HER OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE DURING THE ELECTION," A SOURCE CLOSE TO THE INVESTIGATION TELLS THE DRUDGE REPORT.
AMBASSADOR RICHARDSON WAS NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT.
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY MIKE MCCURRY OFFERED NOTHING WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE ALLEGED RICHARDSON JOB OFFER DURING WEDNESDAY'S PRESS BRIEFING.
SEPARATELY, THE DRUDGE REPORT HAS LEARNED, INVESTIGATORS HAVE BECOME CONVINCED THAT THERE MAY BE A DNA TRAIL THAT COULD CONFIRM PRESIDENT CLINTON'S SEXUAL INVOLVEMENT WITH LEWINSKY, A RELATIONSHIP THAT WAS CAPTURED IN LEWINSKY'S OWN VOICE ON AUDIO TAPE.
TRIPP HAS SHARED WITH INVESTIGATORS A CONVERSATION WHERE LEWINSKY ALLEGEDLY CONFIDED THAT SHE KEPT A GARMENT WITH CLINTON'S DRIED SEMEN ON IT -- A GARMENT SHE SAID SHE WOULD NEVER WASH!
SHE HAD SEX WITH CIGAR: MEDIA STRUGGLES WITH SHOCKING NEW DETAILS OF WHITE HOUSE AFFAIR
**Warning: Contains Graphic Description**
In a bizarre daytime sex session, that occurred just off the Oval Office in the White House, President Clinton watched as intern Monica Lewinsky allegedly masturbated with his cigar.
It has been learned that several major news organizations have confirmed the shocking episode and are now struggling to find ways to report the full Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton grossout.
Media Bigfeet are trying to reconstruct one sex session that reportedly took place as Yasser Arafat waited in the Rose Garden for his scheduled meeting with the president!
According to multiple sources close to the case, President Clinton allegedly masturbated as Lewinsky performed the sex show with his cigar in a small room off the Oval Office. It is not clear if Clinton or Lewinsky kept the cigar, or if Lewinsky testified on the specifics of the encounter before a federal grand jury this week. Lewinsky's testimony has been described as graphic, and included unusual practices.
The DRUDGE REPORT has now been briefed on these shocking details that have stunned all those who have heard them and investigated them -- details that now threaten to completely disgust and stun the American electorate.
The White House refuses to comment on any DRUDGE REPORT.
[STARR REPORT LATER DETAILED 'CIGAR']
ELIMINATING THE FREEREPUBLIC LINK FROM HIS SITE WAS THE LAST STRAW.
A small footnote for those who may not remember it. Walter Winchell, the pesky, influential gossip columnist on whose career Drudge has modeled himself (including his fedora) used to begin his radio broadcasts during the Second World War with this signature phrase:
"Good morning, Mr and Mrs America, and all the ships at sea."
Me too.
Drudge was being sued by Sidney Blumenthal. The GOP was on its last leg. Clinton was at the peak of power, on the verge of an unstoppable socialist agenda. We were headed into the Dark Ages.
Then Drudge posted his historic scoop on Saturday night and changed everything.
My in-laws were visiting during that weekend and we were having breakfast on Sunday morning. As we enjoyed our eggs and bacon, the topic of Clinton came up and we were having the usual debate. And I mentioned - by the way, Matt Drudge ran a story last night that Clinton is having sex with one of his interns.
Oh, you can't believe anything Drudge prints, they said. Don't be so sure, I replied.
A few days later, after Pete Baker's article in the Washington Post, they were having second thoughts. Maybe Drudge was right after all.
The amazing thing about Clinton's impeachment was the series of improbable events that led to it. If any one of them had not occurred, he would not have been impeached.
If Clinton had not dropped his pants and wagged his privates at Paula Jones years earlier, he would not have been impeached.
If Matt Drudge hadn't gotten a job at the CBS gift shop in Hollywood - no impeachment.
If Clinton hadn't dripped on his young intern's blue dress - no impeachment.
Clinton did get one lucky break - the bogus Danny Williams story. That helped to save him from conviction in the Senate.
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ping list.
I discovered the DrudgeReport (and FreeRepublic) 3 weeks before and couldn't believe what unfolded before my very eyes.
I've been a big fan of Matt on whatever media he's appeared.
Best of luck Matt!
Who says that was a lucky break? Wasn't the Danny WIlliams story run by one of the tabloids owned by the Evercore outfit run by Friend of Bill Altman?
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