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Posted on 12/18/2001 10:26:13 AM PST by LiveFree2000

Le Maitre
Taki

They say seeing is believing, yet it nevertheless had the same effect on me as a man in the front row sucking a lemon has on an artist playing a Mozart flute concerto. Invited to dinner by my buddies Richard Johnson, of "Page Six," and Richard Turley, of Gotham magazine, I fortunately arrived well-oiled, so the shock was minimal. There, in the flesh, was Denise Rich, ex-wife of fraudster-cum-traitor Marc Rich, smiling broadly and very agreeable. Had I known beforehand, I would have done what the great Christopher Buckley did last week when he sent regrets to a Christmas lunch upon learning Oliver Stone would be attending.

But once the mystery guest was revealed, it was a question of manners. Walking out would have embarrassed my hosts, so I grinned and went to work. On Bill Clinton. Fortunately, filmmaker Paul Morrissey, Ferrari honcho Roffredo Gaetani and former Clinton aide Dick Morris were also present, none of whom had a good thing to say about the Draft Dodger. La Rich, I must admit, could not have been more pleasant, but she did draw the line at the adjectives I used to describe the man who disgraced the White House like no other. "Can’t we move on to something else?" she begged, as I flailed away. For the sake of a peaceful dinner I reluctantly obliged, although by then I had run out of abusive things to say.

Morris turned out to be very, very smart, as hucksters usually are. He was articulate, as well as funny, and it was obvious why the Clintons saw him as indispensable–until he pulled a Clinton, that is. His demise, of course, was a joke. If being fellated by an intern while talking to foreign dignitaries and congressmen on the telephone is good enough for the president, why can’t an aide suck the toes of a prostitute while talking to the president? Although he knows his history well, Morris did not reveal anything we didn’t know already. He confirmed that every time Bill Clinton got caught by Hillary he turned over more power and policies to her. He broke and ran in Somalia and insisted on fighting from 15,000 feet in Yugoslavia because he had dodged the draft, and knew that body bags and Arlington cemetery funerals would remind the people that when his country’s call came he had done a runner.

The trouble was that by the time the pardons came, Morris was gone. The good news is that the criminal probe into Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich may still be challenged in the courts. As far as I’m concerned, Pardongate is unpardonable. Even without the greed, the dishonesty, the perjuries and the personal destruction of innocent people–traits the Clintons brought into public life–the pardons are such flagrant misuses of power Bill Clinton should be shunned by all decent folk, starting with the media. But the day the media elite shun a clown like Clinton, I will turn into Monica Lewinsky.

Denise Rich obviously denies that her successful lobbying efforts were the result of her massive campaign contributions to the Democratic Party. In this she reminds me of all those towelheads who refuse to believe the bin Laden tape is for real. They would, wouldn’t they? Denise Rich bribed the Clintons with her ex-hubby’s moolah, no ifs or buts about it, and anyone who doubts it should join the Flat Earth Society sooner rather than later. What I’d like to know is how much Marc Rich and Pincus Green will turn over to the Clintons in Switzerland once the furor has subsided. The Clintons have always lied about everything and gotten away with it, even swearing falsely under oath in a court of law. Why should they not believe that the greatest briber of them all, Marc Rich, will set it up in a way they will never be caught? Rich beat the IRS, beat the FBI, beat the United States Justice Dept. by covering his tracks in a manner to make an Indian scout green with envy. I cannot prove it, but Marc Rich is free to come to America because he bribed the White House. I only hope the papers of the fugitive fraudster’s lawyers reveal the truth. But I’m not holding my breath.

Susan Rosenberg and Linda Sue Evans were associated with the murder of policemen in a 1981 armored-car robbery. They were also associated with the bombing of the U.S. Capitol in 1983. Both of their sentences were commuted. Hillary’s slob of a brother charged $200,000 to Carlos Vignali, a cocaine dealer and son of a donor to the Democratic Party. He also had his way. One radical who didn’t get pardoned–that’s because she was on the run and could not bribe the Democrats–is Kathleen Soliah, as she was called back when she was trying to kill cops. As Sara Jane Olson, she gets half a page in The New York Times explaining why she’s now a victim of the government. Yet this phony radical (weren’t they all phonies?) had very little to say about assisting a group that murdered the first black school superintendent in Oakland. Mind you, you’d think for fairness’ sake the Times would try to contact the families of those who died so radicals like Olson could have some excitement in their lives. Perhaps the judge who will pronounce sentence will contact them and ask how they feel about this self-obsessed bitch who 26 years later still insists she did nothing wrong.

There’ve been too many pardons, and too many of the very bad guys have gotten away with murder. Now that we have a serious man in the White House and another in the Justice Dept., it is time we changed course. Too many tears have been shed by families of innocent people. The guilty need to pay.

Volume 14, Issue 51

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