Musings

                           by J. Orlin Grabbe

        The process of Presidential Removal is not a simple task.
There are many variables to consider.  One of these involves the
issue of the Vice President.  Albert Gore is an awfully dumb guy
to leave in charge of the White House.  Even for a few months.  

                                * * *

        Then there is the matter of pardons.  Gerald Ford pardoned
Richard Nixon.  Which left the public to speculate what had actually
happened during Watergate.  This was bad for the political education
of the country.  What assurance is there that Al Gore will not pardon  
Bill Clinton?  Mr. Clinton should be tried, convicted, and sent to
prison.  (Mr. Clinton apparently had this thought in mind when he 
proposed making drug rehabilitation a part of the prison experience.)

                                * * *

        Jack Nelson of the Los Angeles Times reports that his sources 
say there will be no more Starr indictments before the election in
November.  And, moreover, for Starr to indict anyone would be playing
politics.  He apparently is reading from a movie script written by
the White House.  (In the final scene, Bill Clinton himself pilots an
F-117 Stealth fighter and dramatically repels all the evil aliens who
are attacking his Presidency via Whitewater, Fostergate, Filegate, and
Toe-Suckgate.)

        Jack Nelson is wrong on both accounts.  More indictments are 
probable by the end of the month.  Moreover, for Starr to deny the voters 
information relevant to a November decision would itself be playing 
politics.  Voters should be fully informed as they prepare to cast 
their votes.  As Barbara Streisand said of her $130,000 donation to 
the Democrats (read: "Bill Clinton re-election campaign"), "If you've 
got it, you can give it."  And Starr's got it.

                                * * *

        Bill and Hillary Clinton are giving Academy Award performances
for the benefit of the public:  holding hands as they exit the Presidential
helicopter, appearing together at lavish Beverly Hills parties.  In private
they are not speaking to each other.  Bill even got the information about
Hillary's involvement with I3 second hand.  

                                * * *

        Bill Clinton's re-election campaign has turned into the most
expensive in history.  All the maintenance facilities and equipment
for the F-117 Stealth fighters he sent to Kuwait have to go along also.
Even if the planes never see battle, the expense of sending them over 
there and returning them will add up to several hundred million dollars.
And Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will not be paying the bill, like they did
last time.

                                * * *

        A President can't issue a pardon to any friend or associate 
who has engaged in criminal acts, or to anyone connected to possible
criminal acts of the President himself.  So Susan McDougal, one of
Bill Clinton's old flames as well as business partners, will not be 
receiving a pardon.  Neither will James McDougal, or Jim Guy Tucker, 
or Web Hubbell, or Hillary Rodham Clinton.    

                                * * *

        Some have speculated that a sitting President cannot receive
an indictment, but must be first impeached and removed from office.  
This turns out not to be true.  A sitting President *can* be indicted.

                                * * *

        Pat Robertson, a T.V. evangelist of sorts, tells his audience
that Bill and Hillary Clinton will be indicted together.  Mr. Robertson
apparently doesn't understand Southern manners, which dictate that ladies
come before gentlemen.

September 14, 1996
Web Page: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/