The Last Word

On "Nightline," Ted Koppel led the newsgathering with a new snippet of tape featuring Lewinsky "meeting and hugging" the President at a 1996 event -- and followed it with an Valentine's Day 1997 Washington Post personal ad that an on-tape Monica supposedly claimed was a love jot from her to Bill. It's addressed to "Handsome" and the text is a chunk from the balcony scene in "Romeo and Juliet." It's signed "M," and there's a reprint in this morning's Post. If this keeps up, the White House's "deluded stalker" spin could stick after all.

On CNN, CNBC's "News with Brian Williams" and "Nightline," nearly everyone -- all of whom seemed to be National Review lawman Stuart Taylor, who managed to use the word "phalanx" in three separate clips without giggling once -- compared Clinton's seemingly airtight denial to earlier Gennifer Flowers statements, which are widely rumored to have been retracted under oath by Bill at the Paula Jones deposition. "There's a reason we're parsing," Mary Matalin, GOP apologist and Carville wife told Williams: "We're talking about a kid and a President who should know better."

The first 15 minutes of "Charles Grodin" on CNBC were actually entertaining. Grodin said he's supported every president back to FDR, peccadilloes and all, because "I understand the stress of the job." Then there's the Murdoch report: Fox "News" at 10 ran a pop-psych piece suggesting that Monica and Bill were "the perfect match." "Men pursue their 'honey,'" the featured expert said. "Women pursue the money."

On the late shift, another name kept popping up: O.J. "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher on Clinton's impassioned denial: "He then vowed to never stop looking for the real adulterer." Maher added that Clinton will try to use the State of the Union address to "erase his image as a sex addict and a liar, and restore his image as a long-winded bore."