Cheap Slate: In Today's 'In Today's Papers'

Slate's Scott Shuger ledes with USA Today's lede of an ex-Espy aide getting a harsh 27 months upriver, and what that could mean for Clinton. He notes that the Washington Post favors the upcoming Hyde-Gingrich peek at Ken Starr's investigation, and that the New York Times features, in its various editions, an indecisive study of education methods; a NYC school-uniforms policy; and sniping over the 1999 budget between Clinton and Congressional Republicans. The LA Times gets a shout out for its continued scrutiny of local and state prisons. And, finally, S's SS believes that the WSJ piece on declassification of dusty government documents -- at a secret CIA facility -- is noteworthy.

Shuger's opinion of the media's Monica coverage: "The press is in a big respectability-puffing, nose-holding phase in its reporting of the Clinton sex scandals, deploring--in exquisite detail--having to cover all that executive branch breastage and groinage."