Tripp: A Wiretapper Just Like You

Is Linda Tripp the villain of this piece, or a misjudged Everywoman? Or could the answer possibly lie somewhere in between? "I'm just like you," said the woman who wiretapped Monica Lewinsky, shaking like a leaf as she delivered a prepared statement to the TV cameras outside the federal courthouse Wednesday. "I'm an average American. I'm a suburban mom... I never, ever asked to be placed in this position."

Why then, some might ask, did she throw her former work colleague and girlfriend into the independent counsel's den? Tripp would only say she urged Monica "to tell the truth right up until the end" -- the end of their friendship, that is. As for her poor standing in the public's perception, Tripp believes she is the victim of a concerted campaign of mockery. "They have enlisted legions of paid prevaricators," she said -- they, presumably, being the White House, the vast left-wing conspiracy or some similar enterprise. "Not surprisingly, many in the entertainment industry have chosen to ridicule me as well." Having finished her grand jury testimony, Tripp can now exit the limelight. Can she perform a similar disappearance from the history books? The jury's still out on that.