Clinton Comes Out Fighting

WASHINGTON: Talk about rapid rebuttal. The Clinton spin machine, which has long had a reputation for responding quickly to crisis, went into overdrive Friday. Attorneys David Kendall and Charles Ruff managed the dubious feat of replying to Ken Starr's impeachment report without reading a single word Starr wrote. "The President did not commit perjury," asserts the 73-page document. Why not? Kendall and Ruff rounded up the usual explanations: The definition of sex in the Paula Jones deposition was weak, they said. Besides, Clinton never flatly denied a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, he only said he couldn't remember.

The rebuttal maintains that Ken Starr has no legal grounds for impeachment, and is publishing salacious details of Clinton-Lewinsky encounters in a bid to shame the President out of office. Any offenses committed, the President's lawyers insist, are of a "personal" and moral nature, and offer no legal grounds for impeachment.

The rebuttal includes fierce attacks on Starr, Linda Tripp and especially the Office of Independent Counsel for exceeding its power. "The OIC report is left with nothing but the details of a private sexual relationship, told in graphic details with the intent to embarrass," the statement argues. If that's the case, Starr seems to have succeeded. His report is a page-turner -- albeit an X-rated one -- whereas the rebuttal just sounds like more White House damage control. The politics of yuck are now upon us.