Clinton: Beyond the Grave

WASHINGTON: With the coffee klatches, the Lincoln bedroom rental accusations and federal phone fund-raising incidents not yet cold in the grave, a grisly new accusation has been dug up in a bid to bury the Clinton administration: Republicans charge that the President is giving plots in the hallowed Arlington National Cemetery to political donors.

The House Veterans Committee was demanding answers Wednesday over an article due to be published in the December 8 issue of Insight magazine, part of the Washington Times, which quotes anonymous sources saying Clinton sold plots to a handful of Democratic donors. The story, of course, has also become a lot of ghoulish fun for the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

But both White House officials and the Army moved quickly to pour embalming fluid on the suggestion. "It would be outrageous for anyone to grant or influence the granting of exceptions under the rules for burial at national cemeteries because of political or fund-raising considerations," said White House special counsel Lanny Davis. Indeed, the record shows the only burial exemptions the President made were for spouses of soldiers. Perhaps this is one Clinton scandal with a particularly short life span.