The Talking Heads Speak
It is a scandal that refuses to die. A scandal that demands an opinion. TIME.com talked to several commentators for a sampling of views on three key players in the Lewinsky crisis: Kenneth Starr, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
Kenneth Starr
Elizabeth Holtzman, a member of the Watergate House Judiciary Committee and a writer of the independent counsel statute, says Starr assumed powers beyond the statute's original intent (listen). Holtzman believes that Starr should have stepped down (listen), and that his conduct will ultimately kill the independent counsel statute (listen).
Conservative television commentator and attorney Ann Coulter, author of High Crimes and Misdemeanours: The Case Against Bill Clinton, comments on the White House's ability to "demonize" the "goofy, earnest" Ken Starr (listen).
Brookings Institution senior political analyst Stephen Hess says Starr conducted his investigation of the president as if her were prosecuting John Gotti (listen). In part, Hess says, Starr's response was a reaction to the White House goading him (listen) and the fault of the independent counsel statute (listen).
New York University Political Science Professor Lynne Browndisagrees with the idea that Ken Starr's investigatioin was part of a "vast, right wing conspiracy" (listen)
Bill Clinton
Conservative television commentator Ann Coulter says that Gennifer Flowers predicted the Lewinsky scandal (listen, but no one listened.
Brookings Institution senior political analyst Stephen Hess dismisses the idea of a conspiracy against President Clinton, saying that Clinton's political background provided plenty of cause for scandal (listen).
R. Emmett Tyrrell, editor-in-chief of The American Spectator and author of The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton, says Clinton, not Starr, is responsible for the White House's stained reputation (listen)
Hillary Clinton
Lisa Caputo, former press secretary to Mrs. Clinton, believes Mrs. Clinton will not run for elected office after her husband leaves the White House, despite recent speculation (listen). The First Lady's response to the Lewinsky scandal has caused the recent jump in her popularity ratings, Caputo adds (listen). Her legacy, says Caputo, will be that of a fighter (listen).
Conservative televison commentator and attorney Ann Coulter says that Hillary Clinton did not appear "human" in her interview with NBC's Matt Lauer about the Lewinsky scandal (listen).
Feminist Phyllis Chesler, author of Letters to a Young Feminist, says that the First Lady's surge in popularity reflects her more traditional role (listen). Chesler notes that Hillary's legacy will probably reflect that of her husband (listen). The First Lady is living proof that women at the end of the 20th century can still not have it all (listen), she says.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, editor-in-chief of The American Spectator, believes that Mrs. Clinton will be remembered only as the wife of Bill Clinton (listen).
Lynne Brown, a political science professor at New York University, believes Hillary Clinton will becom a symbol for women in transition (listen)