[beyond the sea]

I must say, if a mother calls a son a 'congenital liar', doesn't that mean he was born that way? Wouldn't that make the mother somewhat complicit?

[Mia T]

I must say, if a mother calls a son a 'congenital liar', doesn't that mean he was born that way? Wouldn't that make the mother somewhat complicit?

William Safire faced the same charge when he called that other congenital liar a congenital liar. This was his response:

 

 

 

 

 

he first word I had in mind was 'prevaricator,' which means 'liar,' and the second one was 'dissembler,' which also means 'liar.'"

"And then I said to myself, 'I'm in the opinion business, why can't I express my opinion with the simple English word that everybody understands?'"

He dismissed the charge made by the first lady Friday that he insulted her parents with the use of the word "congenital," because, Safire said, it suggested she inherited dishonesty.

Safire, who writes a column on word usage for the New York Times, said his study of Latin roots showed the word "congenital" is synonymous with "innate," but has evolved into also meaning "chronic" and "habitual."

The word "liar" is a harsh word, he said, "because it says you are deliberately telling an untruth."

"That's what I specify in three instances," he said.

Mrs. Clinton's denial that she ordered the firings of travel office employees in 1993 was not a crime, Safire said, but it was a lie.

hillary talks: ON TRAVEL OFFICE

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Referring to the Whitewater investigation, Safire questioned the first lady's explanation that another lawyer, not Mrs. Clinton, brought the Arkansas Madison Savings and Loan to the Rose law firm as a client, and she did little of the work. That savings and loan is at the center of the Whitewater investigation.

"If you believe that, then you believe in the tooth fairy," he said.

Minority House Leader Richard Gephardt who also appeared on "Meet the Press," dismissed the probe of Mrs. Clinton's role in Whitewater as a "political witch hunt."

After Safire's column calling the first lady a liar was published, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry told reporters President Clinton wanted to punch Safire in the nose.

"Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert presented Safire a pair of red boxing gloves in case he met "some White House operatives" outside of the taping studio.

During an interview Friday with the Los Angeles Times, Mrs. Clinton said, "I cannot take Mr. Safire seriously."

Noting her work as an aide to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation, she said, "I worked with the committee that impeached President Nixon. Safire worked for President Nixon. As best I can tell, he is still working for the Nixon administration."

The Los Angeles Times published an expanded version of the interview Sunday after the White House complained that a story published Saturday was misleading. The paper did not, however, correct or clarify its original story.

Mark Fabiani, the White House lawyer who handles press inquiries regarding Whitewater, said Mrs. Clinton did not tell the Times the Senate Whitewater Committee would not be a fair forum and she did not dismiss the idea of holding a news conference or appearing before the committee to answer questions raised by the Whitewater investigation.

In the article published Sunday Mrs. Clinton said, "I will do whatever it takes to end this (controversy) and to cooperate."

eyes wide shut
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missus clinton's REAL virtual office update
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fraudsofhillary.com

January 8, 1996

Essay: Blizzard of Lies

By WILLIAM SAFIRE

Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady -- a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation -- is a congenital liar.

Drip by drip, like Whitewater torture, the case is being made that she is compelled to mislead, and to ensnare her subordinates and friends in a web of deceit.

1. Remember the story she told about studying The Wall Street Journal to explain her 10,000 percent profit in 1979 commodity trading? We now know that was a lie told to turn aside accusations that as the Governor's wife she profited corruptly, her account being run by a lawyer for state poultry interests through a disreputable broker.

She lied for good reason: To admit otherwise would be to confess taking, and paying taxes on, what some think amounted to a $100,000 bribe.

2. The abuse of Presidential power known as Travelgate elicited another series of lies. She induced a White House lawyer to assert flatly to investigators that Mrs. Clinton did not order the firing of White House travel aides, who were then harassed by the F.B.I. and Justice Department to justify patronage replacement by Mrs. Clinton's cronies.

Now we know, from a memo long concealed from investigators, that there would be "hell to pay" if the furious First Lady's desires were scorned. The career of the lawyer who transmitted Hillary's lie to authorities is now in jeopardy. Again, she lied with good reason: to avoid being identified as a vindictive political power player who used the F.B.I. to ruin the lives of people standing in the way of juicy patronage.

3. In the aftermath of the apparent suicide of her former partner and closest confidant, White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster, she ordered the overturn of an agreement to allow the Justice Department to examine the files in the dead man's office. Her closest friends and aides, under oath, have been blatantly disremembering this likely obstruction of justice, and may have to pay for supporting Hillary's lie with jail terms.

Again, the lying was not irrational. Investigators believe that damning records from the Rose Law Firm, wrongfully kept in Vincent Foster's White House office, were spirited out in the dead of night and hidden from the law for two years -- in Hillary's closet, in Web Hubbell's basement before his felony conviction, in the President's secretary's personal files -- before some were forced out last week.

Why the White House concealment? For good reason: The records show Hillary Clinton was lying when she denied actively representing a criminal enterprise known as the Madison S.& L., and indicate she may have conspired with Web Hubbell's father-in-law to make a sham land deal that cost taxpayers $3 million.

Why the belated release of some of the incriminating evidence? Not because it mysteriously turned up in offices previously searched. Certainly not because Hillary Clinton and her new hang-tough White House counsel want to respond fully to lawful subpoenas.

One reason for the Friday-night dribble of evidence from the White House is the discovery by the F.B.I. of copies of some of those records elsewhere. When Clinton witnesses are asked about specific items in "lost" records -- which investigators have -- the White House "finds" its copy and releases it. By concealing the Madison billing records two days beyond the statute of limitations, Hillary evaded a civil suit by bamboozled bank regulators.

Another reason for recent revelations is the imminent turning of former aides and partners of Hillary against her; they were willing to cover her lying when it advanced their careers, but are inclined to listen to their own lawyers when faced with perjury indictments.

Therefore, ask not "Why didn't she just come clean at the beginning?" She had good reasons to lie; she is in the longtime habit of lying; and she has never been called to account for lying herself or in suborning lying in her aides and friends.

No wonder the President is fearful of holding a prime-time press conference. Having been separately deposed by the independent counsel at least twice, the President and First Lady would be well advised to retain separate defense counsel.

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