Ahh the Summer of Chandra, last gasp of the carefree Gay Nineties, just before our decade-long vacation from history ended with a bang. I'm tellin' ya, if we had only elected John Kerry he would have made everything warm and fuzzy again and brought back the good old times. Oh well.
On a less profound note l'affaire Condit marked the end of Dominick Dunne's career as a serious crime reporter. I had admired his earlier writings and I followed some of his articles in Vanity Fair over this incident--to my shock and horror--he became the star of his own show. The bizarre theories he floated about Chandra's disappearance (sex slave in a saudi sheik's seraglio) took second place to his glamorous globetrotting and name-dropping. I lost all respect for him. He turned himself into just another literary court jester to the rich and infamous.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect to the story was Chandra herself. Nothing new about a philadering pol. But Chandra seemed to be so much more grounded than the pathetic Monica and yet she too, fell for a powerful lowlife and refused to be dissuaded by her family.
I too was rather surprised at some of Dunne's reporting on this matter. However, Condit is going to regret taking Dunne to court.
And Chandra Levy and Lori Klausutis are still dead and no one has been held accountable ...
Did Chandra's family try to dissuade her? Monica's mother seemed proud of her daughter giving Clinton a Lewinsky.
I remember lurking here at FR for several months after I signed on (2000 election). I think my very first post was on a Chandra Levy thread.
I remember Saundra Duffy freeping his office and making his life miserable.