European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday july 26, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 covers William f. Buckley so the initial phase of the investigation into Whitewater tells us that indeed Vincent Foster died by his own hand. That ruling by investigator Robert Fiske was greeted with fireworks Here and there As if it were Central to any serious questions involving Bill Clinton a behaviour. During the past year not one person has suggested in my presence that Foster was killed by someone a a else though one does no to dispute that the Rumor floated about. So did the Rumor that John f. Kennedy had already been married when he took Jackie or that Lyndon Johnson sodomized his predecessors Corpse on air Force one coming Back from Dallas. Junk rumours were Are and will be and the Challenge is to develop an intelligent attitude toward them. Anyone searching into the mystery of poor Vince Foster would be entitled merely to ask was his depression possibly related to any knowledge he had of White House affairs that Isnit an Idle question. Clinton recently fired the big Bertha against polemical irresponsibility a they say a he said on air Force one referring specifically to Jerry a 1 we 11 and Rush Limbaugh a that anybody that does no to agree with them is godless anybody who does no to agree with them is fair game for any wild charge no matter How  a compare a Robert Bork s America is a land in which women would be forced into Back Alley abortions Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters rogue police could break Down citizens doors in Midnight raids schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the government and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of  that is Massachusetts sen. Edward Kennedy 1987. It would require some High distillation Falwell to come up with its equivalent. Teddy did not alienate Bill Clinton with this extremism. Advises us that fall Eli a Liberty Alliance is circulating a video called Circle of Power. It apparently includes a statement from Larry Nichols a longtime adversary of Clinton a in Arkansas who says a you May also wonder what its been like fighting Bill Clinton. People Are dead in Arkansas. Yeah. When i started this i knew that i might be one of the unsolved  that a irresponsible stuff. At least i Hope it is because every now and then i find myself in Arkansas but fal Wells Over the counter films Are not to be compared with Oliver stones productions which Are put up for oscars. In fac Stone instructed Lens of millions of americans that the executive the Justice department and the supreme court lied and killed to hide the True Story of Dallas 1963. . Dionne or. Of the Washington Post a few years ago 1 had a Telephone Call from president Reagan a you know i get a lot of stuff and you just have to put up with it a he complained. Quot but How do you like this which i think is just too much a president Reagan is the nearest thing we be Ever come to in America to  its published by something called the National Catholic reporter and written by someone called Alder Whitman. Do you know anything about them a i told the president that the Bishop in Kansas City was suing to deny the reporter the right to advertise itself As a Catholic publication and that Alden Whitman who wrote obituaries far the new York times was truck gently opposed to any conservative Well that made him feel better. But to my knowledge nobody with any muscle in the critical Community stepped Forward to give Whitman or the reporter four strokes of the Cane. Dionne correctly discerns a problem it is that Liberal enterprises from Bill Clinton to the anti defamation league Are engaged in attempted amalgamations the purpose of which is to discredit authentic movements of protest. The cry word is a Houston 1992�?� any sound that recalls the rhetoric of the Republican convention in Houston is denounced As irresponsible. But there arc Many americans who suffer from frustrations that Trace to Liberal objectives. They include broken families pornography lawlessness and the secularization of the schools. The rap song of Liberal America is so thunderous it becomes possible even to imagine an exoneration of , Simpson. In such a mood at such a time people do get excited. Quot c Universal press Syndicate right Wing escape censure when Robert b. Fiske Fri the Independent counsel on Whitewater reported that there was nothing to the horror stories about the death of Vincent Foster that Foster had indeed committed suicide i expected that those who had spread the stories would be called to account. The Rev. Pat Robertson for example the Leader of the Christian coalition had lucidly suggested that Foster Deputy White House counsel was murdered and the crime covered up by the Clinton administration. Rush Limbaugh the talk show Host broadcast a report that Foster died in an administration a Safe House and that his body was then spirited to the Park where it was found. After the Fiske report did Robertson or Limbaugh apologize for having spread ugly fantasies not that i know of. Nor to my knowledge did others who had spread or invented conspiratorial theories about Fosters death. More important did the press hold the spreaders of dirt to account did reporters Telephone Robertson or Limbaugh and ask whether they would now withdraw their charges not to my knowledge. The Point is not a narrow one. For this episode is indicative of inadequate press attention to a real Center of Power in this country the talk show hosts and political preachers who carry their right Wing assaults on president Clinton so far that they Breed a corrupting cynicism about the very idea of government. That is Limbaugh a game to throw dirt on government and anyone who believes that society needs government. In his hateful talk about the president and and others in office As Well As the first lady he is really trying to destroy Public Faith in our institutions. And so Are the others like him. The is sent Fly anarchist nature of the right Wing talkers was inadvertently confirmed this month in an article defending them. It was a piece on the new York times oped Page by Michael Harrison editor of the Magazine talkers. A we Are hearing the infant voice of a movement that is disgusted with the kind of. President the system continues to serve up a Harrison wrote. Down with the system. A the voice of talk radio. Wants to put an end to ruling class aristocracy a aristocracy like the son of a poor Arkansas widow. The right Wing voices have made significant headway in their Campaign to destroy Clinton. And those who Survey Public opinion Are startled these Days by the extent to which the larger Effort to turn americans against the whole idea of government has succeeded. A dangerous cynicism is spreading. The american press regards it As a vital function to scrutinize Power question it and hold it accountable. That is its proper explanation for giving occupants of the White House a hard time. But Power does not reside Only in the White House or government anymore. Those who seek to destroy Faith in the american political system have considerable Power now Power demanding attention. Indeed it Anthony Lewis is especially important to watch and hold accountable those who seek Power without responsibility recent events do not give us much Confidence that the press will do the Job. For even some respectable press institutions have played the game of savaging the Clinton White House and then failing to admit their mistakes. Time Magazine wrote that Telephone Calls by George Steph Nopoulos Over Whitewater. Brought up a the dread words obstruction of Justice / Fiske found no grounds for such a prosecution As virtually any lawyer would have predicted. Did time apologize not at All. A spokesman for the Magazine said it had merely printed what an Anonymous official speculated. That a journalism just print any Absurdity exercising no judgment. Quot the Wall Street journal editorial Page made Foster a target in 1993 As a Way of smearing Clinton. When it could not get a photograph of Foster it took out its Petty revenge in an editorial titled a who is Vincent Foster a there w Ere two further Nasty references to him before be committed suicide leaving a note that mentioned his distress at the journal editorials. After the Fiske report the to Virnal wrote in its own defense that a depression is a disease a not caused by press criticism. True. But depression might conceivably be intensified by cruel irresponsible attacks. And in any event an honorable editor might express regret at having printed mean minded attacks on someone who turned out to have been ill. C  Yolk Tiitus