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The Pundits Meet Juanita

Bruce GottliebPosted Sunday, Feb. 28, 1999, at 9:55 PM ET

Issue 1 is Juanita Broaddrick's claim that Bill Clinton raped her 21 years ago. Last weekend, every show save Fox News Sunday carried on as if the allegations didn't exist. This weekend, only CBS's Face the Nation, PBS's NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, and PBS's Washington Week in Review ignore the story. Issues 2 through 4 are the Independent Counsel statute, the GOP's presidential nominee in 2000, and tax cuts.

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Everyone agrees that the rape charges are grave, but are they true? Steve and Cokie Roberts (CNN's Late Edition and ABC's This Week) think the charges have "an uneasy familiarity to them" (Steve Robert's phrase). The entire McLaughlin panel agrees that Broaddrick may have had good reason to wait 21 years to make her allegations. But the consensus seems to be that we'll never really know what happened. Susan Estrich (NBC's Meet the Press) takes this to mean that we should spend no more time on this question.

A minority of the commentariat, on the other hand, thinks there ought to be some sort of further investigation. William Bennett (Meet the Press) wants Clinton to disclose his whereabouts on the day of the alleged attack. George Will and Sam Donaldson (This Week) want reporters to ask Clinton about the details of his relationship with Broaddrick. (Since Donaldson's other job is asking questions at presidential press conferences, there is a pretty good chance that Clinton will in fact face these questions. Or, more likely, Clinton and his press secretary won't call on Donaldson anymore.)

A number of pundits marvel at the general lack of interest in the story (Tony Snow, Fox News Sunday; Bennett; Steve Roberts; Lawrence O'Donnell, The McLaughlin Group; George Stephanopoulos, This Week). It's because: 1) The public is "tired" of sexual scandal (William Bennett); 2) Republicans aren't willing to investigate Clinton's sexual affairs again (Steve Roberts); 3) Democrats like Joe Lieberman refuse to break party ranks and make a fuss (Tucker Carlson; Late Edition); and 4) The media is too timid to give the story the coverage it deserves (Brit Hume, Fox News Sunday; Dorothy Rabinowitz, NBC's Meet the Press). (Rabinowitz is the Wall Street Journal reporter who first reported the story on Feb.19.)

Steve Brill (Meet the Press) and Juan Williams (Fox News Sunday), on the other hand, think the allegations are getting plenty of publicity. And if the Sunday talk shows are any indication, Brill and Williams are right. Williams also believes that the allegations would have had a much greater effect on history if they'd been reported before the Senate vote. Donaldson wonders aloud whether news organizations should have aired these allegations months ago.

Paul Gigot (NewsHour) is confident that the Independent Counsel law won't be renewed.... Robert Novak reports that the GOP is "putting all its chips" on George W. Bush for president in 2000. Mark Shields (NewsHour) explains that Bush is the front-runner because he is a seasoned campaigner and because he is popular with minorities. Gigot adds that Bush is popular because he is not from Washington D.C.... Jodie Allen (Washington Week in Review) thinks there is little support for tax cuts because Americans are feeling "prosperous... but prudent" and would like to see the fiscal surplus used to shore up Social Security or retire the national debt.

If You're Going to Bash Clinton, Be Thorough: Patricia Ireland, president of NOW, recently made headlines by saying that the Broaddrick allegations deserved our attention. (She has taken flak over the past two years for supporting the pro-choice Clinton by downplaying the Jones-Willey allegations.) And, sure enough, Ireland appeared on Meet the Press this weekend to say that Clinton's credibility with women has been "seriously damaged." But apparently her comments weren't sharp enough for William Bennett, who accused Ireland of being soft on Clinton. He summarized Ireland's views as: "If you're going to be a rapist, be pro-choice."

--Bruce Gottlieb