# Clinton Rips Starr, Media on Prosecution



## Foxracingmtnridr (Feb 23, 2003)

Clinton Rips Starr, Media on Prosecution 

Fri Nov 19, 9:05 PM ET U.S. National - AP 


By JAMES JEFFERSON, Associated Press Writer 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - In a prime-time television outburst, Bill Clinton (news - web sites) ripped old nemesis Kenneth Starr and what the former president portrayed as a gullible media eager to report every "sleazy thing" leaked from a prosecutor bent on bringing him down. 


AP Photo 



The exchange came in an interview with ABC news anchor Peter Jennings that aired Thursday night, hours after Clinton opened his $165 million presidential library. Clinton blasted Starr and spoke disdainfully of a national media that he suggested was complicit in a scheme to ruin his presidency. 


"No other president ever had to endure someone like Ken Starr," Clinton said. "No one ever had to try to save people from ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, and people in Haiti from a military dictator that was murdering them, and all the other problems I dealt with, while every day an entire apparatus was devoted to destroying him." 


The former president said he would go to his grave at peace that, while he had personal failings, he never lied to the American people about his job as president. 


Clinton added that he doesn't care about what his detractors think about him. Jennings then said it seemed to him that Clinton did care. 


The former president responded, "You don't want to go here, Peter. You don't want to go here. Not after what you people did and the way you, your network, what you did with Kenneth Starr. The way your people repeated every, little sleazy thing he leaked. No one has any idea what that's like." 


"You never had to live in a time when people you knew and cared about were being indicted, carted off to jail, bankrupted, ruined, because they were Democrats and because they would not lie," he said. "So, I think we showed a lot of moral fiber to stand up to that. To stand up to these constant investigations, to this constant bodyguard of lies, this avalanche that was thrown at all of us. And, yes, I failed once. And I sure paid for it. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the American people. And I'm sorry for the embarrassment they performed." 


Starr's former chief deputy said Friday he understood the difficulty for Clinton, but added that the bipartisan staff did what they had to do and performed honorably in seeking the truth. 


"It's not easy being accused of things. We had allegations and we had to investigate them," Hickman Ewing said. "We believe we performed in an honorable manner." 


As for the news coverage, he said the media "reported what they thought was news worthy." 


A seven-year, $70 million investigation conducted mostly by Starr ranged from Clinton's involvement in the Whitewater land deal in the 1980s to the president's affair with Monica Lewinsky. 


Clinton was not among the dozen Arkansans indicted on criminal charges in the far-ranging Whitewater probe, but his affair with Lewinsky, a one-time White House intern, led to his impeachment by the GOP-controlled House in 1998. He was acquitted following a Senate trial. 


Starr, now dean of the Pepperdine University law school, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Nobody else had to go through what he did?!...I reckon President Nixon would disagree...oops, I forgot...President Clinton is a democrat and it's only okay to go after the evil republicans! :evil: 

Democrats can do whatever they will, as they are "correct" and everyone that disagrees with them are "fascists"!

Well, whatever else anyone might say, President Clinton's legacy is that of White Water, Monica Lewinski, Hillary's health care and felony perjury (which resulted in his being dis-barred).

Kinda makes you want to wear your old "Nixon Now" button...return honesty to the White House! :twisted:


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## soxrock75 (Jul 26, 2004)

I guess in President Clinton's "Lie-brary", he actually mentions the whole Lewinsky episode. It is apparently tucked away in a little corner with the title above the doorway reading "The struggle for Power". Gimme a break, the guy is a liar and a cheat. Everyone seems to think that he did so much when he was in office. Yet people, mostly democrats, seem to forget that the President cannot make law, he can only try and advance his agenda. Laws and such are drafted and passed by the Legislature. Hmmmm, who controlled The House and Senate during Clinton's glory years? Oh Yeah, the Republican party. I think they may have had something to do with all of the "great work" that Clinton gets credit for.

It also amazes me that when people on the street and in the media drool all over Clinton, they forget that he was actually IMPEACHED !!! He is one of only 2 President's to ever be IMPEACHED!!! He was lucky that he only got censured and not asked to RESIGN like he should have been. What a Joke!


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Yeah, people don't realize he was impeached...just not convicted! How about Hillary's cattle futures windfall of $10,000? No insider trading there, though! Martha Stewart's in prison, and Hillary is a senator...only in America! :evil:


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## Otto (Nov 18, 2003)

Dcs, maybe it was a typo, but I believe she made $100,000.


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

Yeah, well, I knew it was a "1" with a whole bunch of "zeroes" behind it...how appropriate!


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## Otto (Nov 18, 2003)

With the Clinton's, it's all about #1. But they're full of #2.


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## 1153 (Oct 2, 2004)

I will admit Clinton was a likeble guy, but I didn't enjoy his conduct as president. He was better suited for sitcoms then presidency, perhaps that's why people liked him, they forgot the news is real, with all of the reality TV out there.


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