No stars for this report

The long-awaited release of the Starr report left me humming that old
Peggy Lee tune: “Is that all there is? Is that all there is? If that’s
all there is, my friend, then let’s keep dancing.”

Four years and $40 million. And what we got for it is pretty much
what any sensible person already knew from reading between the lines of
press reports — Monica Lewinsky, sex, perjury, bullying witnesses,
obstruction of justice, etc.

Not that this isn’t enough for impeachment, mind you. It is. But this
report is gravely disappointing for those of us who have been on the
frontlines in exposing Clinton administration crimes for the past four
years. If I’d had $40 million during the last four years, this guy would
be doing hard labor. Maybe Kenneth Starr should have gone to Pepperdine
to teach law. He’s certainly no prosecutor.

I know. I know. His rabid, partisan Republican defenders will tell
you it’s the equivalent of nailing Al Capone for tax evasion. Maybe so,
but Elliot Ness tried first to convict Capone for murder and
racketeering and host of other charges. Only when he was stumped by the
cover-ups, the bumping off of witnesses, the political sabotage of his
cases did Ness use the tax rap as a last resort. It worked because
everyone — the judge, the jury and the American people all knew Capone
was a murdering thug and organized crime capo. Ness had already proven
that — though, perhaps, not by the necessary criminal standard of
“beyond reasonable doubt.”

Starr has made no such effort. He has started with the small
potatoes. In fact, Starr long ago personally sabotaged a more
significant case against the president with respect to the cover-up of
the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of White House deputy
counsel Vincent Foster. To date, he has done nothing with Whitewater,
cattle futures, Travelgate, Filegate, etc.

Starr defenders will tell you the rest is coming. I personally don’t
believe it. I won’t until I see the report, see some charges, see the
Clintons yanked from the White House by federal agents.

The latest rumors floated by the Starr investigation revolve around
the possibility of charges against Hillary Clinton. Supposedly, the
independent counsel’s office doesn’t want to proceed with indictments
while Clinton is still in office — because he fears a pardon.

For at least three years, Starr has been leaking to reporters the
story that a Hillary Clinton indictment is imminent. At some point, you
have to ask yourself whether such reports are credible or whether they
are part of an orchestrated effort to pacify a large and growing
subculture of Americans, like me, who believe their government is
corrupt to the core and that nothing is being done about it.

Color me cynical.

I no more trust Kenneth Starr than I do any other lifelong government
bureaucrat lackey. He makes $1 million a year working for a
politically-connected law firm, which counts among its clients the
Chinese government. When people ask me why I wonder if Starr might
actually be part of a cover-up of Clinton crimes, that fact, my friends,
is exhibit A. Exhibit B is the abysmal job he did in investigating the
Foster death. That report is a case study in government propaganda —
ignore any evidence that doesn’t fit neatly into your preconceived
theory and manufacture the evidence and testimony needed to bolster your
supposition.

Whether Bill Clinton ultimately serves out his term with a gentle
censure from Congress, resigns or is impeached as a result of the Starr
report, Americans must never be complacent. We must continue to demand
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about all the
crimes of the Clinton administration, as well as the complicity of those
charged with investigating, exposing and punishing those crimes.

This is not a right-left issue. It’s an issue of right and wrong.

Yes, Kenneth Starr has provided a credible case for impeachment. And
Congress should rapidly begin the process of removing Bill Clinton from
office. But that’s not the end. It may just be the beginning of
exploring the deeper questions of how Americans lost control of their
country and their government.

After we answer those questions, there will be plenty of time — and
reasons — for dancing.