Poor Richard Cohen. THE SCRAPBOOK's favorite liberal columnist, who usually writes entertainingly and often manages to think independently at the very same time, must have gotten suckered by his sources last week. Cohen's Tuesday column in the Washington Post was a full frontal defense of convicted felon and former number-three man in the Clinton Justice Department Webster Hubbell.
Cohen was anguished over how Republicans on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee have "trampled" Hubbell's civil liberties. They have " leaked" jailhouse recordings of Hubbell's telephone conversations with his wife, Suzy. The contents of those conversations, Cohen insisted, are "in no way incriminating." They are instead "just the sort of personal matters between family members that is no business of yours and mine."
In June 1996, for instance, Webb and Suzy had an intimate talk about what she would make for dinner: grilled veal "and lemon butter and then a light pasta to go with it." Of course, Cohen allows, "if the conversations suggested that Hubbell had indeed received $ 500,000 or so to keep quiet about what he knows about the Clintons, then their publication might make some sense."
Ooops.
Whoever slipped Cohen excerpts of the conversations left out all the good parts. Nightline ran hugely entertaining portions of the tapes two nights later, full of the sort of "personal matters" you might expect -- how presidential adviser Bruce Linsdey was "livid" over a decision of Attorney General Janet Reno to refer something to Ken Starr; whether Hubbell would have to "roll over" again to protect his former law partner Hillary Rodham Clinton; and similar pillow talk.
And THE SCRAPBOOK has obtained a full transcript of the "lemon butter" recording Cohen wrote about. The Hubbells' conversation might even be considered -- contra Cohen -- incriminating. It primarily concerns the nervousness of various Clinton cronies about what Hubbell planned to write in his forthcomiong memoir. Here's the key passage:
WEBB: I'm not going to breach any . . . I'm not going to breach anything personal. I think that's what you can tell Mickey.
SUZY: Good.
WEBB: And I, there . . . when people want things to be private, they will always be private with me.
SUZY: Okay.
"Mickey" is Clinton counselor Mickey Kantor, one of two primary fixers behind Webb Hubbell's $ 700,000 in no-show job contracts. Before they said goodbye in this phone call, Webb also asked Suzy to reassure the other primary fixer, "Vernon" (Jordan), about Hubbell's willingness to remain mum.
THE SCRAPBOOK trusts that Richard Cohen will be more suspicious the next time Webb Hubbell's friends try to spin him.