One of the few pure pleasures of the Monica Lewinsky spectacle has been to watch her good, self-promoting attorney, William Ginsburg, slowly disintegrate under the intense heat of his own celebrity. Two weeks ago, you may recall, he bragged to Time magazine about his personal closeness to his client: "I kissed that girl's inner thighs when she was six days old." No doubt his fans thought he could never top himself after that. But wait! Attending Time magazine's 75th anniversary bash in New York last week, where he mingled with such fellow-celebs as Dr. Kevorkian and Kathie Lee Gifford, Ginsburg offered up a little legal analysis to Neal Travis of the New York Post.
If Kenneth Starr indicts Monica, Ginsburg said, "he's finished. It's like the O. J. trial. The American public will put up with only so much prosecutorial conduct." The layers of strangeness here run deep. Does Ginsburg truly believe O. J. Simpson's defense -- that the entire criminal- justice apparatus of Los Angeles County conspired to plant evidence, fake lab tests, and otherwise frame O. J.? Or, like Johnnie Cochran, does he just want us to believe that he believes it? And does he want us to believe Kenneth Starr is framing Monica Lewinsky? Faking DNA results, maybe? The possibilities are endless -- and horrifying. If we were Monica, we'd be starting to get just the slightest bit worried about our choice of attorney.