Let us recall now George Will's maxim that staffs, over time, take on the characteristics of their bosses. Back in February, Republican prosecutor Joe diGenova charged that he and his wife, Victoria Toensing (another Republican prosecutor), were being investigated by private eyes tied to the Clinton White House. Deputy press secretary Joe Lockhart, after checking with Clinton's lawyers, denied this, asserting that no one connected to the president had "hired or authorized any private investigator to look into the background" of the couple.
But that -- no surprise -- turned out to be untrue. Soon the White House was forced to issue another statement, this one acknowledging that Clinton snoops had indeed been digging for dirt on diGenova and Toensing -- but only through clean, public channels. Explained Lockhart in a priceless interview with the Washington Post last week, "Everyone assumes the lawyers screwed me and hung me out to dry. That's not really the case." Rather, he faults himself for not asking the lawyers enough questions! "I do not believe I intentionally misled reporters, but I take responsibility for the fact they were misled."
There is only one word for this kind of reasoning: Clintonian, to the marrow. So as we remember George Will, let us also remember Michael Dukakis, who in 1988 introduced us to that most useful Greek proverb: The fish rots from the head down. The stench at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. only gets worse.