response 78 of 404:

Dec 29 19:59 UTC 2005

If Clinton had come clean about Lewinsky and said "Yes, I did it", then 
that would have been the end of it.  It would have shown he wasn't 
intimidated by the implications of what he had done.  It wouldn't be 
all but inevitable to think -- as I do -- that the president *might 
have been* be extorted.  Remember, he did everything he could to hide 
from the issue, publicly.  Who knows how much more he did than what we 
know about?

Bush has not come clean, either, but it is plausible (however unlikely) 
to think he has legitimate public reasons for not doing so.  We do not 
know the security implications of what he won't say.  Even so, I'm very 
much disturbed by the implications of the president ordering wiretaps 
and secret surveillance of Americans without court supervision.  The 
president has only the power given to him by the Constitution, and that 
sort of thing is specifically Constitutionally prohibited.