*The ' Bleat of The Depressed ' was loud today; though the list of guests was short. Three Senators talked about a variety of issues. Christopher Dodd ( D ) thought we should abolish the independent counsel law and " give it a decent burial ". He used the opportunity to attack Ken Starr personally saying he " went overboard, went on too long..." Carl Levin ( D ) thinks there must be some law, but not necessarily the existing one, saying, " we have to have some mechanism ". Sadly, he also used the opportunity to attack Ken Starr, as well with, " the excesses of Kenneth Starr have made it impossible to reauthorize this ". Fred Thompson ( R ) was asked whether or not the current independent counsel statute would be reauthorized, responding with, " I don't think it will ". He added, " ...the Attorney General has shown it can be avoided. The Attorney General can call for a ' Special Counsel ' ". In response to Dodd and Levin attacking Starr personally he said, " I don't think it has to do with Ken Starr, it is the law ".

On the question of Juanita Broaddrick's allegation of a twenty year old rape by the then Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton; William Bennett, Patricia Ireland, and Susan Estrich pontificated for a few moments ( Bennett was too cordial to the women ). Estrich and Ireland used their airtime to attack conservatives, instead of demand answers from Clinton. The women were disgraceful, with Estrich leading them into the gutter with, " This can't be proven...it is too late in the day... move on ". Okay, she got the Whitehouse/DNC talking points fax also; shouldn't she be embarrassed? She finished with, " People do not want to hear Bill Clinton's version of what went on in that hotel room ". Ireland heeled and jumped through her DNC hoops with, " This is not impeachable...I do not want to hear from the President ". Gloating, she continued, " Clinton trumps them all over the place " ( who is them? The decent? The moral? Those who tell the truth? Those who don't committ sex crimes? ). She did have a single moment of lucidity, and said, " There is no way Bill Clinton can look into the cameras and deny it, and have someone believe it ". Okay, so she doesn't want Clinton to explain himself, because it would just be a pack of lies? She made up for any small amount of sanity that she may have shown by attacking Republican Representitive Bob Barr personally ( like a good little Clinton/DNC obedience trial dog show bitch )! Bennett was calm and cool as usual, throwing down the gauntlet with, " He ( Clinton ) has records of where he was on that date, but he refuses to release them ". After giving in to the women in an exchange, seemingly comparing Clinton's sex escapades with those of Clarence Thomas and Bob Packwood, wherein both the women betrayed their obvious bias in Bill Clinton's favor, he just had to close with, " If you are going to be a racist, be pro-choice ". So true, so true. If you don't understand what he meant here, there is little or no hope for you, upon entering the twenty-first century!

In a round table discussion, Gene Lyons predictably attacked Ken Starr and Lisa Myers defended her reporting of the Juanita Broaddrick story. She said in response to the availability of this story to pre-impeachment vote legislators, " The information Starr sent to Congress was reviewed by members ". She also described a letter that she had sent to the Whitehouse, and the two sentence denial/reply she got back from David " Darth Vader " Kendall.

*' Defacing Relations ', Bob Schieffer managed to ignore the President and concentrated on the upcoming Y2K problem. Senators Christopher Dodd ( D ) and Robert Bennet ( R ) got to talk about something they could basically agree on. Bennett thought, " this problem is real " and Dodd declared, " About ninety percent of doctor's offices are not prepared ". They did both urge no panic and Bennett believes the power grid is ready.

*On ' Faux Views Sinday ', Tony Snow had Senators Mitch McConnell ( R ) and Paul Wellstone ( D ) on to talk about the Juanita Broaddrick affair. Understandably, Paul Wellstone thought the " people are sick of that " and we all should " focus on the issues " ( exact renditions of the Whitehouse talking points fax, I bet! ). Mitch McConnell on the lack of any answers from Clinton said, " If Ronald Reagan had been accused of this, the press wouldn't have let him get away with having his lawyer answer the question ".

*On ' The Weak '-lings who worship Cokie Roberts, Democrat Senator Tom Daschle ( D ) showed his Whitehouse obedience training was still working well. On the question of Jane Doe Number Five ( Broaddrick ), he said " There is no way we will ever know, let's turn to the business of the nation...move on ". Sound familiar? Check Paul Wellstone's fax machine for the identical material! On whether or not he can work with Bill Clinton he said, " Let's move on...I trust him a great deal ". He danced around all the other issues he was asked about, including a series on foreign policy that he was unable to offer anything but rhetoric on, from a direct question on the War Powers Act to questions on our policy toward Red China? What a piece of partisan Democrat work, disgusting! Oh God, Cokie just couldn't let him go without a Hillary for Senator question. Shame on you, Cokie. Luckily, Representitive John Kasich ( R ) was on to save the respect of the show and did actually answer a question or two. Kasich wouldn't bite on questions concerning Juanita Broaddrick saying, " I am not involved ". When confronted with polling numbers on Jane Doe Number Five's allegations he responded by giving some general insight into public opinion polls, " take polls and throw it right out the window " and " polls make everyone in this country ill ". Cool, this guy is presidential material. On a question about the Republican ten percent across the board tax cut, he was not certain that it could be passed, but said, " We will cut taxes this year ". This man is really for the common folk and smaller government controlled by these real people ( not Washington types ), and said, " If we let money sit around in Washington, we'll spend it " and " we gotta' run this country from the bottom up...return the power to the people ". On how he feels about political campaigning he said, " Don't cater to one particular group...tell them how you believe and take it from there ". This last phrase just about sums up the difference between a Republican and a Democrat ( you will never hear a Democrat say something like that, no matter how middle of the road he/she may be )!

*Feeling mildly masochistic, I tuned into Wolf Blitzer's ' Third Rate Edition '. I wasn't disappointed, as Wolf got to show his true left wing liberal Democrat colors and make Ted and Jane very happy. He had Roy Roemer and Jim Nicholson on, supposedly to talk about the year 2000 elections. Little did Nicholson know ( yeah right ) that Wolf would use the opportunity as an excuse to cut Nicholson off mid-answer and ask rudely worded and loaded questions. I refuse to dignify them with any specific mention; it was just typical, disgraceful, Wolf Blitzer, knee-jerk liberal stuff! Luckily he did begin with a ' two then one ' of Senators, talking about the OIC and then the economy. Blitzer threw some softballs to Joseph Lieberman ( D ) and questioned Fred Thompson ( R ). Lieberman was a Clinton/DNC/Whitehouse lapdog during the impeachment process, but he tried to continue to walk the fine line between supporting Clinton and criticizing him just enough to feint impartiality with, " The law has not been perfect, but has worked more times than not...don't make it ( a vote for the statute ) a referendum on Kenneth Starr ". Playing to the more weak-minded in the viewing audience, he said we must " create a process that gives the public confidence ". He reverted back to partisan Democrat smug mode, with this comment on the failed removal vote in the Senate, " It didn't equal a high crime ". He ended with a cushy statement on the Broaddrick charges, " This will stay like a cloud overhead for a while. We can't rush to judgement ". This is just simple Democrat doublespeak! Thompson began with what seemed to be a rhetorical question, " Every President must and should have a continuing dialog with the American people; now we have a group of lawyers filtering for the President? " He thought the current administration had facilitated " the politicization of the OIC ". He continued by describing the independent counsel as " a whipping boy for whomever they are investigating ", because " they can't defend themselves " in the media! Senator Don Nickles ( R ) began with, " Reducing the capital gains tax has stimulated the economy " and " when the people see an across the board tax cut, they will know it was the Republicans ". On Clinton's phoney budget proposal he said, " President Clinton wants all their money to be sent to Washington D.C. " and " he is trying to take money out of Social Security this year and spend it ". He would only offer up this comment concerning the Broaddrick allegations, " It makes people like Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey look much more credible ".

Fairly mild, yet sweet Sunday, for the weekend after a nuke like the Juanita Broaddrick interview dropped!

- Bongo ( Free for those who couldn't afford the Webster Hubbell Big-mouthed Bass marital aid? )