Washington Post celebrities and other pack journalists wallowed in Watergate again this week.

They tried mightily to justify their hysteria 25 years ago when they pumped up a "national crisis" over the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters by President Richard Nixon's reelection dirty-tricks operators.

The DNC caper was -- as Nixon blurted when told about it -- "jackassery." Had he said so publicly, and fired the perpetrators instanter, the electorate would have hardly noticed.

As it was, however, Nixon sought to "stonewall" his eager critics. This set the stage for his ignoble downfall. The famous audio tapes with which Nixon intended to refresh his memory for future books indicate that he was paranoid about his enemies.

Nixon had reason for concern. Liberals hounded him incessantly for opposing two of their darlings. He defeated Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas in 1946. Then he investigated Deputy Secretary of State Alger Hiss for communist leanings. Hiss was imprisoned for conspiring with Time Magazine Editor Whittaker Chambers to pass secret government papers to the Soviet Union in 1937-38.

Nixon came to the presidency in 1968 during the height of the Cold War with communism world wide. The hot war in Vietnam was going badly. U.S. soldiers in Korea maintained an armed truce that continues today.

America was racked by violent anti-war demonstrations. Protesters had clashed with Chicago police during the Democratic national convention. Bill Clinton was in England avoiding the draft and organizing anti-American demonstrations. Hillary Rodham was cutting her legal teeth as a lawyer on the Congressional committee investigating Nixon. Pickets patrolled outside the White House. College students rioted on campus.

Nixon lost his cool in 1971 when Daniel Ellsberg, a National Security Council analyst under President Lyndon Johnson, gave top-secret Pentagon papers to the Washington Post and New York Times. The documents outlined the military and diplomatic mistakes of Vietnam.

No blame attached to the Nixon administration, but the massive leak inflamed the anti-war movement already angry that he was not pulling out of Vietnam fast enough.

The president feared that other security information might be compromised. Consequently, he ordered his gung-ho aides to break into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist and copy the file on Ellsberg.

The Ellsberg records provided no clues, but the amateur burglars had gained experience. When Nixon expressed anger over the leak of his reelection tactics to the Democratic party, G. Gordon Liddy took it upon himself to bug its headquarters. The job was bungled, and it was all down hill thereafter.

Nixon lied about the break-in and did his best to cover-up it up. He fired the Justice Department special prosecutor investigating the situation. He tried unsuccessfully to get information about his enemies from the Internal Revenue Service. He offered hush money to key players, but none was requested.

Dirty tricks were then, as now, acceptable politics by Americans -- lying and obstructing justice was, and is, a cardinal sin. The president resigned after the smug Democrat Congress -- with help from holier-than-thou Republicans -- drew up articles of impeachment. Twenty-five aides went to prison or paid fines.

Washington Post personnel making the rounds of television talk shows last week sturdily defended their Watergate reporting, It was, indeed, what journalists are supposed to do. Strangely, though, they see no parallel with Whitewater that requires similar persistence. Says Editor Ben Bradlee, "The Clinton's have not been found guilty of any criminal act."

True. The Clinton's stonewalling has succeeded so far by frivolous appeals to the courts for delay. They also have been lucky enough to ride along on a wave of peace and prosperity.

However, three colleagues have been convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison -- Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, Madison Guaranty President James McDougal, and Whitewater real-estate manager Susan McDougal.

They illegally diverted $60 million of taxpayer funds from Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan to a failed real estate partnership that included the Clintons. Three other conspirators have been indicted and await trial for fraud, illegal contributions and/or drug distribution.

At least $250.000 of loan money disappeared in a fraudulent appraisal in the Castle Grande real estate scam brokered by Mrs. Clinton. A subpoena ordering her to submit billing records linking her to that and other deals was ignored.

"Lost," she said. Yet they were found two years later on a table in the White House living quarters by a secretary. Obstruction of justice? Hillary accepted a quick $100,000 profit on a $1,000 investment in cattle futures purchased for her by a chicken producer. It quacks like a bribe. Clinton sicked the FBI on the White House travel office to find a reason for firing the non-political workers and giving the jobs to Hollywood cronies. Abuse of power? At trial, the workers were quickly found innocent.

The president's "counter-event operator," Craig Livingstone, also requisitioned confidential FBI files on 400 Republicans in an effort to find damaging information. Invasion of privacy?

When Hillary Clinton's law partner, Wesbster Hubbell, resigned from the Justice Department after being subpoenaed for misuse of client funds, the White House hurriedly arranged $500,000 in "retainer fees" for Hubbell.

This, plus Clinton's public announcement that he would pay legal expenses for administration officials caught in the Whitewater web, smells like hush money and tampering with jury witnesses.

In discussing constitutional crises, Clinton's desperation for campaign money is in a class by itself. He, Vice-president Gore, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and others solicited at least $3.5 million dollars from Asian sources -- a clear violation of the constitution. Worse, they took pains to launder the money through Buddhist Temples and dummy U.S. companies. This oviously violates the federal campaign laws.

Democrats are trying to pooh-pooh the Clintons' many illegal and sleazy acts as "old stuff no body cares about." But that dog won't hunt. The House Judiciary Committee is drafting an impeachment bill on the president "just to stay ahead of the curve." Special Counsel Kenneth Starr has hired three high-powered trial lawyers to reopen the Washington, D.C. grand jury. Inside sources hint he is working on an indictment for Hillary. In comparison to Whitewater, Watergate was a tea party.

PARTING SHOTS

Satchel Paige has good advice for all of us: "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you. "

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The original police report about the Watergate break-in has been put up for auction. The door lock that was jimmied sold for $20,000 recently. How much would you bid for President Clinton's under shorts, or Mrs. Clinton's cattle-futures receipt?

June 22, 1997

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