Is Clinton a liar?

National | Even The Washington Post suggests that "plain language" should start at the top | Cal Thomas

President Clinton has ordered the federal government to start using "plain language" in official documents in order to "send a clear message about what the government is doing." One wishes the president would apply the directive to himself, his staff, and his legions of lawyers in their refusal to fully cooperate with the office of the independent counsel.

Is this the way honest people behave? One of the president's lawyers, Charles Ruff, said with a straight face that Mr. Clinton's legal maneuverings are not about obstruction of justice but about principle. This is an administration that has repeatedly demonstrated it has no principles and is willing to bend or break any law to sustain its power.

The president and his men (and first lady) realized they would probably lose a claim of executive privilege before the Supreme Court, so their fallback position was that attorney-client privilege should prevent top aide and keeper of evidence Bruce Lindsey from testifying before a grand jury. That claim has already been dismissed by Judge Norma Holloway Johnson, who rejected the same reasoning administration lawyers used in their executive-