Salon | Newsreal: Clinton's ghost

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R E C E N T L Y
Rethinking Rodney King
By Lori Leibovich
A new book suggests that the beating that shook America may not have been as black-and-white a case as it appeared
(03/13/98)
Salon exclusive: Paula Jones' funny money
By Jonathan Broder and Murray Waas
Is Paula Jones fleecing the public -- and why is one of her big benefactors trying to be secret?
(03/12/98)
Paula Jones' Mysterious Benefactor
By Jonathan Broder and Murray Waas
Who's behind a secret $50,000 donation to the legal fund of Clinton's accuser?
(03/12/98)
The Falwell connection
By Murray Waas
How the Rev. Jerry Falwell and a California political organization helped finance and orchestrate an extensive anti-Clinton propaganda campaign
(03/11/98)
Secret agenda man
By David Corn
When Vernon Jordan speaks, people listen. But who is he talking for?
(03/10/98)
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_______Clinton's ghost

Rethinking Rodney King
JIM MCDOUGAL'S QUEST FOR REVENGE FINALLY KILLED HIM, BUT NOT BEFORE EMBROILING THE COUNTRY IN THE SIX-YEAR TORTURE KNOWN AS WHITEWATER.
BY GENE LYONS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The man dubbed the "epicenter" of Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation is dead, eulogized at his graveside by the prosecutor who hounded him, broke his will and sent him to die in prison. No doubt, certain self-styled journalists are scouring the Fort Worth, Texas, hospital where James McDougal died, concocting a scenario whereby President Clinton had the poor man bumped off to further cover up the crimes of his presidency.
To more rational minds, McDougal's passing can't help but provoke reflection. Truly, the man was one of a kind. Among Arkansas journalists who'd covered McDougal's colorful and increasingly erratic public career, there was a genuine sense of loss. Old-time agrarian populist, failed politician, professor, real estate developer, banker, entrepreneur, promoter, salesman, opportunist, bunco artist, raconteur, confidence man and betrayer: McDougal performed all of the above roles and more during his 58 years in this mortal coil. He could recite Biblical verses and quote lengthy passages from Shakespeare or James Madison from memory. To the extent that he committed financial crimes, which ultimately broke his spirit, McDougal did so more out of a desperate wish to keep his ramshackle empire solvent -- and to keep the people who worked for him gainfully employed -- than he did out of greed.
An editorial in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette captured the paradox of the man perfectly: "Was he just the last of the straight-faced kidders, or a fellow with the kind of bead on truth that only the best confidence men have, and can turn to their advantage? Was he closer to the truth when he was manic or depressive, when he was professing his innocence or confessing his guilt and turning state's evidence? ... We grieve for ourselves at never again being able to buy his lunch ... He may have told tales that we didn't believe, but that were all the more delightful for the willing suspension of disbelief. Isn't that the prerequisite for poetry? This bard's forte was fraud recollected in tranquillity."
The pathos and irony of McDougal's fate were lost on hardly anybody. Even Jeff Gerth, the New York Times reporter whose sloppily tendentious Whitewater reporting contributed greatly to his sorrowful demise, pointed out that "McDougal was the victim of his own acts of revenge." Gerth was referring to McDougal's dashed expectation, having emerged victorious from a 1990 bank fraud trial in Little Rock federal court, that then-Gov. Clinton would give him a job. Like some corn pone King Lear, the poor man took his largely imaginary grievances to Sheffield Nelson, Clinton's bitterest Republican enemy in Arkansas. Only too happy to be of service, Nelson contacted Gerth, and the resulting political firestorm consumed what remained of McDougal's life.
"He intended the attack to harm Mr. Clinton," Gerth wrote the day after Jim McDougal's death. "Instead, it destroyed Mr. McDougal, leading to the appointment of the Whitewater independent counsel, who indicted, convicted and jailed him for his management of a corrupt savings and loan association."
Not surprisingly, neither the Times nor any of the other journalists who created and sustained the Whitewater delusion over six long years accepted any share of the blame. In his initial, innuendo-laden Whitewater story on March 8, 1992, Gerth noted that McDougal suffered from manic-depressive illness, but described him as "stable, careful and calm." That bit of amateur diagnosis out of the way, the effect of McDougal's illness upon his turbulent business and personal life was rarely mentioned. More's the pity.
The simplest way to put it is this: Describe to a psychiatrist McDougal's financial situation back around 1982 -- his ramshackle empire of heavily mortgaged real estate investments, his ownership of a small, unprofitable bank and a floundering savings and loan -- then add the fact that he suffered from an undiagnosed, untreated organic brain disorder -- and the doctor could tell you the rest of the story. Whether or not they'd ever heard of Whitewater or Clinton.
Kay Redfield Jamison's book "An Unquiet Mind" is useful. A Johns Hopkins University psychologist, Jamison herself suffers from the disorder.
"When I am high," she writes, "I couldn't worry about money if I tried. The money will come from somewhere; I am entitled; God will provide ... But then back on lithium and rotating on the planet at the same pace as everybody else, you find your credit is decimated, your mortification complete." Jamison once bought three Rolex watches, 12 snakebite kits and a truckload of elegant furniture on the same shopping trip. Just imagine if she'd owned Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan during the great S&L flameout of the Reagan years.
It's also common, say the psychiatric texts, for manic individuals to succumb to "grandiose delusions involving a special relationship to God, or some well-known figure from the political, religious or entertainment world." A fantasy about taking down the president might qualify.
N E X T+P A G E+| A faux Brutus sticks the knife in himself

T A B L E+T A L K San Francisco's 70 percent minority solution: Reading list without color, or school board without a clue? Join the discussion in Education. R E C E N T L Y Rethinking Rodney King By Lori Leibovich A new book suggests that the beating that shook America may not have been as black-and-white a case as it appeared (03/13/98) Salon exclusive: Paula Jones' funny money By Jonathan Broder and Murray Waas Is Paula Jones fleecing the public -- and why is one of her big benefactors trying to be secret? (03/12/98) Paula Jones' Mysterious Benefactor By Jonathan Broder and Murray Waas Who's behind a secret $50,000 donation to the legal fund of Clinton's accuser? (03/12/98) The Falwell connection By Murray Waas How the Rev. Jerry Falwell and a California political organization helped finance and orchestrate an extensive anti-Clinton propaganda campaign (03/11/98) Secret agenda man By David Corn When Vernon Jordan speaks, people listen. But who is he talking for? (03/10/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		_______Clinton's ghost JIM MCDOUGAL'S QUEST FOR REVENGE FINALLY KILLED HIM, BUT NOT BEFORE EMBROILING THE COUNTRY IN THE SIX-YEAR TORTURE KNOWN AS WHITEWATER. BY GENE LYONS LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The man dubbed the "epicenter" of Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation is dead, eulogized at his graveside by the prosecutor who hounded him, broke his will and sent him to die in prison. No doubt, certain self-styled journalists are scouring the Fort Worth, Texas, hospital where James McDougal died, concocting a scenario whereby President Clinton had the poor man bumped off to further cover up the crimes of his presidency. To more rational minds, McDougal's passing can't help but provoke reflection. Truly, the man was one of a kind. Among Arkansas journalists who'd covered McDougal's colorful and increasingly erratic public career, there was a genuine sense of loss. Old-time agrarian populist, failed politician, professor, real estate developer, banker, entrepreneur, promoter, salesman, opportunist, bunco artist, raconteur, confidence man and betrayer: McDougal performed all of the above roles and more during his 58 years in this mortal coil. He could recite Biblical verses and quote lengthy passages from Shakespeare or James Madison from memory. To the extent that he committed financial crimes, which ultimately broke his spirit, McDougal did so more out of a desperate wish to keep his ramshackle empire solvent -- and to keep the people who worked for him gainfully employed -- than he did out of greed. An editorial in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette captured the paradox of the man perfectly: "Was he just the last of the straight-faced kidders, or a fellow with the kind of bead on truth that only the best confidence men have, and can turn to their advantage? Was he closer to the truth when he was manic or depressive, when he was professing his innocence or confessing his guilt and turning state's evidence? ... We grieve for ourselves at never again being able to buy his lunch ... He may have told tales that we didn't believe, but that were all the more delightful for the willing suspension of disbelief. Isn't that the prerequisite for poetry? This bard's forte was fraud recollected in tranquillity." The pathos and irony of McDougal's fate were lost on hardly anybody. Even Jeff Gerth, the New York Times reporter whose sloppily tendentious Whitewater reporting contributed greatly to his sorrowful demise, pointed out that "McDougal was the victim of his own acts of revenge." Gerth was referring to McDougal's dashed expectation, having emerged victorious from a 1990 bank fraud trial in Little Rock federal court, that then-Gov. Clinton would give him a job. Like some corn pone King Lear, the poor man took his largely imaginary grievances to Sheffield Nelson, Clinton's bitterest Republican enemy in Arkansas. Only too happy to be of service, Nelson contacted Gerth, and the resulting political firestorm consumed what remained of McDougal's life. "He intended the attack to harm Mr. Clinton," Gerth wrote the day after Jim McDougal's death. "Instead, it destroyed Mr. McDougal, leading to the appointment of the Whitewater independent counsel, who indicted, convicted and jailed him for his management of a corrupt savings and loan association." Not surprisingly, neither the Times nor any of the other journalists who created and sustained the Whitewater delusion over six long years accepted any share of the blame. In his initial, innuendo-laden Whitewater story on March 8, 1992, Gerth noted that McDougal suffered from manic-depressive illness, but described him as "stable, careful and calm." That bit of amateur diagnosis out of the way, the effect of McDougal's illness upon his turbulent business and personal life was rarely mentioned. More's the pity. The simplest way to put it is this: Describe to a psychiatrist McDougal's financial situation back around 1982 -- his ramshackle empire of heavily mortgaged real estate investments, his ownership of a small, unprofitable bank and a floundering savings and loan -- then add the fact that he suffered from an undiagnosed, untreated organic brain disorder -- and the doctor could tell you the rest of the story. Whether or not they'd ever heard of Whitewater or Clinton. Kay Redfield Jamison's book "An Unquiet Mind" is useful. A Johns Hopkins University psychologist, Jamison herself suffers from the disorder. "When I am high," she writes, "I couldn't worry about money if I tried. The money will come from somewhere; I am entitled; God will provide ... But then back on lithium and rotating on the planet at the same pace as everybody else, you find your credit is decimated, your mortification complete." Jamison once bought three Rolex watches, 12 snakebite kits and a truckload of elegant furniture on the same shopping trip. Just imagine if she'd owned Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan during the great S&L flameout of the Reagan years. It's also common, say the psychiatric texts, for manic individuals to succumb to "grandiose delusions involving a special relationship to God, or some well-known figure from the political, religious or entertainment world." A fantasy about taking down the president might qualify. N E X T+P A G E+\| A faux Brutus sticks the knife in himself