Tales of the anti-Clinton Catholic media 'mafia.'

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 9, 1998 by Raymond Schroth

Relatively few people look better naked than clothed. The Starr report and the Republican demand that we see the videotape of Clinton's grand jury testimony were calculated to have us see the president naked. It is as if we had accidentally stumbled into his bedroom in the morning as he staggered out of the bathroom, the roar of the toilet flushing in the background.

One response to the report is to blame Starr for writing a dirty book. But, compared to what is already available in your basic movie theater or newsstands, this is cold soup. The report and testimony are not pornography. Pornography is meant to delight. Reading and viewing these documents has had the unintended effect of making the president of the United States appear, if not sympathetic, at least pathetic. Its impact is not shock but sadness. He comes on sometimes clever, dignified and firm, but then he's like a stray dog with big eyes, covered with ticks and fleas, who has wandered into our yard. You don't want to kick him but you don't want to let him into the house.

These documents also demonstrate that there is no such thing as only sex. The seemingly private touch between two people -- however well-or-mismatched -- touches everyone who loves, hates or believes in them. To her, he was a prize to be won and talked about. To him, she was Kleenex, a moment of relief to be used, lied to and thrown away. We always knew that. She does now.

And if our paths never crossed at Georgetown 30 years ago and if I never got to know a future president of the United States when he was 20, after reading all this stuff and watching the tapes of his testimony, I have a sense of knowing him now -- still morally and emotionally the same age he was then.