Left I on the News

In multiple media sources today, one can read and hear the following quote from Hollywood mogul David Geffen:

"Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it's troubling."

But only in Maureen Dowd's column today [not online for free; I'm transcribing it from my local paper] do we get the full context:

They [Geffen and Clinton] fell out in 2000, when Clinton gave a pardon to Marc Rich after rebuffing Geffen's request for one for Leonard Peltier. "Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?" Geffen says. "Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in. Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling."

Of all media outlets, only ABC News made any serious effort to inform its viewers about the details of Leonard Peltier's case. By contrast, here's all the "paper of record" had to say about Peltier: "the Indian activist who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of two federal agents." Which in turn was more than almost any other media outlet, for whom the name "Leonard Peltier" was anathema, because it might have made their readers and listeners think about something substantive, rather than about Monica Lewinsky.

By the way, I'm rather skeptical that Bill and Hillary Clinton "genuinely believe" in Leonard Peltier's innocence, as implied by Geffen. More likely Geffen, like a lot of liberals, wants to believe that the Clintons are "really" more liberal than they behave. Personally, I think it's just as likely it's the opposite.