Letters: Jan. 25, 1999

• Share

MEN OF THE YEAR

"Kenneth Starr and Bill Clinton have presided over a year that will endure as one of the most shameful in U.S. history." MARTIN SCHLANK Aberdeen, N.J.

President Bill Clinton and independent counsel Kenneth Starr as Men of the Year [Dec. 28-Jan. 4]? Are you joking? Those two deserve a good old-fashioned tarring and feathering, not the cover of TIME. Their actions and the attention they've gained make me question the validity of the U.S. political system. JARED THOMAS, age 18 Montpelier, Vt.

While my views on what public officials should do match those of the rightist and purist Starr, I have to make an exception for the individualist Clinton--not for his personal conduct regarding sex but for his ideas about government and world affairs. CHARLES W. WALL SR. Gretna, La.

Larry Flynt of Hustler magazine should have been named Man of the Year. After all, he can smoke out adulterers in the government at far less cost and in far less time than Starr. And Flynt can also get a confession, remorse and a resignation at no extra cost! ROBERT COALE Chicago

Clinton and Starr spent the entire year trying to discredit and destroy each other. In the process, they consumed considerable time and resources that could have been better spent addressing America's real problems. They accomplished nothing of which to be proud. Your choice of these two egomaniacs was shortsighted and a great disservice to your readers. ROBERT F. VIOLANTE Natick, Mass.

Even though President Clinton lied under oath, lied to the American people for months and then denied lying even after sorta fessing up to the truth, you made it sound as if it were the Republicans who were in the wrong. If TIME had put as much energy into investigating why the Democratic Party (and the media) was so eager to defend a President who couldn't tell the truth, it could have ended the year practicing journalism instead of propaganda. MICHAEL J. GALLAGHER Cortland, N.Y.

Clinton, no matter what he has done, should not have to pay the penalty of sharing a cover with Starr. DICK ALEN Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Just what does choosing Clinton as one of your Men of the Year say to our young people and the rest of the world--that America honors men who lie and who are immoral? CYNTHIA WELLS Longview, Texas

MUSINGS ABOUT STARR

Of course, your profile of Kenneth Starr [Dec. 28-Jan. 4] presented him in a flattering light. After nearly five years of observing his prosecutions in Arkansas, I know he doesn't take questions, much less grant interviews or leak information to people who might be critical of him. Your "investigation" concludes that his suspicious contacts with the Paula Jones-Linda Tripp forces have been overblown. Yet you did not mention how Starr knew the details of the Monica Lewinsky affidavit before it was filed in court. You mention Starr's lack of political savvy in questioning Lewinsky's mother. But the questioning of mothers and children on matters light-years removed from Bill Clinton was standard practice by Starr in Arkansas, as were inquiries into Clinton's sex life. These are facts, if not the "truth" to which Starr is so devoted. MAX BRANTLEY, EDITOR Arkansas Times Little Rock, Ark.