Burton's Hubbell Tape Tangle

Get ready for the Hubbell Tapes, Part II: Webb Strikes Back. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chair of the House committee probing Clinton campaign finance misdeeds, got more than he bargained for after leaking an hour of "selected extracts" Friday from wiretapped recordings of Webster Hubbell speaking to wife Suzy from his prison cell back in 1996. Such quotes from the Clinton pal as "I will not raise those allegations that might open it up to Hillary" whet conservative appetites and piqued the media's interest. As for the other 149 hours, Burton said they were under wraps "to exclude anything that might touch on personal or private affairs." Now it appears those spousal sweet nothings included Hubbell's admission that his former law partner Hillary "just had no idea what was going on." Under pressure from all sides, Burton announced Sunday he would release all the transcripts.

But for Burton, the evil of opening this particular Pandora's Box won't be ended by letting all the contents out. Hubbell and his attorney are upset that every minute of his private conversations -- genuinely personal moments included -- are about to enter the public domain. The ranking Democrat on Burton's committee, Henry Waxman, called for an inquiry into why his chairman "unilaterally subpoenaed these tapes, unilaterally released them and apparently unilaterally altered the content." Moral: Leaking snippets of tape can create a tangled web, as the Clintons already know.