Four Hours of Presidential Fury

WASHINGTON: It's the most eagerly anticipated video release of the year, and it could hit the small screen as soon as Friday. But making the tapes of President Clinton's grand jury testimony available might be a big mistake for congressional Republicans. According to a CBS poll released Wednesday, a whopping 70 percent of Americans don't want this four-hour-long epic thrust upon them. Several published accounts say that the tape contains persistent questioning about Lewinsky's breasts, genitalia and even the infamous cigar, all of which infuriates Clinton; at one point he is said to have stormed off for an hour-long break to regain his temper.

Taken out of context, some of this footage could look very bad -- or good, depending on your point of view -- in GOP attack ads this fall. Democrats smell a rat and wonder why the Judiciary Committee isn't simply releasing a transcript. Even some Republicans are uneasy with simply tossing out goodies from Ken Starr's boxes of documentary evidence. "There are a lot of salacious details here that do not belong in the public domain," says Rep. Steven Buyer of Indiana. In the end, the temptation to wipe over Clinton's carefully constructed image of contrition with angry, defiant testimony may be too much; the price Republicans may pay is the end of bipartisanship.