WHAT'S OLSON NOT TELLING?

"I was not involved in the project..." Could it be that Theodore Olson, who argued Bush's Florida recount case before the Supreme Court and is now his nominee to become Solicitor General, played as loose with the truth as Bill Clinton when he uttered those words in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee? Even Republican chairman Orrin Hatch said that possible discrepancies in Olson's testimony about his role in the Arkansas Project, a right-wing effort to dig up dirt on the Clintons, raised "legitimate" questions. (One example: Billing records for the Arkansas Project showed payments to Olson's law firm.) But when conservatives screamed "witchhunt," Hatch backpedaled and said no to a Democratic request for further investigation, making it likely that Olson's nomination will move through the full Senate.What happened to those Republicans who once argued that any lying under oath by a high-level government official deserves the most serious punishment?

SELF-HATE CRIME

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.