The Clothes Have No Emperor Part 25

9/11/87.

With presidential hopeful Joe Biden about to preside over the Bork hearings, video excerpts of a highly personal speech by British politician Neil Kinnock intercut with nearly identical (and unattributed) pa.s.sages from a Biden speech begin circulating among reporters. Though Biden says he usually credits Kinnock, his seeming appropriation of another man's life does little for his credibility. Speculation begins about which rival campaign compiled the "attack video."

9/11/87.

Furious over a CBS decision to delay his newscast to show the end of a women's semi-final tennis match, Dan Rather in Miami for the Pope's visit walks off the set, causing the network to "go black" for six minutes after the game.

9/15/87.

Rejecting advice that he lose the unsightly beard, Robert Bork testifies at his Senate confirmation hearings. Though supporters have been counting on his warmth and intelligence to win over critics whose concerns include his insistence that there is no const.i.tutional right to privacy he instead comes across as a cold, angry man with no evident humor. His nomination is understood to be in trouble.

9/15/87.

Fawn Hall now signed with the William Morris Agency tells Barbara Walters that running for office has "definitely crossed my mind." She says her ordeal over the past several months has "made me realize that probably I'm a lot deeper person than I thought I was."

9/18/87.

In j.a.pan for a concert tour, Michael Jackson visits the mayor of Osaka accompanied by his pet chimp Bubbles, who sips j.a.panese green tea. "We were surprised to see the chimpanzee," says a city official, "but we understand he is his good friend."

9/23/87.

Amidst charges of plagiarism dating back to law school, Joe Biden whose presidential hopes have been staked on his reputation for inspiring oratory withdraws from the race. Since it soon turns out he has a brain aneurysm requiring surgery, this move in all likelihood saves his life.

9/27/87.

The Was.h.i.+ngton Post publishes excerpts from Bob Woodward's publishes excerpts from Bob Woodward's VEIL: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987 VEIL: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. Media attention focuses on the scene in which the author sneaked into the dying William Casey's hospital room and asked if he knew about the diversion of funds. Casey is reported to have nodded. For some reason, this t.i.tillating but hardly surprising tidbit who thinks he didn't didn't know? is considered more newsworthy than the revelation that Casey was know? is considered more newsworthy than the revelation that Casey was personally responsible personally responsible for the deaths of 80 innocent people in Beirut, victims of a malfunctioning car bomb intended to a.s.sa.s.sinate a Hezbollah terrorist. for the deaths of 80 innocent people in Beirut, victims of a malfunctioning car bomb intended to a.s.sa.s.sinate a Hezbollah terrorist.

9/28/87.

Jessica Hahn who is reported to have received $1 million from Playboy Playboy begins a publicity tour to promote the new issue, in which, declaring "I am not a bimbo," she poses for 10 pages of topless photos. begins a publicity tour to promote the new issue, in which, declaring "I am not a bimbo," she poses for 10 pages of topless photos.

9/28/87.

Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-CO) bursts into tears as she announces that she will not run for President in 1988. Hostile media reaction to this display of emotion certifies a reversal in public standards: It is now only permissible for a man man to cry in public. to cry in public.

9/29/87.

Defending a fund-raising letter attacking the "h.o.m.os.e.xual lobby" for trying to recall him, Evan Mecham is asked for the "true version" of several different explanations about the letter. Says the angry Arizona governor, "Don't ever ask me for a true statement again."

9/29/87.

"Boy, they were big on crematoriums, weren't they?"

--Vice President Bush after a tour of the Auschwitz death camp 9/30/87.

Dukakis campaign manager John Sa.s.so resigns after admitting that he was the source of the Biden "attack video." Why he is penalized for disseminating accurate information goes unexplained.

9/30/87.

President Reagan complains to the arch-conservative Was.h.i.+ngton Times Was.h.i.+ngton Times that a Soviet "disinformation campaign" has made anti-Communism in the US "unfas.h.i.+onable." He speaks nostalgically of the good old days when Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee would investigate suspected subversives. "They've done away with those committees," says the President. "That shows the success of what the Soviets were able to do in this country." that a Soviet "disinformation campaign" has made anti-Communism in the US "unfas.h.i.+onable." He speaks nostalgically of the good old days when Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee would investigate suspected subversives. "They've done away with those committees," says the President. "That shows the success of what the Soviets were able to do in this country."

9/30/87.

Employing his unvarying review of any book that contains truths he doesn't like, President Reagan dismisses Veil Veil as "an awful lot of fiction." Asked if Casey engaged in covert activities without his knowledge, the President replies, "Not that I know of." as "an awful lot of fiction." Asked if Casey engaged in covert activities without his knowledge, the President replies, "Not that I know of."

OCTOBER 1987.

10/1/87.

TV evangelist Pat Robertson who stayed at a friend's house there for three months in 1959 returns to his "roots" in the Brooklyn ghetto of Bedford-Stuyvesant to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. "Bigot!" local residents chant, proving that you can't go home again. "Bigot!"

10/2/87.

Vice President Bush continues his loose-lipped trek across Europe, telling a Brussels audience that Soviet tanks are so well built that the mechanics should be sent to Detroit "because we could use that kind of ability." Motown auto workers are predictably unamused.

10/6/87.

The Senate Judiciary Committee votes 9-5 against the Bork nomination.

10/6/87.

The stock market drops 91.55 points the biggest one-day plunge to date.

10/7/87.

Pat Robertson acknowledges a Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal report that he's been less than candid about his wedding date, and that his first child was born only ten weeks after the marriage. Complains the candidate, "I have never had this kind of precision demanded of me before." report that he's been less than candid about his wedding date, and that his first child was born only ten weeks after the marriage. Complains the candidate, "I have never had this kind of precision demanded of me before."

10/12/87.

On the day that George Bush announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, Newsweek Newsweek runs a cover story on him with the headline "FIGHTING THE 'WIMP FACTOR.'" He is reportedly so upset that he counts the number of times the word "wimp" appears in the article. (Nine.) runs a cover story on him with the headline "FIGHTING THE 'WIMP FACTOR.'" He is reportedly so upset that he counts the number of times the word "wimp" appears in the article. (Nine.) 10/13/87.

"If I have to appoint another one, I'll try to find one that they'll object to just as much as they did to this one."

--President Reagan, bitter about the impending defeat of the Bork nomination 10/13/87.

At a state dinner for El Salvador's president Duarte, entertainer Lionel Hampton forgets where the guest of honor is from, calling it "that great foreign country down there."

Meanwhile, the President discusses Armageddon with Duarte's wife.

10/14/87.

The stock market drops 95.46 points the new biggest one-day plunge.

10/14/87.

The Bakkers announce a 25-city "Farewell for Now" tour featuring Tammy's singing and Jim's "sharing from his heart." The tour is cancelled when only 32 tickets are sold for its Nashville opening.

10/14/87.

"A lot of the people that support me, they were ... at their daughter's coming-out parties ..."

--George Bush, vastly overestimating the Iowan debutante population to explain his third place finish in a state straw poll 10/15/87.

Los Angeles residents awaken to find that Robbie Conal has plastered the city with his latest homage to the President, CONTRA DICTION. "In this one, I think of him as a little paranoid, a little hurt and maybe a little confused," says the artist of the new portrait, "and that's the way he's he's made made me me feel for years." feel for years."

10/16/87.

The stock market drops 108.36 points the new biggest one-day plunge.

10/17/87.

Nancy Reagan's left breast is removed after it is found to be cancerous. As if this isn't bad enough, her mother dies nine days later. And as if that isn't bad enough, daughter Patti citing "other travel plans" does not attend the funeral.

10/19/87.

The stock market drops 508 points the newest biggest one-day plunge with an estimated total loss of $503 billion. Shouts the President above the noise of his helicopter as he heads off to visit Nancy, "There is nothing wrong with the economy!"

10/20/87.

Galleys of former Education Secretary T.H. Bell's forthcoming White House memoir reveal that, to President Reagan's "mid-level right-wing staffers," Martin Luther King Jr. was "Martin Lucifer c.o.o.n," Arabs were "sand n.i.g.g.e.rs" and a law prohibiting discrimination against women was "the lesbians' bill of rights."

10/22/87.

"What went wrong?"

"What went wrong with what?"

--President Reagan responding to questions about the unprecedented stock plunge, which he calls "a long overdue correction"

10/22/87.

President Reagan refers to Secretary of State George Shultz as "The Secretary General."

10/23/87.

Thanks largely to the tireless efforts of liberal advocacy groups like Norman Lear's People For the American Way, Robert Bork is rejected by the largest Senate margin ever, 58-42. Says one observer of Bork's failure to win over undecided senators in private meetings, "The dogs just didn't like the food."

10/27/87.

Michael Deaver's perjury trial gets underway in Was.h.i.+ngton. Says a former aide, "I think if he had it to do over again, he would probably have handled his media differently."

10/28/87.

At the first Republican debate, George Bush takes the advice of former Nixon media guru Roger Ailes and calls rival candidate Pete duPont by his given name "Pierre" in order to make viewers think duPont is the real wimp because of his sissy French name.

10/29/87.

President Reagan, who claims that the time has come "to put the national interest ahead of partisan political interests," ignores aides urging a moderate Court appointment and nominates Ed Meese's extremely partisan 41-year-old choice, Harvard law professor Douglas H. Ginsburg.

10/31/87.

Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg confirms that his wife, Hallee Morgan, performed abortions during her medical training in Boston.

NOVEMBER 1987.

11/1/87.

Further details emerge about the background of Douglas Ginsburg: As a Justice Department lawyer, he "personally handled" a cable TV case while he had close to $140,000 invested in a Canadian cable company with major US holdings.

11/5/87.

Douglas Ginsburg confirms another rumor: "Once as a student in the 1960s and on a few occasions in the '70s," while he was teaching at Harvard, he smoked marijuana. He calls it a "mistake."

11/6/87.

With Douglas Ginsburg's survival already in doubt before the pot revelation in serious jeopardy, conservatives fearful that a third nominee will be less ideologically pure are thrust into the surreal position of downplaying his drug use. "He was not an addict," says the President, not previously known for condoning recreational usage. "He was nothing of that kind."

Meanwhile, aware that this question will now be asked of all baby-boom politicians, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) admits that he smoked marijuana once, 19 years ago, but it had no effect on him.

11/6/87.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: WEINBERGER DEPARTS; PENTAGON TRANSITION BEGINS / REAGAN NAMES CARLUCCI DEFENSE SECRETARY, POWELL SECURITY ADVISER 11/6/87.

In a PBS AIDS special hosted by Ron Reagan, singer Ruben Blades uses a banana to demonstrate how to put on a condom. The International Banana a.s.sociation protests, claiming that the "unsavory a.s.sociation" will damage the industry, but no decline in banana consumption is noted.

11/7/87.

Douglas Ginsburg asks President Reagan to withdraw his nomination. Meanwhile, Albert and Tipper Gore announce that they smoked gra.s.s in their youth (though they now regret it), Bruce Babbitt says he smoked it 20 years ago, and Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI) says he took "several puffs" off a joint years ago and "didn't like it."

11/7/87.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS MRS. MEESE'S LETTER TO JUDGE / ATTORNEY GENERAL'S WIFE URGED LENIENCY IN SENTENCING LAWMAKER'S SON FOR TAX FRAUD 11/8/87.

Rep. Connie Mack III (R-FL) tells a reporter he smoked marijuana "more than once, but not often" when he was in his 30s, "but I have not done it in years." Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-FL) says he smoked it once, 17 years ago.

11/8/87.

Appearing on Face the Nation Face the Nation, Ginsburg defender Orrin Hatch is asked why he of all people thinks it's okay that a pot smoker was teaching students the law. Hatch points out that it happened a decade ago. "But," says Lesley Stahl, "he was a professor of the law of the law."

"So what?" shouts Hatch. "I mean I think that's no, wait a minute, I ... I think that's a factor to be considered."

11/8/87.

White House aides trying to head off another round of stories about President Reagan's increasing irrelevance in the wake of the Ginsburg fiasco claim he was "very active and very animated" at a recent budget meeting and that he even pounded the table for emphasis.

11/9/87.

Sen. Bob Dole goes home to Russell, Kansas to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. "I offer a record," he says in his first official tweak at despised rival George Bush, "not a resume."