Subject: Perot blasts Clinton
From: phillip.sherrod@nashville.com (Phillip Sherrod)

The liberal media made little mention of Ross Perot's speech at the 
National Press Club yesterday (my local liberal rag, "The Tennessean" 
failed to mention it at all).  And there is good reason why they ignored 
it: It is one of the strongest indictments of the Clinton admistration yet 
spoken.  However, my conservative news source, The New York Times, printed 
an excellent article about Perot's speech under the heading "Perot Sees 
Moral Problems for Clinton in '97".  (Gee, "moral" problems? Where have we 
heard that before?)

I don't want to give too much weight to Perot as a prognosticator, but on 
this particular issue I think he is right.  Here are some excerpts from the 
article.

Phil Sherrod

 ------------------

In one of his sharpest attacks to date on President Clinton, Ross Perot 
today asserted that Mr. Clinton faced "huge moral, ethical and criminal 
problems" and predicted that a second term would be consumed by "a second 
Watergate" and "a constitutional crisis" in 1997.

"Just remember where you heard it, and put it in the bank," Mr. Perot, the 
Reform Party Presidential candidate, asserted in his midday speech to the 
National Press Club.

"And for two years, nothing's going to happen while we fool with this.  And 
the last thing we need is to lose two more years while our government is 
frozen because the President is being investigated."

...

Mr. Perot sought to portray the White House as a place where politicans 
countenanced criminal behavior in exchange for campaign contributions.

"I never thought I would live to see a major drug dealer give 20,000 bucks 
in Florida and then be invited to a big Democratic reception by the Vice 
President of the United States, Al Gore, and then be invited to the White 
House for a reception," Mr. Perot asserted.

"Now then, right after his trip to the White House they caught him with 
5,828 pounds of cocaine," he continued.  "Don't you think we should set a 
higher standard?  I hope you do.  The White House had to know about the 
prior arrests.  They had to know about his connections to the Cali cartel.  
But hey, this guy gave 20,000 bucks, so let him come on in, right?"

The $20,000 Mr. Perot mentioned was contributed to the Democratic National 
Committee in November 1995 by Jorge Cabrera before his arrest and subequent 
conviction on drug-trafficking charges.  Mr. Cabrera, 40, who is a member 
of a family that owns a large fishery in Florida, is serving a 19-year 
prison sentence.  The spokswoman for the D.N.C., which has returned the 
contribution, said the committee did not have the ability to perform 
"in-depth background checks" or gain access to arrest records and tax forms.