---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 06 May 2000 17:59:26 -0500 From: Bill Nalty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: FR: A LITTLE BIT OF TRUTH RUFFLES RUFF AT E-MAIL HEARING A LITTLE BIT OF TRUTH RUFFLES RUFF AT E-MAIL HEARING - 5/4/00 - After-Action Protest Report Activism/Chapters Opinion Keywords: RUFF FREEPED - LOSES COMPOSURE, MILLS FREEPED - I BELIEVE JUANITA, I DON'T RECALL - WH MANTRA Source: Self Published: May 6, 2000 Author: Angelwood Posted on 05/06/2000 15:54:47 PDT by Angelwood This week, the House Government Reform Committee held two days of hearings regarding the e-mail "glitch" at the White House. I was unable to spend much time at the "Day 3" hearing due to time constraints, but I attended most of the "Day 4" hearing. Traffic was unusually heavy driving into DC and a cab was almost impossible to find. When I was able to flag down an empty cab, the driver said that the Rayburn Building was very popular that day and I worried that I would have trouble getting into the hearing. I arrived about ten minutes late, but they had just come to order and I had missed only a few minutes of Chairman Burton's opening statement. Most of the seats were full except for the first row. So, I took a seat three chairs away from Bruce Lindsey. James Kennedy took the seat between us. More people arrived, and, for a short while, I sat between Tom Fitten and Larry Klayman. I changed seats with Mr. Klayman so that they could confer during some of the witness exchanges. The witnesses, Mark Lindsay, Cheryl Mills and Charles Ruff were all seated at the witness table facing the Committee members. Cheryl Mills sat comfortably on one leg during much of the opening portion of the hearing. It reminded me of president Clinton's counsel, Kendall, pictured sitting on a briefcase during Ken Starr's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee before the Impeachment. More democrats showed up to these two days of hearings. One theory is that they did so in order to waste precious time that could have been used for questions which was instead used to apologize to, suck-up to and praise the witnesses. Henry Waxman is usually the only one I've seen attending the hearings, but he was joined by Reps. Ford, Lantos, Cummings, Holmes, Kanjorski and the minority counsel. The Republicans in attendance were: Burton, Barr, Morella, Shays, Terry, Hutchinson, Chenowith-Hage and Wilson (majority counsel). Photographers were all over the front of the room. They crawled in front of and to the side of the witness table to get close-ups and one practically sat on my feet in his quest to get pictures of Bruce Lindsey. More TV cameras were present than ever before. After Chairman Burton's opening remarks, Henry Waxman took his turn to denigrate the majority members and apologize to the witnesses for having to come before the Committee again. He was especially slurpy in his apologies to Cheryl Mills and took up extra time making inane comments about the wall clock that doesn't work correctly. Charles Ruff had no formal opening statement but wanted to respond that he "fears that the record reflects an incorrect version of the course of events" - that the White House was less than forthcoming or cooperative is a mistaken view of the White House and the Counsel's Office. Cheryl Mills was up next and she reads very well. She hardly missed a word or a phrase of her opening statement. I wondered if Oprah had given her some pointers as I listened to her dramatic pauses, her low and sultry, almost mesmerizing tones. Unfortunately, I never heard her say anything at the breaks to see if this was her real voice. She made herself sound like a victim - please feel sorry for me because I didn't get to go somewhere and give a speech. Someone whispered loudly, "Who does she think she is, Vanessa Williams?" Ms. Mills used her opening statement to garner feelings of pity and outrage for her plight and to bring in a number of extraneous matters that had nothing to do with her role in the White House and her knowledge of the e-mail "glitch." She tried to divert attention from her role and chastise the Committee for encroaching on her time now that she is no longer with the Clinton Administration. Chairman Burton didn't let her get away with her ploy and quickly turned back to the facts at hand which spoke for themselves. The White House Counsel's Office knew about the e-mail problem and they knew about the subpoenas for documents. The White House chose not to tell the Appropriations Committee or ask for money to fix the problem. They chose to either ignore it or hide it. And the Committee was there to find out where responsibility lies as is required by law. There are a number of threads which detail the questions and answers throughout the hearing so I won't repeat everything here. It was very difficult to sit there and listen to learned lawyers act like they were mindless idiots. I got tired of writing "I don't recall" or "not to the best of my recollection" and whatever other excuses the witnesses offered. Ruff said the "buck stopped" with him, but IMO he doesn't accept that there are or should be any consequences involved - it was just a mistake in judgment or communication - forget about it - it's being fixed - I'm outta there - move on. The phrases used by the witnesses were very familiar. Besides "I don't recall" and "not to the best of my knowledge," they said, "never, not once," "I have no specific recollection," "was not aware of...until I read about it in the newspapers." Cheryl Mills had her lines down pat and repeated the same phrases over and over again. Representative Ford on the minority side was extremely difficult to watch in person. He used his time to flirt with Cheryl Mills and pander to the other witnesses. He acknowledged Bruce Lindsey's presence as if it were an honor and commended Ms. Mills on her courage, her commitment to government service at the tender age of 27 and apologized excessively for the despicable actions of the Republicans because she missed her speech and was inconvenienced. Chris Shays said he went from disappointment to anger to outrage over Ms. Mills' statement. Respect for the law is an affirmative obligation of sworn officers of the courts to give facts to constituted authorities. He stated that her statement showed a profound lack of respect to the Committee and was all about her. Rep. Shays referred to a 1977 article written by Bob Woodward. The article was about Watergate the the prosecutors who worked on that matter. Mr. Woodward interviewed Charles Ruff and asked what he had learned from the investigation and what he would do if on the other side. Mr. Ruff replied that if he were called to testify some day at an inquiry, he would say something to the effect of "gee, I just don't remember, I just intend to rely on that failure of memory." Around Noon the Committee took a break for two votes. Rep. Ford suddenly appeared next to the witnesses who were standing up and getting ready to leave the room together. Not only did the extremely annoying Harold Ford flirt with Ms. Mills and apologize up the ying yang to her for everything and everybody, he also came over during the break to personally hug her. During the break I talked to reporters, Congressmen, counsel, and spectators. I handed out buttons to most of the people I spoke to and then I got an idea. I looked over my button supply and carefully chose one with meaning for each of the witnesses. Quite a few people were aware of or watched me walk over to the witness table where I put a button just under the cover of the briefing books for Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Ruff and, since Ms. Mills' book was opened, I gently tucked her button under the clear plastic pocket on the back cover. Mark Lindsay's button said, "IF HIS LIPS ARE MOVING HE MUST BE LYING." Cheryl Mills' button said, "I BELIEVE JUANITA." Charles Ruff's was more difficult to choose out of all our slogans. I finally gifted him with, "EVERYTHING'S FOR SALE AT THE WHITE HOUSE, Coffee, Lincoln's Bedroom, Missile Technology...." Then I sat in my seat to watch their reactions when they noticed the buttons. I did manage to ask Bob Franken if he had indeed given the Wolfie button that I gifted him with on Wednesday to Wolf Blitzer. He assured me that he had and that Wolf had a wonderful time laughing at it. When the hearing reconvened, no one sat between me and Bruce Lindsey. His back must really have been bothering him because he had to change position constantly. He went from sitting straight to half-turned to the left and then would switch to a half-turn to the right. I waved at him once and once caught his attention and stared until he looked away. I watched the witnesses return to their seats at the witness table. Cheryl Mills noticed the button immediately but really kept her cool. She sat down, picked up a document or pad of paper and covered the button. It remained covered for the remainder of their panel. Ruff, on the other hand, didn't notice the button until he looked at an exhibit being discussed, opened the book and saw the button. He kept picking it up and moving it throughout the rest of the questioning. When there were no more questions for the witnesses, Chairman Burton called for a ten minute break, thanked the panel and hit the gavel. Charles Ruff then held the button up high and stated that someone on the staff had left a campaign button in his briefing book and tossed the button back on the table. He caused a bit of a stir and angrily pushed himself away from the table. I didn't realize the button or the truth it told bugged him so much until he lost his control and raised the button in the air to complain. I'm not sorry that I gifted Ruff with the button, but I am sorry that he used the opportunity to smear the majority staff. I did not realize how much I had ticked him off with my message or how mean-spirited he was to blame someone else. I set him straight immediately and told him that the staff had nothing to do with the button - it was left for him by an American Patriot. Me. He could easily see that I had similar buttons on my lapel and I was seated in the first row behind him all day. He stormily took off in his wheelchair. It must be true - the truth hurts. After setting Charles Ruff straight, I walked over to Mark Lindsay and asked if he would answer a question. He just looked at me but one of the black women on the minority staff told me, "No, you can't ask him a question." So, I asked it anyway. "Mr. Lindsay, did you remember to pick up your paycheck from the American taxpayers?" The staff member yelled at me, "I told you you couldn't ask him a question!" He didn't answer, but he got my point about his bad memory under oath. Though Cheryl Mills and Charles Ruff had left the buttons personally picked out for them, Mark Lindsay kept his. It was not on the witness table when I went to retrieve them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll have to see if they let me back in for the next hearing. I evidently left after I freeped the witnesses (because I hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day and the Democrats were giving me an ulcer) before anyone had a chance to ask me to leave. At least that's what I understood Burton said when the break was over and the next panel began. I was not asked to leave, NEVER, NOT ONCE! I had already left the building on my own. I was asked by the staff if I was responsible and asked not to touch the witness table again. I promised that I would not do so. FReep On! Posted on 05/06/2000 15:54:47 PDT by Angelwood ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3914a2b71aea.htm ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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