The Fault Is Not in Our Starrs

Political strategist James Carville has a reputation for talking trash as well as helping Bill Clinton win the presidency in 1992. Since then he's been doing a lot of talking. No one could argue with his civic-duty list of Ten Things You Can Do, from running for office to talking public affairs with the children. Everyone should argue, as Republican spouse Mary Matalin does, when hubby, otherwise known as the Ragin' Cajun, declares his "Starr Wars" - "an all-out effort to expose Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr as the right-wing partisan hack he is."

Mr. Starr has investigated Whitewater and various White House mysteries while opening himself to criticism for continuing to represent private clients, including tobacco firms at odds with President Clinton. The president has allowed it's "obvious" Starr is out to get him. Now Carville is out to get Starr, using speeches, ads, talk shows, etc., and calling it a mistake to have let the White House talk him out of this approach before.

If that was so, good for the White House. The people there know that changing independent counsels depends on legal procedures and not political circuses. They may also realize that, if any wrongdoing is found in this almost Shakespearean drama, the fault is not in our Starrs, dear Carville.