CLINTON’S MISTAKE

           He handled the Monica situation

           disgracefully; it’s sad, because

           he would go down as a great president,

           if he had not had this scandal.

           People would have been more

           forgiving, if he’d had an affair

           with a really beautiful woman

           of sophistication.

           Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe

           were on a different level.

                         September 19, 1999

                         New York Times

                         MAUREEN DOWD COLUMN