-=> Quoting Janada Oakley to David Hartung <=-
 DH> Remember a certain House speaker who stood up and took his
 DH> medicine? Can you picture young Billy doing that?
 JO> Nope, not in a million years. And if what Steffie says is true...in
 JO> this instance I believe him, Mr Bill will take down every politician
 JO> in Washington (warranted or not) before he'll step down. It's tough
 JO> to get rid of someone when they have so many avenues for blackmail at
 JO> their disposal. Just with all those FBI files...the stuff in there
 JO> doesn't even have to be true to destroy a career. And Congress sure
 JO> is acting like a bunch of scared nellies right now. I'm disgusted.
I'd guess that every member of Congress has had his/her
FBI background files carefully examined by the White House.
Probably their top aides, associates and family members,
too -- and if they didn't have FBI files, there are always
the recently-surfaced private investigators, newspaper
stories, etc.
In most cases, I'm sure there are things the people
involved want very much to keep out of public view.  As
for the few Congresscritters who may actually be "clean"
(if any such actually exist), they may be vulerable
because of loyalty to those close to them.
And with all the attention that has been paid to Filegate,
including the fact that the information is _raw_ data
that may or may not be accurate, the White House could
easily exaggerate information (or even create it) to
damage anyone's reputation.  Who in the media would doubt
the word of a source within the White House, and how much
trouble would it take for anyone outside the White House --
including the subject of the investigation -- to get access
to the unexpurgated file?
Sometmes a threat can be so frightening, the average
person wouldn't dare take a chance.  For most politicians,
the suggestion that career-ruining information (true or
otherwise) might be released is about as frightening as it
gets.
Walter, Forked Deer River Ilks
wluffman@usit.net
... Cry Havoc and loose the dogs of ditto. - PJ O'Rourke
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/Wildcat5! v2.0
---------------