Session: 1234567891011121314         Page 166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213 of 763

libeling him. That as Attorney General, he was not an accessory to illegal invasion of privacy of American citizens. I want to believe that, because I have such strong positive personal feelings for Ramsey Clark. Then he finally ends with Mitchell, and gratuitously, in revealing the, he says -- did you read the piece? You should read it. He says Mitchell was no saint, in contrast to Katzenbach and Ramsey Clark, who were devils; he said that what he wanted to do was just to point out the immorality of the selective morality in terms of the castigation of the Nixon Administration.

Well, it was obvious that Saffire is a spokesman for the administration with which he was identified. But it's also obvious to me that, whether he knows it or not, he is tinkering with certain disturbing truths about the pervasiveness, the metastasis, of political corrutpion, as --

Well, this is the kind of lesson that Adam taught me. I don't know why I didn't succumb, at some later period, to a cynical acceptance of his offer. I really don't. I'd see him, you know, and we'd talk. Even after he made all kinds of statements about my motives and my wife's motives, you know, in fighting him -- needless to say, he had the platform. He had the demagoguic style which he used very effectively. And I and my wife could never change our style of communication, which was always monotonous, you know, and academic, professional.

So that, in a kissing contest with a skunk, -- you know!

As one of my political friends said, you can't ever win in an out and out public argument, where you are trying to communicate