Slow Burn: The Clinton Impeachment

Episode 4: "Alone, Together"

Host: Leon Neyfakh
Date: August 29, 2018

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the circumstances that brought Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky together during the 1995 government shutdown, exploring how personal relationships and political maneuvering altered the course of American history. It illuminates the roles played by political consultant Dick Morris, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Clinton’s senior staff, highlighting how the most consequential events often hinge on the impulses and grievances of individual actors.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bill Clinton’s Secret Adviser: Dick Morris ("Charlie")

• Clinton’s Covert Collaboration
  • A year before the Lewinsky scandal began, Clinton was secretly consulting political operative Dick Morris, code-named "Charlie."
  • Clinton relied on Morris’s guidance while keeping his involvement secret from his staff, who considered Morris "a ghoul from Clinton’s past."
  • Morris explains their arrangement:

    “I said, you want me to be a little bird perched on your left shoulder, whispering in your ear and not talking to anyone else. He said, you’ve got it. That’s exactly what I want.” (01:28 - Dick Morris)

• Morris’s Role and the Discontent Among Clinton’s Staff
  • Morris was instrumental in strategy and polling, being the "only Democrat he was still willing to work for" after becoming a Republican.
  • Staff worried Morris shifted Clinton from principle to poll-driven politics.
  • Notable characterization:

    "George Stephanopoulos once described Morris as the dark Buddha whose belly the president rubbed in desperate times." (02:16)

2. The 1994 Midterms and Fallout

• The 1994 elections were a disaster for Democrats, described as “a Republican romp” (02:36), with Republicans gaining Congress for the first time in 40 years and Newt Gingrich ascending as Speaker:

  "If this is not a mandate to move in a particular direction, I would like somebody to explain to me what a mandate would look like." (03:11 – News clip/Gingrich)

• Clinton, guided by Morris, began polling for minutiae — even asking what type of vacation would most appeal to American families.

3. Budget Crisis and Government Shutdown

• In 1995, a clash over federal spending culminated in a government shutdown. Republicans, led by Gingrich, demanded deep cuts (Medicare, public health, education); Clinton vetoed their proposal.

  “The American people should not be held hostage anymore to the Republican budget priorities.” (04:19 – News Clip)

• Petty grievances influenced negotiations: Gingrich admitted his hard line was partly a reaction to being seated at the back of Air Force One by Clinton during a flight to Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral.
• Memorable moment:

  “This is petty, Gingrich admitted, but I think it's human.” (05:08 – Narration)

4. A Ghost Town White House and the Rise of Monica Lewinsky

• About 800,000 federal employees were furloughed; the White House’s 430 staff shrank to just 90, creating a vacuum that unpaid interns filled.
• Monica Lewinsky, just promoted to a permanent job, was one such intern.
• The shutdown unexpectedly put her in direct contact with President Clinton—an encounter unlikely to have occurred otherwise.

5. Clinton & Lewinsky’s Relationship: The Spark

• Two years later, as the affair surfaced, Clinton confided in Dick Morris (who was himself disgraced by a prostitution scandal at the time).
• Clinton reportedly told Morris:

  "Ever since I got here, I’ve had to shut my body down sexually. I mean, but I fucked up with this girl. I didn’t do what they said I did, but I think I did enough so I cannot prove my innocence." (06:50 – Bill Clinton to Dick Morris, relayed by Morris)

6. Reflections on Power, Impulse, and Historical Consequence

• The episode raises the central question: How do the private feelings and decisions of powerful individuals—as seen with Clinton and Gingrich—reshape history’s trajectory?

  “What are we supposed to do about the fact that the whims and impulses of individual men can and constantly do alter the course of history?” (07:05 – Leon Neyfakh)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Segments

• Dick Morris laying out his unique advisory role:

  "You want me to be a little bird perched on your left shoulder, whispering in your ear and not talking to anyone else." (01:28 – Dick Morris recounting Clinton’s words)

• On Clinton’s staff’s distrust for Morris:

  "They saw me as hijacking their president. They wanted him to be a straight liberal, toe the party line and go down to glorious defeat, and he and I didn’t see it that way." (02:03 – Dick Morris)

• Gingrich’s pettiness influencing national policy:

  "He wondered why the President didn’t want to talk budget on the plane and indicated he was hurt by the treatment … this is petty, Gingrich admitted, but I think it’s human." (05:00 – Narration)

• Clinton’s private admission about Lewinsky affair:

  "Ever since I got here, I’ve had to shut my body down sexually. I mean, but I fucked up with this girl…" (06:50 – Clinton, as recounted by Dick Morris)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:54 — Introduction to Dick Morris ("Charlie") and his relationship with Clinton
• 02:36 — 1994 midterms fallout; rise of Republicans
• 03:43 — Budget stalemate and government shutdown
• 04:25 — Gingrich’s personal motivations and White House response (M&M’s quip)
• 05:25 — Government shutdown’s effect inside the White House; role of interns
• 06:31 — Lewinsky’s proximity to the President; aftermath of the affair revealing
• 07:05 — Host Leon Neyfakh’s reflection on the personal nature of political catastrophe

Summary

“Alone, Together” shows how Bill Clinton’s secretive partnership with Dick Morris and the unlikely chain of events following the government shutdown created fertile ground for a personal scandal with historic consequences. The episode offers a layered portrayal of the interplay between political maneuvering, personal vendettas (notably, Gingrich’s), and the unexpected ways ordinary people like Monica Lewinsky are caught up in the currents of history. It challenges listeners to consider how much political history is shaped not by ideology or policy, but by personal impulses, grievances, and moments of chance.