The Clinton Impeachment | 4. Alone, Together

Summary

Slow Burn: The Clinton Impeachment

Episode 4: "Alone, Together"

Host: Leon Neyfakh
Date: August 29, 2018

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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

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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.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Visit Wells Fargo.com autographjourney Terms apply. One year before Bill Clinton met Monica Lewinsky, he was sneaking around the White House with someone else. Clinton had a code name for this Charlie. The two of them had an understanding.

[C]

I went to see him in January and I said, I get it. You don't want me to be part of your administration.

[B]

Charlie's actual name was Dick Morris. He was a political consultant with a specialty in polling.

[C]

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.

[B]

Way back in 1978, Morris had helped Clinton get elected governor of Arkansas. But in the years since he had become a Republican, Clinton was the only Democrat Morris was still willing to work for. He got grandfathered in, Morris says, because he was the president. But Clinton's senior staffers didn't trust Morris. They saw him as an unsavory character, a ghoul from Clinton's past.

[C]

As 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.

[B]

It wasn't just that Morris pushed Clinton to the right. It was that he encouraged the president to follow poll numbers instead of his convictions. George Stephanopoulos once described Morris as the dark Buddha whose belly the president rubbed in desperate times. So it made sense that Clinton's secret arrangement with Morris began after the disastrous 1994 midterm elections.

[D]

The 1994 elections from coast to coast are Republican romp.

[E]

This is truly a wildly historic night.

[B]

People rejected Bill Clinton's policies. The 94 midterms were a bloodbath for Democrats. They lost their majorities in both chambers of Congress, giving Republicans control of the legislative branch for the first time in 40 years.

[E]

Newt Gingrich, one of the most controversial figures and shrewdest political operatives in America.

[B]

Who is credited with engineering the Republican takeover, became speaker of the House, the.

[E]

First Republican speaker of the house since 1954. I mean, 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.

[B]

As Clinton tried to navigate this new political reality, he had Dick Morris by his side, helping him write speeches and taking polls aimed at winning over various demographic groups. One time, Morris polled 10,000 married people with kids to find out what Clinton should do on vacation. It turned out camping would go over well, while golfing would not. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress were urging Clinton to cut federal spending and reduce the deficit.

[E]

Today in Washington, Republicans in the House and Senate began debate on their versions of a budget plan. We truly have an opportunity to balance the budget, to set a new course for our country.

[B]

The struggle over the budget came to a head about a year after the election, when Republicans refused to fund the federal government unless Clinton agreed to their spending cuts. In November of 1995, under Gingrich's leadership, the Republicans submitted a spending bill that slashed funding for Medicare, medicine, public health, and education. It was an extreme proposal, and Clinton vetoed it, just like Gingrich expected him to. In doing so, Clinton triggered a government shutdown.

[E]

Neither the President, nor the speaker, nor Senator Dole will give so tonight. Much of the government remains shut down. The American people should not be held hostage anymore to the Republican budget priorities.

[B]

A few days after the shutdown began, Gingrich made a bizarre confession to reporters, saying that his hard line on the budget was not entirely a matter of policy or principle. It turned out that Gingrich was motivated, at least in part, by his feelings. He was mad at the President. As Gingrich explained, he and Clinton had recently flown on Air Force One to attend the funeral of the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin. During the flight, the speaker of the House had been made to sit in the back of the plane.

[E]

He wondered why the President didn't want to talk budget on the plane and indicated he was hurt by the treatment he received, including leaving by the back door.

[B]

This is petty, Gingrich admitted, but I think it's human. The White House did not let the Speaker's disclosure go unremarked upon.

[E]

If it would get the government open, I'd be glad to tell him I'm sorry. Maybe we can send him some of those little M and Ms. With the presidential seal on it or something.

[B]

With Gingrich and Clinton unable to forge a compromise, approximately 800,000 federal employees went on furlough. The White House was a ghost town. Out of 430 full time staff members, all but 90 stayed home. This left a vacuum, one that could only be filled by unpaid interns. Monica Lewinsky had been a White House intern for about four months at the time of the shutdown. She was 22 years old. She had just been promoted to a permanent paid job in the Office of Legislative affairs, but it hadn't started yet. Under normal circumstances, she probably would have never come into close contact with the President. But the government shutdown brought them together. When it came out two years later that Clinton and Lewinsky had started a secret sexual relationship during the shutdown, one of the only people who got an honest account from the President was Dick Morris, AKA Charlie. By that point, Morris was no longer working at the White House. He had been ousted as a result of an embarrassing sex scandal of his own involving a prostitute.

[C]

He called me and he said, I assume you've seen the story. And I said, yes sir. And he said, well, what do you think? And I said, well, remember that the issue here is not what happened, but did you cover it up? And then he told me, 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.

[B]

What happened between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky? Why did it happen and how. And 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? This is Slow Burn. I'm your host, Leon Nayfak. He's risking so much.

[E]

The latest in what is now a long list of scandals.

[B]

I mean, it was crazy, it was inappropriate, it was wrong.

[D]

What he had been prepared to squander with this liaison that was so inappropriate, I felt completely betrayed.

[B]

Episode 4 alone together.

[D]

Hi again. Susan here. I hope you're finding this story as compelling as we did. I've worked at Slate for nine years and I now serve as executive editor of the magazine. I also hosted season seven of Slow Burn on the history of Roe v Wade, which was the most thorough and thoughtful journalism I've ever done. For every season we track down the people who lived through these historic events and and find archival material that helps us see these stories in new ways. That work isn't easy or cheap, which is why we depend on Slate plus members to make it happen. Your membership helps us keep making Slow burn and supports all of Slate's journalism. If you want to hear the rest of this season and support what we do, now's the perfect time to join Slate Plus. You can join directly within Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or visit slate.com slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Thanks so much for listening and for considering becoming a member.

[F]

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