You like to earn their respect. The impeachment inquiry into President Clinton's cover-up of a sexual affair did not top Hyde's list when he was asked how he would like to be remembered. A former high school basketball star and state legislator who made a name in Washington as an anti-abortion activist, Hyde is known as one of the best orators in the House. Members of both parties praised him as House Speaker Newt Gingrich's choice to lead the impeachment inquiry. But the inquiry has brought attacks on Hyde unparalleled in his career.
Attacks also arrive in the mail.
That has spawned a security detail that has become part of his routine from morning until night. They're there when he eats dinner in his office with chief counsel Thomas Mooney, and they accompany him home. That's when Hyde, a widower, is finally alone. I haven't driven my car in about a month and a half. I hope it will start.