Carville launched the attack on Starr months ago. Clinton's partisans have linked Starr to Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell, and other bogeymen. Polls indicate that the public is buying this argument. A plurality blames the scandal on Clinton's enemies, not Clinton. The war metaphor has changed the nature of media coverage.
Investigative reporters strive for truth, but political reporters strive for balance.
As political accusations against Starr and the right have escalated, the press has devoted a greater share of its scandal coverage to questioning the methods and motives of those who gathered the evidence against Clinton. And ethics aside, reporters like to prolong fights by keeping them even. The more Clinton is afflicted, the more the press comforts him by afflicting Starr. The psychology of war also causes reporters to focus less on each side's evidence than on its posture. Clinton's Jan. 26 denial of the sex allegations added nothing but anger to his Jan. 21 denial, yet the press called it more persuasive.