Premise: No matter how carefully Starr's sympathizers explained the distinction between the two cases--and even the superior gravity of the criminal case over the civil case--journalists fell back on the Clintonite spin that, as Tom Brokaw put it, Starr's probe grew out of the Paula Jones case and had therefore lost its viability.

Hypothesis: Starr has explained that he only concerned with the Paula Jones case.
Relation: contradiction