[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 11, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE CREDIBILITY CANYON

  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning first to bring 
greetings to you and those who look in from the Grand Canyon State of 
Arizona. As proud as Arizonans and indeed all Americans are of the 
Grand Canyon, rhetorically and in terms of actions within this city of 
Washington, DC, there is, indeed, a credibility canyon, not a gap but a 
canyon, an everwidening chasm between the rhetoric of our President and 
the reality of his actions and inactions.
  The headlines in this morning's Washington Times indicate how this 
credibility canyon continues to widen. Lists of files may be 
incomplete. White House stories face Hill questions. But, Mr. Speaker, 
there are more than questions which will emanate from this Chamber and 
in committee. There are questions that the American people have about 
the stewardship of the Presidency, about the veracity of claims made by 
this President and, again, the disparity between the rhetoric and the 
reality.
  How unfortunate it is, Mr. Speaker, that this administration and, in 
particular, this President are not defined by the innocent question, 
what can he do or what can we do together to solve America's 
problems. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, the question that we hear from coast to 
coast and, indeed, in the Sixth District of Arizona, is this one: How 
can the President explain it away this time? What verbal gyrations, 
gymnastics, contortions will be brought to bear to put the best face on 
obtaining hundreds of FBI files on members of the Republican Party? Our 
President would have us believe plaintively that it was, ``an honest 
snafu.''

  Well, he is partially right. Snafu is an accurate term. But as for 
the first word mentioned, the American people have serious questions.
  It is a tragedy that those in the executive branch fail to understand 
the missive of Mark Twain, who wrote that history does not repeat 
itself but it rhymes. Mr. Speaker, I read with interest the comments of 
Daniel Schorr, the liberal media commentator who to his credit in the 
wake of what transpired 25 years ago during a Republican administration 
now says of this administration, what makes these people believe that 
the FBI is their private domain to do their private bidding in terms of 
political investigations. Indeed, the challenge exists for journalists 
in this town. Indeed, one wonders where the next team of Woodward and 
Bernstein might be found, and one also wonders what the results of an 
investigation would bring or, given the prevailing advocacy of 
journalists in this town, would the book written be titled, maybe ``One 
or Two of the President's Low-Level Functionaries'' instead of the 
title ``All the President's Men.''
  It is very interesting, Mr. Speaker, to come here from elsewhere, to 
come here from the heartland of America and to see this dichotomy 
between rhetoric and reality. Mr. Speaker, this Congress will move to 
close the credibility canyon.

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