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Article: The art of smearing 101: the idea is to discredit Willey without seeming to discredit her.(Kathleen Willey)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- March 30, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the annals of public relations, this may go down as one of the most Olympian tasks in recent history: attempting to discredit Kathleen Willey's story that she was groped by the president without seeming to discredit Kathleen Willey. Not easy, even for this White House, which has broken Olympian records for spin. This has to be more subtle and somber. What has gotten into poor Ms. Willey these days? "We will not attack her," insists one White House aide.
Instead, this White House is "helpful." How? By helping "Americans understand the fuller context of the story," as Press Secretary Mike McCurry offered last week. What "context" might that be? The context of ...