On the seventeenth, Kenneth Starr announced he would leave his post on August 1 to become dean of the Pepperdine University Law School in southern California. At night we watched movies and bowled. Just before the House vote, Speaker Tom Foley and majority leader Dick Gephardt had made a last-ditch appeal to me to remove the assault weapons ban from the bill. I took some criticism from Democrats who objected to the tax cut or to the fact that we were making the agreement at all.
The Israelis would also give up a little more of the West Bank and probably a larger land swap than Barak’s last best offer, but they would keep enough to hold at least 80 percent of the settlers. One day, after one of our budget meetings in October, I asked Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming to stay a moment to talk. Civil rights leaders wanted to keep them strong and comprehensive, while many Republicans were urging that they be abandoned altogether. They give the press an opportunity to poke fun at the President and other politicians, and the President gets a chance to reply.
Join the newsletter to receive news, updates, new products and freebies in your inbox.