Nixon speechwriter in 1992 on Barr "Coverup-General and his corrupt crew"

[Mr. Sparkle]

New York Times columnist Bill Safire(Nixon speechwriter) on the Iraqgate scanda plaguing George H W Bush

In the first week of October, the refusal to name an independent counsel in the Iraqgate scandal was becoming an issue in the Presidential campaign. To take off the heat, Attorney General William Barr asked former Federal Judge Harold Tyler if he would serve as a "special" -- not independent -- counsel. The timing of the assignment was fishy. "He didn't seem to be in that much of a hurry," recalls Judge Tyler. Mr Barr wanted a report delayed until after the election, well into December -- when the act authorizing special prosecutors was to expire. Judge Tyler wisely ducked.

Jumping at the chance was Frederick Lacey, another former Federal judge. Yesterday, on Mr. Barr's carefully chosen schedule, Mr. Lacey came through for the Coverup-General and his corrupt crew in a style that would make a Watergater blush.

At a press conference in the F.B.I. building, Mr. Lacey -- seething at having been called a "patsy prosecutor" in this space -- was at his patsiest. "All of this 'stuff,' " he charged, spitting out the euphemism, was "arrant nonsense." He called the prosecution of the botched case "pretty near perfect" and charges of cover-up "baseless."

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/10/opinion/essay-iraqgate-whitewash.html

[Scoopster]

1. Man I really miss Bill Safire.

Didn't agree with him on everything, but he sure had a way with words.

[dalton99a]

2. Coverup-General is his real job title.

[real Cannabis calm]

3. One of his REAL crimes is obstruction of justice