High life
Some hero
Taki
hen Larry Lawrence died last year Bill Clinton gave the eulogy at his funeral. A true blue American hero was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, reserved for those killed in war, long-time military vet- erans with distinguished war records and congressmen with high military honours. His pretty blonde wife was comforted by the Draft Dodger and Hillary. The sound of taps echoed among the tombs of sacred honour. The young blonde held the folded American flag to her bosom. It was enough to make strong men cry.
Over the demise of yet another Walter Mitty, that is. Larry Lawrence — he assumed that name early on in life — was among America's 400 richest men, having made his pile in hotels and real estate. A big fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, he hit the Draft Dodger with 200,000 big ones when Clinton first ran for president in 1992. All in all, he contributed 10 million greenbacks to the Democrats. He also made his San Diego mansion available to Clinton whenever the Draft Dodger head- ed out west.
In 1994, the Draft Dodger nominated Lawrence as ambassador to Switzerland. Despite vigorous opposition by senators — it was obvious that Clinton was selling an ambassadorship — he was confirmed because of his war record. Lawrence had been thrown into the frigid Arctic Ocean in March 1945 when the merchant marine ship SS Horace Bushnell was torpedoed by a German submarine near Murmansk. Lawrence often struggled to control his emotions when recounting the story. He almost broke down when telling it before the Senate. Ditto when the Russians gave him the medal of valour two years later.
Last week in Washington the joke was that Clinton's idea of a war veteran was a guy who had been married four times.
Lawrence was on his fourth wife when he died in January 1996. The closest he ever got to a war zone and a ship was when he went to Wilbur Wright junior college in Chicago in 1944 and 1945. With his trade- mark lack of gallantry, Clinton lobbied hard for a fat cat who had submitted a fraudulent tax return to avoid gift taxes and was in a tax court over an IRS claim that he owed $76 million in back taxes at the time of his ambassadorial nomination. (All services that scrutinised Larry the Liar did nothing about this because he was vouched for by the Draft Dodger.) Lawrence's long-time personal secretary told the columnist (and fellow Greek) Ari- ana Huffington how she had done confi- dential research in 1982 on the history of merchant marine ships torpedoed during the war. Instant heroism followed.
When Larry baby croaked, the Draft Dodger waved the rules and had him buried in Arlington, although merchant marine personnel have no right to it. Larry the Liar got to sleep in the Lincoln Bed- room in the White House, got to be ambas- sador to a European country, collected medals galore for his heroism and, finally, got to rest among the brave men who had committed the ultimate sacrifice for their country. It is enough to make one puke on Clinton's face.
Because something tells me that the Draft Dodger must have known the guy was a total phoney. His name never appeared on any marine or coastguard records. He was never on the Horace Bush- nell, never served a day on any ship. The reason I suspect Clinton to have been in on it is because once Lawrence was exposed as a liar, a fraud and most probably a crook Clinton still went on to bat for him.
White House flacks told reporters that Lawrence may have been travelling under an assumed name in order to hide his Jew- ish identity. Now even this ploy has been exposed. Lawrence's fourth wife and widow recently wrote a cheque for $50,000 to the Democrats. She, too, is buying her own fantasies. It was revealed last week that she doctored her resume to hide a stint in a Nevada casino. I think the widow could have threatened to embarrass the Draft Dodger about what he knew and when he knew it. Ergo, why the notoriously quick to abandon sinking shipmates Clinton is fudg- ing and defending.
What surprises me is that I'm surprised. During the 1992 campaign, a Tina Brown spiv, Sidney Blumenthal, now employed by Clinton, spread a rumour that George Bush had bailed out prematurely from his burning fighter bomber. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
People have been known to invent their past and their achievements, but to me only the lowest of the low would slander a war hero like George Bush and honour a cow- ard like Larry Lawrence. Welcome to the age of Bill Clinton.
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