After film, Clinton rails against right wing ``attack''

By MADISON J. GRAY
Associated Press Writer

June 17, 2004, 1:23 AM EDT

NEW YORK -- Former president Bill Clinton said Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr was "not an independent actor" and called Susan McDougal, who was sent to jail when she refused to cooperate with Starr, a "heroine" after the screening of a documentary about Clinton's presidency.

"The Hunting of the President," a movie about what filmmakers Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry call a political smear campaign against Clinton, premiered in New York at a crowded New York University theater on Wednesday.

Clinton, who addressed a group of about 1,000 people, said Starr was "the instrument of a grand design." He said the roots of the modern American right began in the 1960s with turmoil over civil rights and the Vietnam War.

"When the Berlin wall fell, the perpetual right in America, which always needs an enemy, didn't have an enemy any more, so I had to serve as the next best thing," Clinton said.

The documentary, based on the New York Times bestseller of the same name, documents the Whitewater scandal, the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Clinton's subsequent impeachment, among other issues.

It portrays what Thomason and Perry say was a collaboration between conservatives and the religious right to find evidence to discredit Clinton.

"It was an extreme group that had a profit motive against Clinton," said Thomason. "It takes away from the power of your vote if you let these small groups influence everything."

The 90-minute film uses interviews from key players, politicos, and journalists about the scandals that plagued the Clinton White House. Among those featured are consultant James Carville, author and former conservative journalist David Brock, and McDougal herself.

"I had no idea about this vast right wing conspiracy," said McDougal, who was sentenced to two years in prison for refusing to cooperate with Starr's independent counsel investigation. "My real bad guy was Kenneth Starr, who said 'here's your story, you tell it, or you're going to jail."'

In his remarks after the film, Clinton warned that the country should not get away from the ideals of the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

"It's about striking the balance between empowering the government to do what people need to do for themselves together," he said. "While absolutely preventing the kind of abuse of power chronicled in this film."

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On the Net:

The Hunting of the President: http://www.thehuntingofthepresident.com/