WRITERS' BROCK Lest we forget, the vast universe of sexual allegations swirling around President Clinton began expanding more than four years ago with a single fiery Big Bang—the article by David Brock in the American Spectator called "His Cheatin' Heart." Last April in Esquire magazine, Brock issued an emphatic apology to Clinton for begetting the Paula Jones suit that in turn begat the three-ring Monica circus. His sources for the article, Brock confessed, were motivated by vengeance, money, and political animosity. Yet even though the author himself has repudiated the article, the Spectator continues to defend it—while simultaneously continuing to attack Brock. The magazine's online version made Brock its "Enemy of the Week" for two weeks in a row, and has supported reader suggestions that he be named "Enemy in Perpetuity" because of his apology. And in the May 1998 Spectator , editor T. Emmett Tyrrell called Brock a hypocrite for disavowing the article without also relinquishing...

Prescription drug benefits are shaping up as one of the defining issues in this fall's campaign. Drugs are now the fastest-growing component of medical care. Elderly people spend more on drugs than on doctor bills. HMOs are squeezing other kinds of care because of their own rising drug costs. There are really two big questions here: Should more Americans get more drug coverage, and should government play a direct role in limiting drug prices? The reasonable answer to both questions is a resounding yes. Medicare does not cover prescription drugs. Private supplemental Medigap policies are available, but the ones with good coverage cost hundreds of dollars a month. Some HMOs offer Medicare recipients drug coverage via managed care plans, but they are finding it ever harder to make money on Medicare patients, and millions of patients have been dropped. Ever since Medicare was enacted in 1965, drug companies have resisted adding full drug...