I didn't know there was anything left!

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The seven-year, $70 million Whitewater investigation that toppled an Arkansas governor and dogged Bill Clinton for most of his presidency officially drew to a close Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the last remaining appeal

This case actually wasn't even tangential to the Whitewater investigation. I won't bother to explain it (I don't even know the details myself), but it had nothing to do with anything that happened because of Whitewater. This investigation was merely launched because of Whitewater.

"It has been drawn out a long time," said W. Hickman Ewing, who was a chief deputy to Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr. "It just shows you people can keep things going."

Tucker has long argued that he would never have been pursued by prosecutors if not for Clinton. Ewing said Monday: "It's probably true."

Ok, I'm not making any defense of Tucker, but I don't want to be bankrolling federal investigations that spend years dredging up unimportant cases like this because of a political vendetta (that ultimately was the most unsuccessful vendetta I've ever seen). Ken Starr's investigation obviously was nothing more than a political ploy with nothing to actually back it up. The Clintons, whether you love them or hate them, were never even brought up on charges.

I think there's a danger that we can forget about the abuses of power that happen such as the Whitewater investigation. Certainly the criminals in the case should have been prosecuted and convicted. They were. But we should not ever let justice get tangled up in partisan politics and lead to a colossal waste of time and money that the Starr investigation ended up being.

I would admit that it might seem a danger in the Ronnie Earle/ Tom DeLay case, and that's exactly what some Republicans are claiming. The difference, of course, is that DeLay's vices have to do with greed, whereas Clinton's had to do with sex. While infidelity is a crime and not the kind of "virtue" you want your leaders to have, almost anyone would say they'd take a sexually immoral but otherwise smart and decent man over a man who allows himself to be corrupted for money. A man who allows himself to be bought cannot be trusted.

Oh well, DeLay is going down, Clinton never did, and that's just how it is. If that makes you froth at the mouth, at least you can take comfort in the Tucker case.