Vincent Foster

WHY did Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, sailing toward easy Senate confirmation as secretary of defense, suddenly flinch and withdraw his name?We do not yet know, but I suspect it was not for the reason given in the therapy session that was his departing news conference.Is one good pop by a columnist, along with anticipated light flak about nanny-tax problems, enough to drive a smooth Washington operator out of a cabinet post? (If he had been confirmed, and North Korea said "Boo!" would the Pentagon have sued for terms?

Say the word "depression" to a conservative and he'll probably think you're talking about the big "D," and launch into an interminable tirade about FDR and the evils of the social welfare state. When the smoke clears and you tell him that you're talking about mental illness, he'll proceed, without missing a beat, to launch into another tirade about Tipper Gore and the evils of the social welfare state. Because, as everyone knows, conservatives don't get depressed. Or if they do, they don't admit it, they don't take mind-altering drugs for it, and they certainly don't raise insurance premiums to treat it. They keep the Sabbath holy or go to confession instead.

Once again the troubled mind of Vincent W. Foster Jr., the deputy White House counsel who committed suicide, has been exposed without shedding much additional light on his death. The jottings found in his briefcase reveal a man unable to deal with the buffeting that comes with public life in Washington. This is partly traceable to what appears to have been clinical depression. But in large measure the events leading to his death illustrate the extraordinary stresses imposed on prominent officials in the capital.

In an article on the pressures of Washington in yesterday's Sun, Jody Powell, former press secretary to Jimmy Carter, says that he intended his characterization of "inexcusable and inexplicable behavior" to apply to the press handling of the suicide of former White House official Vincent Foster and not the suicide itself.

What if they had a meteor shower and no one could see it through the light pollution?Some lessons should be learned from the Vincent Foster tragedy. None will be.Any league that calls a Baltimore club the Rhinos will pick the wrong cities for expansion.

On May 25, 2004, CLARENCE "C.V." VINCENT FOSTER; beloved husband of the late Mary Lee (nee Kurtz); devoted father of David V. and Gary L. Foster, Vickie L. Foster and Susan E. Keim; dear grandfather of Jeri L. and Daniel Foster, Ashley Keim, Melanie L. Cunningham and the late Brenda L. Foster. A Funeral Service will be held at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Raod (beltway exit 26A), on Friday at 9 A.M. Interment Jessop Methodist Cemetery. Friends may call on Thursday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Jessop Church Cemetery or Chestnut Ridge Volunteer Fire Company, Building Fund.

U.S. Park Police officers told the Senate committee looking into the Whitewater matter that the White House did not fully cooperate with their investigation into the death of deputy White House counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr.Maj. Robert H. Hines said he contacted a senior official after the two investigating officers complained that presidential aides were not cooperative.Article, 3A

Broadway, Virginia. -- The forces that rule our world are even more frightening than I thought. That's what I learned during my Christmas drive, as I spun the radio dial through the talk shows. Here are some things I learned from the talk-show hosts and their callers. I can't vouch for their veracity, but all of them went out -- uncontradicted -- over the airwaves.* The suicide of Vincent Foster, the late counselor to the president, had something to do with an affair he was having with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

IT'S water over the dam, since President Clinton was not convicted upon impeachment. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr's term will soon mercifully expire. But some light was shed on Mr. Starr's priorities when one of his targets, Webster Hubbell, recently talked about his dealings with prosecutors. "They wanted to know about Hillary's sex life. About the president's sex life, and mine, too. They specifically asked if Hillary and Vince [Foster] had had an affair," he told The New Yorker.

Welfare ImagesUsually I read Ben Wattenberg's column with the expectation of encountering a fresh, informed and reasoned view of issues. Sadly, in the Aug. 12 column dealing with the Clinton budget he did not disappoint me until the end when he dealt with "counterproductive entitlements."We have created a growing dependency class. It is destroying families, blighting communities and souring the county, he said.The fact is that during 50 years of getting to know and serve people receiving public welfare, I have never heard one admit to satisfaction with their status.