Gary Condit is suing Dominick Dunne for some things Dunne allegedly said about Condit when Dunne appeared with Larry King as well as on some other talk show. According to Condit, the things Dunne said had to do with Condit having some extra-marital entertainment with Middle Eastern women, and in the process of his enjoyment, Condit also suggested to some Middle Eastern thugs that it would be a good idea if someone got rid of Chandra Levy for him. Condit took offense, so he's suing Dominick Dunne for slander.
There is a lengthy list of newspapers and talkshow hosts around the country who had quite a bit to say about Gary Condit while Chandra Levy was missing. It would be impossible to count all the theories posed about Condit's involvement or non-involvement in Levy's disappearance. Out of all those who expressed opinions either verbally or in writing, Condit chose Dominick Dunne to sue.
Gary Condit has already had one session with Dunne's lawyers for a deposition in which he refused to answer certain questions posed to him by Dunne's attorneys. There is to be another session for Condit to be deposed, and this time he's under orders from the judge in the case to answer all questions.
The questions Condit does not want to answer concern whether or not he had a sexual relationship with Chandra Levy. All he admits to is that they were friends.
Now, that might fly were it not for the fact that the media built a circus around Chandra Levy's disappearance. Levy's parents held press conferences in which they outlined how Gary Condit lied about his involvement with their daughter. Levy's aunt did interviews in which she talked about information Levy had given her about Chandra's relationship with Condit. It was not platonic nor was it purely based on friendship.
And then there was the matter of his affair with Anne Marie Smith. He denied that too, but he lied. And the media was right there to capture it all. Some of us may need to bone up a little on all those past facts, but the truth remains that Gary Condit looked guilty as hell of something, and the reason he looked that way was because of the way he handled himself. He would have been better off letting it rest. But no, he wants to sue and receive damages from Dominick Dunne who writes for Vanity Fair.
Here's where the yellow streak enters stage left. (It has to be stage left because Condit is a liberal and everyone knows they're never right.)
Gary Condit apparently wants to take his case to the people. He wants to get his side of the story out there in advance of any more publication of his personal business. HOWEVER, is he doing this himself? Hah! Noooooo. Instead he's sending his daughter, Cadee Condit out to speak for him. Last night Cadee Condit appeared with Greta Van Susteren, and Cadee made a fool of herself... Big Time.
If Cadee had been allowed to simply give her version of the story and then get off the set to allow other lawyers to discuss what she'd said, it might not have been so bad. But Cadee stayed on after her interview part of the show was over, and she took on Greta's panel of lawyers. One of these lawyers was Georffrey Fieger, another was Ted Williams, and there were at least two others whose names I don't remember. It so happens that Ted Williams is a lawyer, but he's also a former police detective for the Washington, DC police department, and Fox News brought him in during the beginning of the Levy case to discuss both police department procedure as well as the law.
Last night Cadee Condit thought she was going to take on both those men as well as two other savvy lawyers in defense of her father. It was a disaster.
I thought all the lawyers, particularly Fieger who is not always known to be the most courteous person on the planet, handled Cadee Condit with kid gloves in an effort not to offend or insult her. It was clear from the outset she had no intention of showing an ounce of respect to any of the lawyers on the panel. Even Ted Williams, who goes out of his way to placate everyone with whom he may even slightly disagree, was getting somewhat rattled by Condit's attitude.
The thing is, attitude was all she brought to the table. Cadee Condit seemed to think if someone said something she didn't like, all she had to do to refute it was talk louder and longer than the others. She ended up sounding like a screeching harpie more than once. And when it came right down to facts, she lost the battle every time. She fought all the same old talking points with the same arguments that didn't work the first time around when Chandra Levy first went missing.
When some adult is hellbent on making a fool of herself, I say sit back and let her have at it. But in this case it occurred to me that it should have been Gary Condit making his own case and taking his own heat. What kind of man sends his child out to fight his battles for him, particularly when his child either naievely or calculatedly will have to do some considerable spinning about Daddy's peccadilloes.
The Washington, DC police say that Gary Condit is not a suspect in Chandra Levy's murder, and it may very well be that Condit had absolutely nothing to do with it. But no one will ever convince me that he is an honorable man who did anything to help Levy's family or the police as much as he could have when she first went missing. I didn't think too much of the man during the time the Chandra Levy story had so much attention. After seeing what he allowed his daughter to do in his place last night, I think even less of him now.
The questions Condit does not want to answer concern whether or not he had a sexual relationship with Chandra Levy. All he admits to is that they were friends.
Now, that might fly were it not for the fact that the media built a circus around Chandra Levy's disappearance. Levy's parents held press conferences in which they outlined how Gary Condit lied about his involvement with their daughter. Levy's aunt did interviews in which she talked about information Levy had given her about Chandra's relationship with Condit. It was not platonic nor was it purely based on friendship.
And then there was the matter of his affair with Anne Marie Smith. He denied that too, but he lied. And the media was right there to capture it all. Some of us may need to bone up a little on all those past facts, but the truth remains that Gary Condit looked guilty as hell of something, and the reason he looked that way was because of the way he handled himself. He would have been better off letting it rest. But no, he wants to sue and receive damages from Dominick Dunne who writes for Vanity Fair.
Here's where the yellow streak enters stage left. (It has to be stage left because Condit is a liberal and everyone knows they're never right.)
Gary Condit apparently wants to take his case to the people. He wants to get his side of the story out there in advance of any more publication of his personal business. HOWEVER, is he doing this himself? Hah! Noooooo. Instead he's sending his daughter, Cadee Condit out to speak for him. Last night Cadee Condit appeared with Greta Van Susteren, and Cadee made a fool of herself... Big Time.
If Cadee had been allowed to simply give her version of the story and then get off the set to allow other lawyers to discuss what she'd said, it might not have been so bad. But Cadee stayed on after her interview part of the show was over, and she took on Greta's panel of lawyers. One of these lawyers was Georffrey Fieger, another was Ted Williams, and there were at least two others whose names I don't remember. It so happens that Ted Williams is a lawyer, but he's also a former police detective for the Washington, DC police department, and Fox News brought him in during the beginning of the Levy case to discuss both police department procedure as well as the law.
Last night Cadee Condit thought she was going to take on both those men as well as two other savvy lawyers in defense of her father. It was a disaster.
I thought all the lawyers, particularly Fieger who is not always known to be the most courteous person on the planet, handled Cadee Condit with kid gloves in an effort not to offend or insult her. It was clear from the outset she had no intention of showing an ounce of respect to any of the lawyers on the panel. Even Ted Williams, who goes out of his way to placate everyone with whom he may even slightly disagree, was getting somewhat rattled by Condit's attitude.
The thing is, attitude was all she brought to the table. Cadee Condit seemed to think if someone said something she didn't like, all she had to do to refute it was talk louder and longer than the others. She ended up sounding like a screeching harpie more than once. And when it came right down to facts, she lost the battle every time. She fought all the same old talking points with the same arguments that didn't work the first time around when Chandra Levy first went missing.
When some adult is hellbent on making a fool of herself, I say sit back and let her have at it. But in this case it occurred to me that it should have been Gary Condit making his own case and taking his own heat. What kind of man sends his child out to fight his battles for him, particularly when his child either naievely or calculatedly will have to do some considerable spinning about Daddy's peccadilloes.
The Washington, DC police say that Gary Condit is not a suspect in Chandra Levy's murder, and it may very well be that Condit had absolutely nothing to do with it. But no one will ever convince me that he is an honorable man who did anything to help Levy's family or the police as much as he could have when she first went missing. I didn't think too much of the man during the time the Chandra Levy story had so much attention. After seeing what he allowed his daughter to do in his place last night, I think even less of him now.
