# Ken Starr **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 27, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785 "2016-05-27T02:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/21 "2016-05-27T20:53:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Doesn’t Starr have responsibility for the job he agreed to do? Doesn’t he have responsibility for agreeing to do it? > [@madsircool](#): > > Congress mandated that he spend it doing the job he was hired to do. It’s disingenuous to say “Congress” mandated it, not “The Republican caucus in Congress”. Agreed? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/22 "2016-05-27T21:30:33Z")
Besides the Whitewater investigation where he had to set up a perjury trap in order to find a crime that Clinton had committed Starr has a record of defending rapists. Not only as a lawyer, but personally in the case of an admitted child raper. I’m not going to bother looking into any more details, but at the time of the Whitewater witch hunt I saw a couple of articles about his life that show he is a twisted sexually repressed individual who engages in cycles of persecution and atonement. This man is a danger to society at the personal level, and not just another unethical lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/23 "2016-05-27T21:36:49Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > He got downgraded from President to Chancellor. Sounds like an upgrade, to me. I may be cynic, but I think this is going to involve less work, without a pay cut. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/24 "2016-05-27T21:46:55Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > He got downgraded from President to Chancellor. Sounds like an upgrade, to me. In some university systems President is above Chancellor, in other systems it is the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/25 "2016-05-28T00:21:58Z")
And the only president he managed to bring down was himself. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/26 "2016-05-29T03:48:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Besides the Whitewater investigation where he had to set up a perjury trap in order to find a crime that Clinton had committed Starr has a record of defending rapists. Not only as a lawyer, but personally in the case of an admitted child raper. I’m not going to bother looking into any more details, but at the time of the Whitewater witch hunt I saw a couple of articles about his life that show he is a twisted sexually repressed individual who engages in cycles of persecution and atonement. This man is a danger to society at the personal level, and not just another unethical lawyer. So I guess I have more of a stomach than you, but I looked up the [defending a rapist thing](http://gawker.com/charlie-gibson-ken-starr-wrote-letters-in-support-of-a-1448317981). Starr wrote a letter asking for leniency for a teacher who had pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent liberties with a child younger than 14 and one count of abduction with intent to defile. His daughter had attended the prestigious school where the teacher taught for decades. Among the others writing a letter on his behalf…Charlie Gibson of ABC news! ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/27 "2016-05-29T05:33:39Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > In some university systems President is above Chancellor, in other systems it is the other way around. At Baylor the President is much like a CEO in terms of authority, etc. The Chancellor is something like a figurehead or even ambassador, soliciting donations, schoomizing alumni, etc. but no real power. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > And the only president he managed to bring down was himself. Bazinga! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/28 "2016-05-30T05:29:13Z")
Falling from the Olympian heights, the Presidency of Baylor University? Like losing your job at the Dollar Store. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/29 "2016-05-30T05:59:12Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > At Baylor the President is much like a CEO in terms of authority, etc. The Chancellor is something like a figurehead or even ambassador, soliciting donations, schoomizing alumni, etc. but no real power. Less responsibility; how’s the pay? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/30 "2016-05-30T06:24:45Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > He got downgraded from President to Chancellor. Sounds like an upgrade, to me. Just ask Palpatine! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/31 "2016-05-31T01:04:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Falling from the Olympian heights, the Presidency of Baylor University? Like losing your job at the Dollar Store. Now, losing the Head Football Coachdom, _that’s_ a fall. There was a “Fixer Upper” episode where Chip and Joanna did a house for Baylor’s football team chaplain. Apparently that’s a full-time job, and, based on the house, a high-paying one. Gotta wonder what the guy actually did. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/32 "2016-05-31T14:00:05Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > He got downgraded from President to Chancellor. Sounds like an upgrade, to me. > [@MagicEyes](#): > > I may be cynic, but I think this is going to involve less work, without a pay cut. :dubious: Yes, they gave him a position with little responsibilities while the University finds a way to can his ass in the best way possible. He likely has a contract, there may be criminal charges, who the hell knows… for now it’s just best to “bump him upstairs” while the lawyers do their thing. After all, last thing you want is Ken Starr to hit you with a wrongful termination suit, keeping this in the news even more. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785/33 "2016-06-03T22:37:35Z")
I am so furious about this shitstain that I can barely formulate a complete sentence. But I want the whole world to see him in action. So he’s resigned now, because he loves Baylor so much that he doesn’t want to be a distraction to all the people who love Baylor so much. Lying shitstain. Anyway, he was asked about his resignation and the events leading up to only to commit the most horrific of political gaffes - he accidentally admitted the truth about something. Naturally, his handler, Merrie Spaeth, who’s seen helping him ever since the Clinton events, jumped in to save him. You can read a transcript here - which I’ll c&p below. There’s also video. > **[WATCH: Ken Starr Flubs Interview Over Baylor Rape Scandal, PR Rep Interrupts](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ken-starr-interview-fail)** > > Ken Starr, the recently ousted president of Baylor, appeared to concede in an on-camera interview that he had seen a former student's email alleging she had been raped, before a Republican public… > [@](#): > > But when he was confronted with an email from a rape victim and asked whether he ever saw it, the interview went off the rails. > > KWTX’s Julie Hays, citing a victim who told ESPN that she sent an email about her sexual assault to Starr, asked Starr if he ever saw the email. > > “I honestly may have. I’m not denying that I saw it,” Starr responded. > > According to KWTX, when Starr gave his response, the interview was interrupted by Merrie Spaeth, a prominent Republican public relations operative who accompanied Starr to the interview. Spaeth had advised Starr during the impeachment proceedings of Bill Clinton. > > Spaeth asked KWTX not to include that portion of the interview. When the station’s news director refused, Spaeth pulled Starr away from the interview, according to KWTX. > > **When Starr and Spaeth returned, Spaeth asked for Starr to answer the question again so that it would not be “misedited.”** > > “All I’m going to say is I have no recollection of that,” Starr then answered for the second time. He then turned toward Spaeth to ask, “Is that OK?” > > “Don’t look at me, look at her,” Spaeth replied. > > “I honestly have no recollection of seeing such an email and I believe that I would remember seeing such an email,” Starr then said in his third attempt to answer the question. “The president of the university gets lots of emails. I don’t even see a lot of the emails that come into the the office of the president. I have no recollection of it — none.” > > Spaeth later apologized for interrupting the interview, according to KWTX. Bolding mine. “Misedited” my ass. The Republicans are no different than a cult, any more. The “misedited” line comes up at around 2:15 in the video. This is after the report identifies Spaeth as a public relations expert who helped coach Starr when he testified before congress at Clinton’s impeachment. Good on KWTX from Waco for reporting on the whole rage-inducing episode. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-starr/755785.md?page=1)