"It depends on what the meaning of "is" is"

[hedgehog]

I've googled it every way I can think of, but I haven't been able to find an actual transcript that tells me what the question was that elicited this reply. I know the setting and history and all, I just don't know the actual question.

A little help?

[HeraldSquare212]

1. Explaining why his denial of a relationship was not a lie

because "is" is present tense and at the time of the question the relationship was over.



Years from now, when we look back on Bill Clinton's presidency, its defining moment may well be Clinton's rationalization to the grand jury about why he wasn't lying when he said to his top aides that with respect to Monica Lewinsky, "there's nothing going on between us." How can this be? Here's what Clinton told the grand jury (according to footnote 1,128 in Starr's report):

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement....Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true."

http://www.slate.com/id/1000162/

[Lex]

3. I have always thought he was just trying to clarify.

:shrug:

[WinkyDink]

6. He was. It isn't his fault if too many others don't know grammar.

[jobycom]

2. Here's a link to the full transcript, and relevant passage.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm

BY MR. WISENBERG:

Q Mr. President, I want to, before I go into a new subject area, briefly go over something you were talking about with Mr. Bittman.

The statement of your attorney, Mr. Bennett, at the Paula Jones deposition, "Counsel is fully aware" -- it's page 54, line 5 – "Counsel is fully aware that Ms. Lewinsky has filed, has an affidavit which they are in possession of saying that there is absolutely no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with President Clinton..

That statement is made by your attorney in front of Judge Susan Webber Wright, correct?

A That's correct.

Q That statement is a completely false statement. Whether or not Mr. Bennett knew of your relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, the statement that there was "no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with President Clinton," was an utterly false statement. Is that correct?

A It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. If the –if he – if "is" means is and never has been, that is not--- that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.

But, as I have testified, and I'd like to testify again, this is -- it is somewhat unusual for a client to be asked about his lawyer's statements, instead of the other way around. I was not paying a great deal of attention to this exchange. I was focusing on my own testimony.

And if you go back and look at the sequence of this, you will see that the Jones lawyers decided that this was going to be the Lewinsky deposition, not the Jones deposition. And, given the facts of their case, I can understand why they made that decision. But that is not how I prepared for it. That is not how I was thinking about it.

And I am not sure, Mr. Wisenberg, as I sit here today, that I sat there and followed all these interchanges between the lawyers. I'm quite sure that I didn't follow all the interchanges between the lawyers all that carefully. And I don't really believe, therefore, that I can say Mr. Bennett's testimony or statement is testimony and is imputable to me. I didn't -- I don't know that I was even paying that much attention to it.

Q You told us you were very well prepared for the deposition.

A No. I said I was very well prepared to talk about Paula Jones and to talk about Kathleen Willey, because she had made a related charge. She was the only person that I think I was asked about who had anything to do with anything that would remotely approximate sexual harassment. The rest of this looked to me like it was more of a way to harass me.

Q You are the President of the United States and your attorney tells a United States District Court Judge that there is no sex of any kind, in any way, shape or form, whatsoever. And you feel no obligation to do anything about that at that deposition, Mr. President?

A I have told you, Mr. Wisenberg, I will tell you for a third time. I am not even sure that when Mr. Bennett made that statement that I was concentrating on the exact words he used.

Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true.

[Parche]

4. Teste Mony

http://www.anusha.com/clintonv.htm I think this is it.....:hi:

The whole question was irrelevent to the case, I dont think that he should have answered it, but he did, and the rest is history...........but contrary to the right wing idiots, he did NOT perjure himself or tell a lie............:hi:

[wuushew]

5. People are mostly irked by the poor sentence structure

A better line would have been: "It depends how one defines sex" or "In my understanding of the question, no sexual act occurred".

[WinkyDink]

7. He used correct sentence structure.

[hedgehog]

8. His answer was (perhaps deliberately?) unclear.

The original question used the verb "to be" in the present tense, "is". Then the questioner used the verb "to be" in the past tense "was".

Clinton said that on the day he was questioned, there was no sex, as in "there is no sex (today).

Now if they had asked, Was there ever any sex? he would have had to answer, yes, there was sex in the past. Clearly, the prosecutor meant to ask whether there ever was any sex, not whether the sex was ongoing. Technically, CLinton was not responsible for the other lawyer's poor technique. Realistically, Clinton made himself look bad by parsing the language the way he did.



Thank you for this info. The exchange makes no sense without the preceding few questions which I could not find.