The modern version of the cult of personality started with Joseph Stalin, in the early days of WWII. You will recall that his supporters didn't bat an eye when he changed from being Hitler's ally to being his mortal enemy overnight.

Truth, consistency, or sensibility made no difference. The operating principle was simple: Stalin is more or less "god," and whatever he says goes, period.

We are told that during the cultural revolution, Chairman Mao would give a gun to some of his most ardent supporters, and force them to commit suicide. They died cheering for him--in earnest.

Fast forward to the beginning of 1998. You watched Clinton parade most of his cabinet in front of national TV, to proclaim his innocence. A few months later, he admitted the affair with Monica Lewinsky. Did any cabinet member resign in protest at being used and publicly humiliated?

Certainly not.

For one thing, taking a moral stand isn't very popular in the US anymore. Far better to remain where the action is--no matter how sordid.

But more importantly, what Clinton says is the truth by definition! For these cultists, it is of no consequence that the truth may change, or that right and wrong are distinctions that can no longer be applied to Mr. President. Worse, they can't see the incalculable damage that has occurred to the legal system, when the chief law enforcement officer of the land can get away with perjury.

Even if some absurd standard is created regarding only "lying about sex," think how many divorce proceedings and rape trials would be affected. No defense attorney worth his salt will let his client be charged with perjury now that there is a precedent that it is OK.

Cynic that I am, I haven't believed in this country's legal system for a long time. For me, it took being in business for several years and seeing how the civil courts worked, along with observing my local criminal authority, the LA County District Attorney, lose many high profile cases, where the defendants were obviously guilty. Do the names Mc Martin, John Landis, Menendez, OJ Simpson and Susan McDougal ring a bell?

Check out the following cultic statements defending Clinton, and attacking Ken Starr--taken from a recent issue of the New Yorker.

Ethan Canin: "Ken Starr's zealous and chillingly unambiguous morality...suggests to me none...of the complex interplay and recognition of opposing forces that interest the intelligent mind...If Bill Clinton and Ken Starr were characters in one of my students' stories, the class would agree that it is Mr. Starr, not Mr, Clinton, who lacks character."

But, hold on to your hats for this one, from everyone's favorite prize winning unreadable novelist, Toni Morrison:

This is Slaughtergate. A sustained, bloody, arrogant coup d'etat. The presidency is being stolen from us. And the people know it.

"White skin notwithstanding, this is our first Black president...Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone playing, McDonalds-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."

Leave it to Toni Morrison. First she proclaims Clinton, and all Americans, to be victims of a right wing conspiracy. Then she intones a series of unbelievably crass racial stereotypes (which if so used by the Right would be a vile sin) to claim the main victim as one of her own.

Truly amazing. We surely do live in interesting times.