So, Linda Tripp goes on Larry King Live and tells everyone watching, without the slightest hint of irony, that what she did was tantamount to her patriotic duty.

Now, regardless of which side you come down on the issue of William Jefferson Clinton and his amazing one-eyed wonder acquittal, Linda Tripp comes off looking more than a bit stanky.

We aren’t saying anything too radically Leftist here by outing Tripp as the kind of friend you would not want to have along on a flight across the Andes to play soccer, right?

When asked about the illegal tape recordings on Larry King Live, Tripp said: “How would I prove I was telling the truth? All I can say is Monica made choices, the president made choices and I was forced to make choices.”

“Forced?” Give us a break.

How about choosing NOT to tape record conversations while pretending to befriend an allegedly suicidal intern nearly half your age, Linda?

The really tough choices in life don’t usually involve a literary agent.

They don’t tend to help you get a book deal signed, and they don’t often involve trying to get the naive to speak clearly into tape recorders so you can get your quotes straight.

Most of us don’t record our friends when they come to us with trouble, and if Lewinsky was becoming burdensome with unwanted phone calls, then some other options might have been available through the local phone company.

Ever heard of caller I.D.?

How about pretending to be on the other line?

You change your number; you don’t start recording.

Tripp said she told Lewinsky that she did not think it was “cool” to be having an affair with the President and that she didn’t criticize Lewinsky because of their close “mother-daughter relationship.”

Well, that was nice of her, she might have done the girl some damage if she had tried to talk her out of something.

Tripp said Lewinsky was “clever,” “bright” and “warm,” but she was mentally unstable and had a “different moral compass” than Tripp.

This is probably one of the things which helped establish their “mother-daughter relationship.”

These transcripts would almost be humorous if it weren’t for the fact that Tripp is an opportunistic weasel with the morals of a dog.

The one thing which makes her tolerable is the knowledge that she will be forever known as such.