Edition: U.S. / Global  THE PRESIDENT'S TRIAL; An Attack on What
Has Been Characterized as the 'So What?' Defense  Published:
January 17, 1999  WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 -- Following are excerpts
from the presentation today by Representative Stephen E. Buyer,
Republican of Indiana, in the Senate impeachment trial of
President Clinton, as recorded by the Federal News Service, a
private transcription agency:  Now you will hear next week,
perhaps from the President's lawyers, that the offenses charged
by the House are not imPeachable; in other words, that even if
the allegations as set forth in the articles of impeachment are
true, so what? See, the House managers have begun to refer to
this as the ''so what?'' defense.  I'm not offended by the ''so
what?'' defense because if that's all you have, then try it. You
see, there are only a few basic ways that you can actually
defend a case. You can defend a case on the facts, you can
defend a case on the law, you can defend a case on the facts and
the law.  Now here we hea