Within a couple of hours of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s televised interview Tuesday morning, her remarks had been reported, analyzed, reacted to, recycled and boiled down to a single sound bite in the dizzying frenzy that has become the hallmark of the media’s coverage of the White House sex scandal.

That single sound bite, the one that included "this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband," then became grist for a rollicking day of punditry and talk that became a bizarre, day-long prelude to President Clinton’s State of the Union message to Congress.

There was Dick Morris, the erstwhile presidential adviser who resigned amid a sex scandal of his own, on a Los Angeles radio talk show ruminating about the sexual relationship of the first couple, and G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate conspirator, talking on CNN about how tough it is to organize a good conspiracy. Meanwhile, The Dallas Morning News was busy on its Web site retracting a story it had posted there just hours before, which had stated that a Secret Service agent was prepared to testify that he had seen Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in what the newspaper called "a compromising situation."

In the retraction, the paper said that the source for the article, a longtime Washington lawyer familiar with the case involving Clinton and Lewinsky, the former intern with whom he is alleged to have had an affair, had later informed the paper that the information in the article was wrong.

The day started early, when Mrs. Clinton appeared on the Today show for her first interview since the sex scandal surfaced and insisted the allegations against Clinton were untrue (after which her interviewer, Matt Lauer, thanked her for her candor).

By midmorning, MS-NBC had Peter Flaherty, the co-author of a forthcoming biography of Mrs. Clinton, on the air calling her "a tragic figure" and Clinton "a sexual predator," and comparing Mrs.Clinton’s composure to Michael Dukakis’ cold, legalistic answer to the question of a hypothetical rape and murder of his wife.

There was Barbara Walters on the ABC show, The View: "She is handling this just the way I think every man would want his wife to," Ms. Walters enthused. The White House, too, was reported to be cheery about the interview. "You hear such words as ‘masterful’ and ‘wonderful,"’ John Palmer of NBC dutifully reported.

Next came William Ginsburg, the lawyer for Lewinsky, rating the performance of the wife of the man with whom his 24-year-old client is alleged to have had an affair. "Her performance was dignified," he said, lost in the now familiar forest of shotgun microphones. "It was well put."

All morning and afternoon, the all-news networks recycled the interview in part or in full—every hour on the hour, every half-hour and often in between. "I mean, Bill and I have been accused of everything, including murder," Mrs. Clinton could be heard saying over and over and over. "I mean, Bill and I ..."

By late morning, the analysts were out in full force. Lisa Shiffrin, a former Republican speechwriter appearing on one show, CNN & Company, as the representative from the right, confessed she was offended not to have been asked to join the right-wing conspiracy.

But Mrs. Clinton was in a tight spot, Ms. Shiffrin went on to say. The first lady couldn’t blame Lewinsky "for being a bimbo. This is a nice girl from a nice home and the daughter of a contributor," Ms. Shiffrin said. "So she has to blame a right-wing conspiracy."

In Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles Times was reporting that the White House had re-enlisted the shamed Morris, along with others, to help the president out in this pinch, Morris himself surfaced on a popular drive-time talk show on KABC-AM thinking aloud about the first couple’s sex life.

"Let’s assume, OK, that his sexual relationship with Hillary is not all it’s supposed to be," Morris said, going on into a flight of speculation about the first lady’s sexual preferences.

There were the obligatory men-on-the-street (and women-in-the-gym) interviews. At the World Gym in Burbank, Calif., an NBC reporter wended his way among the Stairmasters, analyzing the reaction to Mrs. Clinton’s interview, which was being re-aired and re-aired on a television mounted on a wall above his head.

"She is a Tammy Wynette, stand-by-your-man," one unidentified woman said scornfully. "She is in denial." There was, of course, some counterprogramming. Trusty C-Span could be found broadcasting a congressional tribute to Sonny Bono. There were soap operas and home shows and others. On one cooking show, a man in a baby-blue apron was making spinach in bechamel: "Nutmeg is so wonderful in spinach."

But the news networks were doing their best to keep their audiences from reaching for the clicker. "See the entire conversation at noon!" MS-NBC said. The promos came fast and furious. "Hillary has handled her husband’s damage control before," said Inside Edition. "Will Hillary be able to do it again?"

Every show seemed to come accompanied by sinister, percussive music and stentorian voices designed to leave the viewer in a heightened state of agitation. Every report came with some subtitle: Scandal in the White House, The President in Crisis, Investigating the President.

Editors were showing signs of creative or desperate assigning. "Your Kids and Clinton’s Crisis" was said to be upcoming on one network. Inside Edition tackled a segment titled "How’s Chelsea Coping?" In it, a psychologist could be heard saying, "They need to let Chelsea know that she is loved."

By early afternoon, lawyers were analyzing the effect of Mrs. Clinton’s interview on her "spousal privilege." Her marital communications privilege remains intact, viewers were told. Ubiquitous Newsweek correspondents were energetically dissecting Mrs. Clinton’s conspiracy theory.

"She believes it with all her heart," said Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and MS-NBC; he said Mrs. Clinton had even discussed it with him in the past. Then along came Michael Issikoff, also of Newsweek, suggesting it would be hard to fit Lewinsky into the vast right-wing conspiracy.

"The press is in full-throated blood lust for this issue," said Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor brought in to opine on CNN’s Burden of Proof. "There is no question that this is not only a distraction. It has totally, totally taken over and distracted from the business of government."