Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Criminal Sexuality

Author:minow@pobox.com
Posted:12/15/1998; 9:18:41 AM
Topic:DaveNet comments
Msg #:1216 (In response to 1214)
Prev/Next:1215 / 1217

Dave, I would respectfully disagree with you on this. Rather than concentrate on President Clinton's misbehavior, I would suggest we take the advice of President Nixon's bagman, and "follow the money."

I.e. who benefits from impeachment? I rather doubt that it will send anything resembling a positive message about sexual harassment: indeed, the Arkansas court clearly stated that Paula Jones was unlikely to prevail in her suit.

Rather, I would suggest re-examining the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. An article in the Washington Post, Sunday, Dec. 13, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/13/214l-121398-idx.html> offers chilling parallels between President Clinton and President Johnson. In both cases, the superficial issues seem to be bad behavior, while the underlying, often unstated, issue is the balance of power between the executive branch and the legislature.

Most distasteful to me, however, is the sense that the Republicans are taking a cheap shot -- they can "censure" the president by impeaching him, knowing full well that the Senate will not convict him. This is unworthy and, to quote a european friend, makes all Americans look foolish.

Martin.

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