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

Re: People With Minds (that disagree)

Author:TQ White II
Posted:12/22/1998; 11:48:57 AM
Topic:DaveNet comments
Msg #:1626 (In response to 1607)
Prev/Next:1625 / 1627

I disagree. I don't believe that Bill Clinton is a reckless liar. I don't believe that the Repubs have simply had too much bad faith.

I do believe that the Repubs began execution of a coup d'etat shortly after Clinton showed his mastery of Washington politics. On issue after issue, they couldn't beat him by fair means and so they tried foul. When the public brutalized them for shutting down the government, they switched out Fisk, a moderate person, in favor of Starr, a well-known Clinton hater.

Starr, in combination with Congress, and Richard Scaiffe's Heritage Foundation (the underlying motivation for Paula Jones) went to work to destroy Clinton.

In January, they put Clinton in an untenable position. Despite a bankrupt case (which the judge threw out as groundless a few weeks later), they tried to force Clinton to make admissions they could leak to hurt him politically--and then leaked them. He fought back by choosing narrow (perhaps foolishly so) interpretations of language. When Starr insisted on videotaping his deposition in August (to use against him by showing it to the public), he used a similar tactic.

In both cases (and, of course many more before), the Repubs were using the Judicial system, and Independent Investigator in much the same vicious way that Nixon used the IRS to destroy his enemies. In both cases, Clinton resisted without using truly heinous--albeit, in my opinion, almost justifiable--methods to fight back. There were no IRS inquiries, no FBI searches, no frivolous lawsuits against Henry Hyde.

Perhaps his dancing with language led him over the line of truth. But make no mistake: Bill Clinton has been in an unfair, partisan battle to be allowed merely to do his job for years. Starting with the Bob Doles promise to fillabuster everything he did and winding up with Ken Starr, every tool they have been able to use, every time he has shown any vulnerability, it has been ruthlessly used against him. Every time he gives an inch he is brutalized. The lies he supposedly told, are small ones in answer to questions that should never have been asked.

The Repubs claim to have impeached him based on their vision of morality. If so, they would have realized that he has, by and large, done a good job for the country and that the people like him. (Polls should be ignored unless the topic is whether the people want their guy to stay in office. In that case, the poll is 'fact evidence' supporting his ability to govern.) They have a 'moral duty' to support the institutions, not to decide what sort of guy is president.

The truth, I believe, is that they have been working out a venal vendetta to destroy this guy with reckless disregard for the will of the people. I hope with all my heart, and expect it will happen, that the population will look at the right-wing influence and arrogance that led these people to think they had a right to evict My President--that everyone will remember them and destroy their party next time around. It will not only be satisfying comeuppance but will also give them the chance to rebuild with people less interested in themselves and more interested in getting the job done.

Clinton was right in his post-impeachment speeech. We don't have time for this foolishness. There are real problems in this world. We should be spending our energy on them.

In the meantime, I am saving money for campaign donations in the year 2000. I am an example of an energized electorate.

Sincerely, TQ White II

ps, visit http://www.moveon.org , it's very satisfying.

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