Dennis, I am not an admirer of Clinton, but I must ask this. If the Lewinsky affair is Starr's major target, what has that go to do with upholding the constitution? Put another way, how is Clinton's extramarital affairs a high crime or misdemeanor? Even if perjury were considered a high crime or misdemeanor, his lying about about the affair with Lewinsky does not constitute perjury for the following reason. He had admitted in his deposition to the affair with Gennifer Flowers so the record indicated he was a philanderer. One more affair between consenting adults certainly would not add any weight to the charge of sexual harassment, which is after all what Clinton was charged with. My understanding is that perjury has to be about something material to the charge, so proving that the guy had trouble keeping his zipper up does not speak to the issue at hand.
As far as I'm concerned, there are only two issues that I have seen raised that could conceivably raise the specter of high crimes and misdemeanors: flagrant and willful disregard for the laws surrounding fund raising (especially if it can be shown that foreign powers received a benefit in exchange for money), and the use of confidential FBI files for unauthorized private purposes. While I have seen these charges cast about, I have seen no credible evidence (other than unsubstantiated claims) in support of these allegations. If either of trhese charges were supported by credible evidence I would be entirely in favor of proceding with impeachment hearings.
Now contrast the Lewinsky charges to what happened under the Reagan Administration. A rump foreign policy arm was set up in the White House, presumably under the direction of Poindexter and run by Oliver North. Reagan vehemently denied the existence of this operation, and then claimed that he bore responsibility. There was a lot of evidence to indicate that then Vice President Bush knew and perhaps participated in its planning. Yet nothing came of the hearings to probe White House involvement.
The fact is that there was and is a cadre of people on the hill out to get Clinton in any way they possibly can. And the danger that I see is that if they succeed they will have found a constitutional way of thwarting the will of the American people.
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