A Warning To Senate Democrats
lakesregion.net
1/28/99 ??
A Warning to Senate Democrats!
You are being led into a deadly trap by the White House. A trap that will allow Clinton to escape the consequences of his crimes while you pay the price.
The White House strategy is to speed the trial along -- to get it over with before anything comes out that might affect the outcome.
On the verge of coming out is the twenty year old rape accusation, amply corroborated, by an Arkansas nursing home operator, Juanita Broaddrick. NBC has taped an extensive and explosive interview with her. The White House has launched a full court press to delay its broadcast until after the verdict.
Once Clinton is acquitted in the Senate, no one will ever have the stomach to tackle him again for anything. He will have been inoculated. His popularity will plummet as the immediate danger to his presidency recedes -- and stories like the Broaddrick assault will certainly not help -- but Clinton will be legally immune.
News like the Broaddrick interview would, if aired before the vote, increase the president's risk and make it a bit more costly, in the short term, for those voting against conviction and removal. The verdict, however, would eventually act as a fire break, protecting the president and, to an even greater extent, his supporters from repercussions.
If the Broaddrick interview airs just after the Senate vote, however, the president will immediately be perceived as having "gotten away with it," and the only ones around to pay the price will be yourselves, his judge and jury.
The White House has opted for the safer route. To delay the revelations until after legal jeopardy has receded. By so doing, they have decided, if effect, to leave you holding the bag.
Think of it, for the moment, in terms of a normal murder trial. If last minute inculpatory evidence almost, but not quite, tips a verdict towards conviction, the effect on public opinion would be mitigated by the not guilty verdict rendered despite it. But exactly the same information, coming to light immediately after the verdict, would have an explosive effect, undermining the legitimacy of the verdict itself. It would leave those responsible for the acquittal looking very bad, indeed.
freerepublic.com |
