The papers favor resignation:
Newspapers Speak Out About Clinton
By The Associated Press
Editorials calling for President Clinton to resign appeared in weekend
editions of newspapers in some big cities and small towns. Others called on
Congress to carefully weigh the evidence before reaching a conclusion.
In the president's home state, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock
said:
''The copy of the Starr report in today's edition ought to come with some
mouthwash to get rid of the taste -- though nothing could. It is not a pleasant
duty to deliver the news when it's the kind that once could safely be left to
the supermarket tabs. ... Congress is now to decide whether all this lowness
amounts to high crimes and misdemeanors. Only then will we put this behind
us. As mom used to say when she gave us the castor oil that no amount of
orange juice could disguise: ''Here. You'll feel a lot better soon.''
Excerpts from editorials in Saturday and Sunday editions of other
newspapers:<
------
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Bill Clinton should resign.
He should resign because his repeated, reckless deceits have dishonored his
presidency beyond repair.
He should resign because the impeachment anguish that his lies have invited
will paralyze his administration, at a time when an anxious world looks to the
White House for surefooted leadership. ...
He should resign because that is his best hope to preserve shards of
sympathy and respect from the verdict of history, to which he has devoted
so much self-absorbed worry.
He should resign because that is the best hope for sorely needed national
catharsis.
He should resign because it is the honorable thing.<
------
San Francisco Examiner:
He's a liar. He's an unfaithful husband. He's tarnished the White House. And
he's the president of the United States. For the moment at least.
He's also a world class actor who admitted the truth only when he found his
lies no longer worked.
So what else is new?
Voters knew most of the worst about Bill Clinton when they elected, and
re-elected, him president. A few historical notes testifying to Clinton's lack
of veracity: Gennifer Flowers, the draft, ''Don't ask; don't tell.'' ...
What's good for Bill Clinton no longer counts: He abused our trust and
ripped to tatters our faith in him. As far as we're concerned, he can swing in
the wind. The institution of the presidency deserves better than to be held
hostage to Clinton's fate, happy or sad.<
------
Daily News of New York:
The task before Congress and all Americans is fundamental to our nation
and to its government. It cannot be jeopardized by raw emotion or salacious
allegation. ... The challenge for Congress is clear: to weigh both sides in a
process that is not only fair, but appears fair. ... The American public must
reserve judgment. As in ordinary trials, the prosecution goes first, the
defense follows. Only then is the verdict rendered.<
------
The New York Times:
Whatever the outcome of the resignation and the impeachment debates, the
independent counsel report by Mr. Starr is devastating in one respect, and
its historic mark will be permanent. A president who had hoped to be
remembered for the grandeur of his social legislation will instead be
remembered for the tawdriness of his tastes and conduct and for the
disrespect with which he treated a dwelling that is a revered symbol of
presidential dignity. ...
This page has long held a similar view of the sanctity of law, but we grant
that the magnitude, complexity and, yes, the oddness of this case require
deep deliberation.<
------
The Cincinnati Enquirer:
Thanks to a historic vote by Congress yesterday, all of America has a
front-row seat to view the evidence and judge President Clinton for
ourselves, based on solid evidence, not steamy conjecture.
Some of the report is shocking and explicit. But Mr. Clinton made such
sickening details unavoidable by insisting his dishonest denials of sexual
contact were ''legally accurate.''
Mr. Clinton has had his chance to tell his side from the most powerful pulpit
in the land. He chose to lie instead. Now it's time to hear the bitter truth.
Congress has given the nation a chance to see what the Starr report has
gathered and judge the President -- not by rumors, fragments and
unconfirmed leaks, but from a primary-source document of history.<
------
San Francisco Chronicle:
It should be clear that the independent counsel's findings -- however
excruciating -- are still only allegations that must now be vetted by the
House of Representatives. ...
In coming days, Congress and the American people will hear the case
against Clinton as well as his defense. It is imperative that the president gets
a fair hearing and receives every benefit of the doubt.
But when all the evidence has been heard, the nation will be faced with a
fundamental question: Is Bill Clinton fit to be president of the United
States?<
------
The Daily Dispatch of Douglas, Ariz.:
We believe the time has come for President Clinton to resign for the good of
the country. ...
Mr. Clinton is a philanderer and a liar. He has contributed to an unfortunate
perception that all politics is sleaze. It is not so, and must not be allowed to
be so.<
------
The Tennessean of Nashville:
Clearly, the issues believed to be included in the report involve serious rules
of law. Congress must make its decisions not just on information in the
report but be mindful of the context of its broad responsibility under the
Constitution.
The release of the Starr report, as the investigation itself, is an historic
moment for the nation. The way Congress handles the information and the
way the American people react will say much to the world about this nation,
its regard for the constitutional process and its character.<
------<
The Reporter of Lebanon, Ind.:
President Bill Clinton should resign.
It is too late for the president to make amends for his outrageous conduct
with apologies. Those apologies should have come months ago, when it first
became evident that he was embroiled in a tawdry affair with a woman
young enough to be his daughter. ...<
------
Chronicle-Tribune of Marion, Ind.:
Clinton, like Nixon a generation ago, should realize the position he has put
his country in. He should realize that the country and the office he holds have
been distracted and damaged enough.
He should resign.
And if he does not, Congress has the duty to proceed, calmly and rationally,
with the impeachment and trial process.
Clinton can be forgiven for his indiscretions, and he should be. But he must
also suffer the consequences of his actions. The country already has.<
------
Detroit Free Press:
''There was a time not too long ago when the Bill Clinton story was truly an
inspiration -- a dirt-poor kid in Big Boy jeans from a place called Hope who
fulfilled an improbable dream to become president of the United States.
Now he is truly an embarrassment -- a powerful man who cheated on his
wife with an employee less than half his age, and got caught lying about it. ...
Now, Clinton should resign and go home to Arkansas, although that is
completely out of character. While we have supported many of his policies,
we cannot say we would be devastated, since his effective days are well
past gone and his judgment and veracity will be forever suspect.<
------
The Deseret News of Salt Lake City:
The deliberations occupying the House at the moment can hardly be
considered a constitutional crisis, as some are saying. They are instead an
example of the Constitution at work. They are necessitated by the
Constitution.
President Clinton has asked for forgiveness, and he ought to be granted that
request freely by each American. But Congress must decide whether his
mistakes have piled up enough consequences to disqualify him from holding
office and those are two completely separate considerations.
------
The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C.:
Seeking forgiveness is a virtue, and the president's mea culpa is welcome,
even if it has come late, and after some pointed criticism of his earlier speech
even from loyal allies. The American people are inclined to forgive, and the
president deserves the same compassion that anyone else truly repentant
would deserve. ...
The presidency will survive this trauma. Bill Clinton's tenure may or may not.
But the gravity of even considering the removal of a president through
impeachment, or his resignation because of circumstances that render him
ineffective, is simply incalculable. That's why the next weeks must be as
painstaking as they will be painful.<
------
The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer:
Bill Clinton has terribly, perhaps irreparably, damaged his presidency. His
sordid affair with a White House intern, his disregard for the consequences
of his actions, his months of lying to his family, his staff and the nation --
those actions are inexcusable. ...
The nation is not endangered by having Bill Clinton in the White House. Our
economy is not collapsing, we're not under attack, there's no threat of a
coup. Surely the worst that can be said of him has been said. ...
There is ample time for Congress to consider Mr. Starr's report and to
receive a detailed reply from Mr. Clinton, and then decide what course to
pursue.<
------
Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser:
President Bill Clinton should resign from office. It remains to be seen
whether he will face impeachment, but even if he survives he will be so
sorely wounded that any hope of being effective as president will have
vanished. ...
In many other nations, when a political leader has acted in a manner that
brings shame to his or her administration or to the nation, it is a tradition that
the leader will step aside.
President Clinton should do the same.<
------
The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee:
There is shame, specifically, for a president exposed as self-indulgent,
duplicitous and deceitful -- a man whose appetites appear to have ruled his
reason and led him to lies and behavior that have forever cheapened Bill
Clinton and diminished the office to which he was twice elected.
There was shame, as well, over a special prosecutor who delivered a
salacious report that seemed to delight in providing details of sexual
encounters between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. And there is
also the shameful judgment of members of Congress who released the
material before they had seen it themselves. ...
Despite his admissions, Clinton surely is entitled to something like due
process in this proceeding. More important, so is the country. A democratic
nation should not reverse the electoral judgment of the people except
through a deliberative constitutional process. The right judgment cannot and
certainly should not be rendered in the hyperventilated tones of Friday's
disclosures.<
------
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
The American people have been doomed to a guided tour of hell, exposed
against their wishes to the details of a particularly seamy presidential scandal.
Only one person can spare us further heartache. By resigning, President
Clinton would be surrendering the office he worked his entire life to achieve
and would hand his enemies the victory they have long sought. No one as
proud and stubborn as the president could take such a step easily.
Yet, by making that sacrifice, Clinton would save the nation from a
protracted trauma that will otherwise cripple the presidency and Congress
and still further discredit a political system already held in low esteem. A
president more concerned with the national interest than his own
preservation would realize that resignation is his only responsible option.<
------
Sunday Freeman of Kingston, N.Y.:
Clinton will be doing his nation a favor if he resigns. In Watergate, it was
'What did the president know and when did he know it?' In this affair, it's
'What did the American people know about the president and when did it
matter?' ... It matters now. A public office is a public trust, be it the mayor's
office, the governor's office, or the highest office in our land. The president
has lost our trust.<
------
The Seattle Times:
Having grudgingly faced the truth of his misconduct, Bill Clinton must now
face his duty and resign. ...
He lied to the country. He lied to members of his cabinet and let them
continue the falsehoods for his personal benefit. He used other officials and
spent tax dollars to stonewall, delay, deny. He took the lie into American
homes, into Congress and to the U.S. Supreme Court where, pushing a
bogus argument for presidential privilege, he forced the Secret Service to
take a legal bullet.
It's not about sex. It's about misconduct and abuse of his high office. ...
The allegations are credible, but enough damning facts were known before
Starr's report to conclude that Clinton, by his own belated admission, has
dishonored the presidency and destroyed his moral authority.<
------
Tulsa (Okla.) World:
It is a shame that a president can be driven to resign over matters that,
offensive as they are, might or might not amount to impeachable offenses. It
is a shame that the country has allowed a situation to develop in which a
special prosecutor can target a president and more or less stalk him in
search of sin.
But Bill Clinton has no one to blame in this matter but Bill Clinton. His own
appetites and recklessness have ruined his presidency. Even if the Lewinsky
matter were dropped today, Clinton could not regain the moral stature to
lead the nation in days of domestic turbulence and foreign dangers. ...
Resignation is the only step the president can take to validate his repentance
and bring reconciliation with the nation.<
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Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press:
There must be no rush to judgment, in Congress or the nation at large, as to
whether Clinton's misdeeds require his removal from office. The president's
defenses against these charges must be heard in full and with open minds.
But the allegations against Clinton are grave. Lawmakers face a clear duty to
determine whether the president has so thoroughly and clearly betrayed his
oath of office that his credibility here and abroad is devastated and his
presidency must end.
------
The Miami Herald:
Call it revolting or merely shameful, it isn't the sexual activity, per se, that has
so ensnared the president. It's his subsequent actions. ...
Once, presidents were judged primarily in the arena of their official duties.
Today, with an omnipresent media and shifting mores, good private behavior
is as much a part of public duty as is political acumen. To find where that
fault-line now lies, Congress and the public must show the calm dispassion
that, thus far, neither Mr. Clinton nor Mr. Starr has been able to muster.<
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The Advocate of Baton Rouge, La.:
Just as Congress must carefully weigh the information provided by Starr and
make an informed judgment about the behavior of President Clinton, so too
must the American public make a
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