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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. P. who wrote (22013)	12/19/1998 3:34:00 PM
From: AlienTech	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50167

As if you didnt know. Kinda hard to figure this one out, I like the guy more than any other presidents but he did some wrongs, but he was also set up to do those wrongs in a way. People can talk a lot, but unless they were put in a similar position in those kinds of conditions you can not judge the man. U.S. House Impeaches President Clinton House of Representatives Rejects the Final Article of Impeachment Against President Clinton By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives impeached President Clinton Saturday, setting the stage for only the second trial in U.S. history on whether a president should be removed from office. The House, on largely party-line votes, approved two articles of impeachment alleging Clinton committed perjury during grand jury testimony and obstructed independent counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of the Monica Lewinsky affair. The House rejected two other articles alleging Clinton lied in a deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and abused his power by falsely answering questions posed to him by the House Judiciary Committee. The votes followed an extraordinary day that included a shocking resignation by Speaker-elect Bob Livingston, a protest walk-out by Democrats over a censure vote and public soul-searching by members of a shaken House that at times seemed ready to implode after months of partisan warfare over the impeachment drive. The vote puts Clinton's political future in the hands of the Senate, where a two-thirds majority will be needed to convict and remove him from office. In the only other presidential trial 130 years ago, President Andrew Johnson stayed in office by one vote in the Senate. Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott said he would put in motion the formal process that could lead to a trial. While few expect the Senate to muster the votes to remove him, the impeachment votes and Livingston's announcement increased the pressure on him to resign. Livingston, taking to the floor during the impeachment debate after admitting earlier in the week to his own marital infidelities, said he believed he should set an example for the president. "I cannot do that job or be the kind of leader that I would like to be under current circumstances. So I must set the example that I hope President Clinton will follow. I will not stand for speaker of the House on Jan. 6," Livingston said. The announcement from Livingston drew gasps and roars from House members, then sustained cheers from Republicans. The White House responded within an hour, saying Clinton, who ordered a fourth day of missile attacks against Iraq Saturday, had no intention of resigning and Livingston should reconsider. Polls show Clinton's approval rating remains high and a majority of Americans did not want him to become the first president in 130 years to be impeached and face a Senate trial. The vote on the first article of impeachment -- approved 228-206 with five Republicans voting against impeachment and five Democrats for -- came hours after Livingston's surprise announcement. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, said Livingston's move was "a surrender to a developing sexual McCarthyism." Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt said Livingston should reconsider his resignation, which he described as "a terrible capitulation to the negative forces that are consuming our political system and our country." "We need to stop destroying imperfect people at the altar of an unattainable morality. All of us here -- say no to resignation, no to impeachment, no to hatred, no to intolerance of each other, and no to vicious self-righteousness." House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas warmly praised Livingston and said: "You set before us today an example that breaks our heart ... that principle comes before person." Democrats walked out of the chamber after they lost a test vote on their bid to censure the president as an alternative to impeachment. Livingston had refused to allow a direct vote on censure, which Democrats hoped would siphon votes from impeachment. In a largely party-line procedural vote, Republicans rejected the alternative, which would have harshly condemned Clinton and left him open to civil and criminal penalties. "We are deeply offended by this process," Gephardt said outside the Capitol after the walkout. "It was partisan and unfair." Democrats then hurried back into the chamber to vote on the articles. After the votes, Democratic House leaders were expected to go to the White House to offer encouragement to Clinton and to urge him to resist Republican calls for his resignation. Members took up the impeachment issue again Saturday morning after 13 hours of contentious debate Friday that exposed a bitter chasm between the parties on Clinton's political fate. "My God, what kind of country are we becoming?" said Rep. Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat. "What kind of institution are we becoming?" House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde drew a distinction between the private sexual acts that had led to Livingston's resignation and Clinton's alleged lies under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. "My friends, something is going on repeatedly that has to be stopped and that is a confusion between private acts of infidelity and public acts, where as a government official you raise your right hand and you ask God to witness the truth of what you're saying. That is a public act," Hyde said. Debate on the articles was put off one day after U.S. missiles were launched against Iraq Wednesday. A fourth wave of attacks on Iraq were launched Saturday even as the debate raged in the House. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton went to Capitol Hill early in the day to meet with Democratic lawmakers and rally their support. She told them Clinton has no intention of resigning, lawmakers said. White House aides said Clinton, who has been overseeing the missile attacks against Iraq while the House debated, was considering speaking publicly after the final vote -- expected Saturday afternoon -- but an appearance was not definite. In 1868, in the only other presidential impeachment trial, Johnson was saved by one vote in the Senate after the House impeached him in a dispute over the post-Civil War Reconstruction of the South.