The Neal Boortz Show -- News Talk 750 WSB -- Atlanta
Monday, December 21, 1998
IMPEACHMENT!
Bill Clinton --- I still can't bring myself to attach the word "President" to his name, now has the ignominy of being only the second President of the United States to have been impeached by the House of Representatives. This will always be a part of his record. His precious legacy will always carry this highlight. It cannot be expunged from the record by any subsequent congress as would be the case with a censure.
The Constitution worked. The rule of law was honored today and a serial perjurer will face a trial in the Senate for his high crimes and misdemeanors.
AND WE DEPEND ON THESE PEOPLE TO DEFEND LIBERTY?
I spent a good deal of time over the weekend watching interview of ordinary citizens on various networks. I was appalled at how few of them actually have a grasp on what is going on with the impeachment issue. Young and old, they just didn't seem to have a clue. Every time I heard someone say it's all about his personal life, I just cringed. Who ARE these people? How many of them are there out there? Can our country survive this level of abject stupidity?
THE SECOND PRESIDENT TO BE IMPEACHED, BUT -------
Bill Clinton is the first elected president to be impeached in this history
of this country. Andrew Johnson moved into the White House after Lincoln's fateful decision to spend a night at the theatre.
SO … WHAT TO EXPECT FROM CLINTON NOW? RHETORIC AND ACTION.
First – on the rhetoric side.
Expect to hear the word "fair" time after time after time. Every person with a "D" after his name will be talking to anyone with a notepad or microphone about how "unfair" the whole process was. With these "fairness" comments the Democrats show their recognition that the American people appreciate fairness, but they will fail to show, though, just how the process was unfair.
They may say that the Judiciary Committee engaged in no fact finding. They didn't interview any witnesses. They didn't hear any testimony from parties, and this just isn't fair. The fact is that the Democrats were free to call any witness they wanted to. For obvious reasons, they chose not to. The Committee had every legitimate right to rely on the report of the independent counsel. That, after all, is what the independent counsel was supposed to do --- investigate, gather facts, report to Congress.
The Democrats are playing a role we have seen many times before. The role of the immediate family members of almost every person who has ever been charged with a major crime in this country. You've seen them … Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, all complaining that their relative has not been treated "fairly" by the investigators and prosecutors, and that he could not possibly have committed the crime for which he is charged.
Then there's the "will of the people" argument. We will hear time after time that the evil, partisan Republicans have gone against the will of the American people in voting for impeachment. Several weeks ago Dan Rather was quick to point out that the feelings of the majority of the American people don't count when it comes to enforcing and prosecuting our laws. The same rule applies here, though you shouldn't wait for Rather to point that out to you.
If the will of the majority of the people was to be followed when the congress votes we would not have an income tax, we would have school vouchers, we would have prayer in the schools and an amendment against flag burning. To Democrats, the "will of the majority," or the "vast majority" when Hillary is talking, matters only when the majority agrees with the Democratic position.
Then there's this "overturning two elections" bit. First, in both of those elections the majority of voters indicated that they did not want Clinton to be the next president. Now … consider this. If impeachment is wrong because it overturns the results of a presidential election, then that would mean that impeachment would only be correct in the case of a president who was not elected by the people of the United States. I guess that's not true, though, because Nixon's impeachment overturned two elections in which Nixon actually got a majority of the vote … but not one Democrat came forth to say it was wrong because it was overturning an election.
Of course we will continue to hear that this is all about sex. If it's about sex, why isn't the word "sex" in any of the Articles of Impeachment? Read on --- because it's about perjury, not sex.
Clinton said that he has apologized and expressed regret for what he has done "in his personal life." Hey, Slick Willie, it's not your personal life we are concerned with. Its your official life. Your conduct as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. Your trashing of our rule of law.
Now, on the action side,
Clinton and his fellow travelers will start working for a compromise. A plea bargain. They will be pushing for censure, just as they did on the floor of the House today.
The fact is that the Democratic Caucus in the Congress could have voted a censure resolution against Clinton any time they wanted to during the past year. They chose not to. They didn't like the idea at all.
Last Spring the suggestion was made that the Congress this censure the president in order to avoid an impeachment action. The Democrats didn't like the idea at all. What do you think Barney Frank thought of censure last Spring? He said that the Republicans, "Faced with a choice, they go for symbolism over substance. That is what censure is."
Then ... did you see that gathering on the White House lawn Saturday afternoon! There stood the very same Democratic members of the House who, hours earlier, were talking about the need to censure the president for his terrible and unpardonable behavior. Now they were gleefully applauding the very same president and slapping him on the back. So much for their sincerity on the issue of censure.
While they Democrats are working the censure option with the Senate, you can look for continued attacks on Republicans. That should come as no surprise.
WILL CLINTON GO TO THE COURTS?
This week you may start hearing more and more of this "lame duck congress" nonsense. Clinton tried to use the courts time and time again over the past few years to thwart Ken Starr's investigation. It would be no surprise to see him do it again. Look for some sort of claim that an old (105th) congress can't impeach a president and then have that case prosecuted before the Senate by a new (106th) congress.
PARTISAN -- PARTISAN -- PARTISAN -- PARTISAN -- PARTISAN
Every person who speaks on behalf of Clinton for the next few months will be required to use the word "partisan" as many times as possible in their comments. In fact, this rule has been in effect for a few months already. Perhaps you've noticed.
Just what does it mean? To be partisan means that you take a position on an issue and stand by it. Is there a problem with that? The people who fought for our independence from England were fierce partisans. Maybe King George could have discredited them and saved the colonies if he had just used the "partisan" word day after day.
To a Democrat, though, a partisan is anyone who disagrees with the Democratic position.
Why didn't we hear this "partisan" nonsense when Clinton and the Social Democratic party passed the largest tax increase in the history of this country without one single Republican vote? The answer? It's really very simple. When the Democrats unite behind a cause it is "doing the work of the American People." When the Republicans unite behind a cause it's "partisanship."
WHAT ABOUT THE "POLITICS OF PERSONAL DESTRUCTION?"
During his speech Saturday afternoon Clinton decried what he calls "the politics of personal destruction." His press spokesman Joe Lockhart said that Clinton has always been opposed to the politics of personal destruction.
Come on, folks. That's quite a stretch.
This is the President who fired the entire White House travel office staff to make room for some personal friends and big contributors. Then, when the media started asking questions, he turned the IRS and the FBI loose on these poor saps with instructions to come up with some prosecutable crime that would excuse his actions. And he's against the politics of personal destruction?
Remember that woman who yelled "Those boys died and you suck!" at Clinton in Chicago? Whammo, IRS audit.
This is the President who allowed his henchmen to attempt to trash the reputation of Paula Jones. He sat silent while his top advisor James Carville made that fateful "drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park" comment.
Oh, and Paula Jones got audited too.
This is the President who had already set in motion a campaign to trash the reputation of Monica Lewinsky, then quickly recalled it after he found out about Linda Tripp's tapes and the infamous blue dress.
This is the President who hired private investigators to research the backgrounds of his political adversaries.
This is the President who leaked the information on the affairs of Henry Hyde, Dan Burton and, according to the media, Bob Livingston
And Joe Lockhart wants us to accept this crap about Clinton being against the politics of personal destruction from the get-go. Sadly, the majority of American people are dumb enough to buy it.
THESE PEOPLE SEEM TO BE ANGRY ABOUT SOMETHING
Why is the level of rancor so high? Way are emotions so raw?
Gods back to 1994 .. the voter revolution of 1994.
For forty years the Democrats had controlled the Congress of the United States. I can't think of one Democrat serving in either the Senate or the House who served under a Republican majority. Democrats must have felt they had a divine right to lead. Leadership was a Democrat birthright, and no man would dare set that aside!
Then it happened .. the voter revolution. Democrats wake up after the 1994 votes are counted to find that they are in a minority. It was a stunning and incomprehensible defeat.
As it turns out, the Republicans didn't handle their leadership role as well as one would expect. But the real failure was that of the Democrats. They could not believe their minority status. It was illegitimate. It was wrong. It was unacceptable.
The Democrat response? An immediate declaration of war against the Republican congress. Over 65 ethics charges were made against Newt Gingrich. Only one resulted in any adverse finding and a penalty.
The intense, burning anger on the part of the deposed Democrats continues to this day. They just can't bring themselves to accept the fact that, for the time being, they don't control the Congress.
A QUICK LESSON IN HOW TO SLANT THE NEWS
The headline in The Atlanta Constitution story regarding Clinton's statement read:
"I have accepted responsibility for what I did wrong"
Now, the folks at the Constitution know that some people just scan headlines and will perhaps read a paragraph or two of some stories. So --- here is a story entitled "Clinton's Statement" with the above headline. You could excuse the hurried reader for coming away with the idea that Clinton had apologized for the actions set forth in the Articles of Impeachment.
Not so.
It's not until you get to the fifth paragraph that you read what Clinton actually said. The correct quote is "I have accepted responsibility for what I did wrong in my personal life."
So ... it turns out that the president only accepted responsibility for those matters that were not set forth in the Articles of Impeachment. He is charged with lying to a grand jury and obstructing justice. These transgressions did not occur in Clinton's personal life. They occurred in his public life. He has yet to apologize.
Oh, by the way. I'm sure you noticed how The Atlanta Constitution avoided using the word "impeachment" in their headlines on Sunday.
BUMP AND SPRAY IN BUCKHEAD
The crime wave continues in Buckhead. Over the past several weeks we have had no less than six people abducted from various parking lots. Some raped. Most forced to withdraw cash from their ATMs.
Now something new. Over this past weekend there were two attempted car jackings in Buckhead. One successful, the other not.
Here's how they work this deal.
You're sitting at a light or a stop sign in an expensive car. Someone bumps you from behind. They get out of their car and walk up to your window. You think they're going to apologize or offer some assistance. Instead, they spray you with pepper spray and force you from your car, which they then steal.
If you're bumped … drive on! Get to a group of people. A service station, for instance. Let your insurance company take care of the damage. If the person who bumped you is honorable, they'll follow. If not, you're better off.
AND SOME RANDOM NOTES .........
Clinton's Chief of Staff John Podesta thanked the Democrats for standing up for the Constitution. That's like thanking Jane Fonda for standing up for the principal of patriotism.
Georgia Congressman John Lewis made a stirring speech from the floor of the House which ended with these words: We must stay together as one family. One house. One family. The American House. The American family. Sure, John. You preach the sanctity of "One family ---- the American family" today and next week you'll be preaching about the "African-American" family again. Which is it? You can't have it both ways.
Vice President Al Gore said that six years ago Clinton was handed a failing economy. That's a lie. The economy had been in recovery for eighteen months when Clinton was sworn in. He also said that six years ago he was handed the largest budget deficit .. and he ended it. More lies. Until the Republicans took over the congress Clinton's budgets projected budget deficits of $200 billion a year into the next century.
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