Posted on 04/21/2005 5:07:08 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Republican Congressman Henry Hyde made some surprising comments Thursday on the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton. He now says Republicans may have gone after Clinton to retaliate for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. Hyde is stepping down after this term
Hyde's comments came as he talked with ABC7 political reporter Andy Shaw about his 30 year in Congress.
In an exclusive interview, Hyde delivered a big dose of candor and some reflective second guessing. He said, among other things, he might not try to impeach President Clinton if he had it to do all over again.
The 81-year-old DuPage County Republican, who mastered the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable, will be stepping down in January of 2007 after 16 terms and 32 years.
"I am leaving voluntarily, but it's because my physical strength is ebbing. Father Time and Mother Nature have been pursuing me, and I'm 81," said Rep. Henry Hyde, (R)-Illinois.
Hyde is known for his eloquence, courtesy, civility and his fierce partisanship on behalf of conservative GOP principles, including authorship of the Hyde Amendment, which outlawed federal funding of abortions, and leadership of the House judiciary committee in the impeachment of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
When asked if he would go through with the Clinton impeachment process again, Hyde said he wasn't sure. It turned into a personal and political embarrassment for Hyde when an extra-marital affair he had in the 1960's became public amid accusations of hypocrisy. He called the affair a youthful indiscretion.
"Accusations hurled at me to intimidate me were misplaced, and I regret having to deal with them, but they didn't intimidate me," Hyde said.
The veteran DuPage County congressman acknowledged that Republicans went after Clinton in part to enact revenge against the Democrats for impeaching President Richard Nixon 25 years earlier.
Andy Shaw asked Hyde if the Clinton proceedings were payback for Nixon's impeachment.
"I can't say it wasn't, but I also thought that the Republican party should stand for something, and if we walked away from this, no matter how difficult, we could be accused of shirking our duty, our responsibility," said Hyde.
Hyde's comments reflect what Democrats have been saying for years about the Clinton impeachment. It will be interesting to see what happens when Hyde's comments hit the national media.
Hyde's style will be missed in Washington, as well as his sense of civility, even though a lot of people will not miss his rigid ideology.
i would have to hear the thing about clinton for myself before i will believe it
The last real Conservatives are just fading away. This is not good.
Republicans may have gone after Clinton to retaliate for the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
Uh. Yeah.
Where is the headline in the body of the article ?
Republicans may have gone after Clinton to retaliate for the impeachment of Richard Nixon
I used to think the Republicans were the stupid party. Now I think they're all a bunch of weak sisters.
Except that Nixon wasn't impeached. He was just persecuted by the 'Rats.
And all this time I thought he was impeached for committing a crime!!
Naw, we took down Dan Rather in revenge for the media's treatment of Nixon (they spared LBJ for many of the same offenses).
Maybe Alec Baldwin got to Henry and Mr. Hyde got stoned.
I didn't think Nixon was impeached, I think he quit---
but, lets don't let facts get in the way of a good STORY.
THIS is just great, why can't politicians keep their mouths shut---
This is really gonna help matters--NOW all we will hear from the dems is what a great man Henry Hyde is, especially since he was COURAGEOUS enough to admit that Clinton didn't do anything WRONG, he was just the poor scapegoat for the Nixon scandal.....
I think I am gonna puke....
Medication for back pain does interesting things to one's mental faculties.
Makes little sense, because what led to Nixon resigning was that even the Republicans thought he should go. So saying there was even the need for revenge is silly.
Not surprisingly, neither the reporter, the editor, nor the fact checkers cared to correct this rewrite of history either.
You win POD - post of the day - with that one! Pick up toaster after the show.
Where is the headline in the body of the article ?
They extrapolated "can't say it wasn't" into a positive declaration of fact. Typical media BS.
The veteran DuPage County congressman acknowledged that Republicans went after Clinton in part to enact revenge against the Democrats for impeaching President Richard Nixon 25 years earlier.Andy Shaw asked Hyde if the Clinton proceedings were payback for Nixon's impeachment.
"I can't say it wasn't, but I also thought that the Republican party should stand for something, and if we walked away from this, no matter how difficult, we could be accused of shirking our duty, our responsibility," said Hyde.
"I can't say it wasn't,
This is what he said....The headline writer is making too big a deal of it ...My bet ...it will be clarified tommorrow
I was hoping I would have won POD for this separated at birth photo pair:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1388585/posts?page=14#14
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