The Republicans had their chance at Clinton. The could have gone after him for taking money from China for technology and they could have done a much better job at focusing the impeachment proceeding on perjury. They could have released the “evidence” to the public instead of allowing it to be kept under wraps and viewed only by Congress in a private room where most Congressmen and Senators refused to go. Without a public airing of the evidence, the American people could not develop an informed conclusion independent of the media campaign to destroy Ken Star. Regardless of their ineptness, the House did its job by voting for impeachment. The RINOs in the Senate failed in their job so Clinton was acquitted. Conservatives can say what they want about Bills crimes but in the end he was tried and acquitted. After his acquittal most American voters didn’t care anymore.
Add to the bungled trial in the Senate the fact most people who were voting age at the time remember the economy did well during his term in office. It may have been the momentum of the Reagan years or it may have been he had the good fortune to ride the internet boom. Regardless, he was in office at the time and gets the credit. Finally, he did work with the Republican Congress to produce a balanced budget in his last two years, an accomplishment his successor squandered. Again, for those who remember, Clinton gets high marks for managing the public purse well, particularly when compared to his two successors.
Clinton may have actually committed high crimes and misdemeanors but in the end the Republicans in the Senate gave him a pass and the history books are written by the victors. Most Americans who lived during the Clinton era believe the story the impeachment was a partisan witch hunt. The history younger people are taught in school is that Clinton was a victim of a partisan witch hunt. No attacks on Clinton by Trump or anyone else nearly two decades after the the impeachment will change the perception of the majority of the American people, particularly when the mainstream media, academia and the entire Democrat political machine will go to bat for Bill. Attacking Bill to attack Hillary is simply a losing proposition and waste of time. Hillary will have to be defeated on her own record, not Bill’s.
Wow—excellent post! I well remember the frustration of watching the Senate punt on Clinton’s impeachment, and the joy of finding FReepers with whom those frustrations could be shared and vented.
My hope and prayer is that the attacks Trump makes are laser pointed not so much at the Clintons personally, but at the damage their actions and dirty dealings have done to our national security.