Posted on 11/27/2004 4:44:05 PM PST by Clintons-B-Gone
The same week he opened his presidential library, former President Bill Clinton sat down for an oft-contentious interview with ABC News anchor Peter Jennings. During the interview, Clinton reminded us of the lies, arrogance, and utter contempt for our nation's highest office that he routinely exhibited during his administration. When Jennings discussed the rankings of presidential historians who rated him beneath Richard Nixon in moral authority, Clinton went ballistic.
"And still, [there's] not any example of where I ever disgraced this country publicly. I made a terrible public-personal mistake, but I paid for it, many times over," Clinton said. "And in spite of it all, you don't have any example where I ever lied to the American people about my job, where I ever let the American people down."
From news commentators to the average man on the street, the mantra has been that Clinton's impeachment was "all about sex." With the opening of the Clinton "Lie-brary," it is important to finally set the record straight.
Unlike the Nixon presidential library, that did not gloss over the facts of Watergate and the president's resignation from office, Clinton has chosen to spin the facts of his own scandal. So let's be absolutely clear about what the man really did. William Jefferson Clinton was never impeached because of sex!
I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. However, the following is a layman's explanation of the facts of the case, as I understand them:
Paula Jones took the president to court, accusing him of sexual harassment for an incident that took place before he came to Washington. During the course of his testimony, Clinton lied under oath about engaging in oral sex with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. The Paula Jones' legal team already knew about these allegations of Clinton's involvement. Therefore, they thought Clinton's admission that he had sexual relations with a subordinate would establish a pattern of the activity for which Clinton was being tried.
As a lawyer, Bill Clinton also figured this connection would be confirmed by a truthful admission of his affair with Lewinsky. So Clinton lied under oath. In short, he committed perjury. But not only did he perjure himself, Clinton persuaded Lewinsky to lie about their affair in her signed affidavit. It wasn't enough that Clinton perjured himself; he asked Monica to perjure herself also. As an officer of the court, the president was then guilty of suborning perjury.
In the end, it turned out that Paula Jones had no case. She could not prove that her civil rights had indeed been violated because she could not show any measurable damage to her career as a result of her refusal to submit. Jones never saw her pay cut; she never lost her job as a result of his actions. Therefore, Clinton's acknowledgement of an affair with Lewinsky would ultimately have had no impact whatsoever on the verdict.
Not only did Clinton not have to perjure himself, he could have openly bragged about the affair in court. It would not have altered the verdict, nor would he have seen his law license suspended. Moreover, had Clinton given honest testimony in the courtroom, then it is unlikely that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr would have been anything other than another name on a long list of special prosecutors. Further, the United States House of Representatives would never have brought the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.
Clinton was impeached because he was a president and an officer of the court, who violated a couple of sacred oaths in the course of a trial. It is that simple. He was not impeached because of sex.
As a president, Clinton swore to uphold the Constitution. As a lawyer, he took an oath to uphold the law. As a husband, he made a vow to be faithful. Bill Clinton broke every one of those promises. He let down his family, he failed his profession, and he betrayed his nation.
In this country, we talk a lot about democracy. However, the one thing that makes this country so special is the fact we rarely let the process snatch away the rights of a single individual. When President Clinton, the most powerful man in this country, actively sought to deny the right to a fair trial to one of its least powerful citizens, then he was guilty of one of the most egregious crimes that can be committed in this country. And for a president of the United States, his actions definitely met the standard of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Did Clinton disgrace the country publicly? Of course he did! Did President Clinton lie about his job? You bet he did! Did he let the American people down? There is no question!
Bill Clinton may open his presidential library. He may alter the facts or even pretend the past never happened. However, he cannot rewrite history. President William Jefferson Clinton was impeached, and despite his best efforts, he has nobody to blame but himself.
More like a CONVICTED Liar's Library, no?
The vicious, hatefilled, angry, fat little bastard from the wrong side of the tracks simply does NOT get it.
He really believes he did nothing wrong. The world is simply made up of bit actors and character actors in "The Life of billyblythe." As the star, whatever he says "is"...is.
LIE-
(bray)
And this is the man the liberals still look up to. Sad.
Well, there was that time when you sent your State Department out to report 500,000 Albanian victims of Serbuan genocide, and then once you started a war on the pretext of stopping that, you sent your Secretary of Defense out to claim there were at least 1,000 victims. Meanwhile, there have not been shown to be more than 3,500 victims tops, and the evidence that they were genocide victims is very questionable.
And btw, what if instead of sending her tapes to Ken Starr, Linda Tripp had sold them to the Chinese, or the Saudis, or even agents of Sadaam? Do you think having a president in a position to be blackmailed by foreign nations has any public policy impact? And do you think that impact would be favorable to the interest of the American people? Wasn't allowing yourself to be put in such a vulnerable situation was letting the American people down? Hmmmm?
America was fortunate to dodge that particular bullet, but only because Linda Tripp was ultimately a patriot who did the right thing instead of selling out her country for what certainly would have been a nice retirement fund.
He BELIEVES his own tripe! He's INSANE!
She definatly got the big hosing in that deal.One of my few complaints against the current occupant of the white house is that he didn't lift a finger to help rescue her from the Clinton slime machine. She didn't pick this fight, Clinton and Monica brought it to her.I'm ashamed that W didn't do anything to help her.
I agree with you 100% bannie!! He actually believes what he says to be true. What is the proper psychiatric word for that? Is it megalomania? Whatever it is, klintoon has it in spades!! And shrillary has been floating down a river in Egypt called De-Nile.
Yeah, yeah. That measly 12 million dollar book advance sure hurt, didn't it? And that multi-million dollar mansion your friends bought for you sure taught you a lesson, I'll bet. And then there's the lifetime Secret Service protection, taxpayer paid travel expenses, and who knows what other perqs.
Take a hike, loser.
Payments to Monica, or all of the other bimbo eruptions waiting in the wings?
From the Dim point of view, this is equal to Jesus Christ endorsing W, and W losing.
We are a strong country. We survived Clinton. He is old news, and will be a footnote in political history. And his overrated Wife is a non factor.
I think shillery sold her soul. She knows what she's doing...believes that "the ends justify the means." That witch wants Marxism--as long as she can be in the Elite.
THAT pig is more equal than most!
'em are one nasty duo.
Ummm...what exactly was it that you expected the Governor of Texas to do about the president's attempts to exhonorate himself?
And he said that whopper with a striaght face!
Funny, how all the libs are so silent about Bubba's election-altering endorsement of F'n.......
Wanna hear something really funny? I was hoping he wouldn't die during the election. He was more dangerous dead then alive as a factor in the equation.
It all worked out. We get to see him suffer his deserved disgrace. It may not be all he deserves (like him and sKerry sharing a cell for treason) but at least it's something.
From what I've heard, his endorsement of F'n was tepid, at best. Then, he ran off to his Las Vegas Wedding Chapel-esque double-wide liebury, as if nothing ever happened.
What's wrong with being poor?
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