The failed impeachment of Clinton didn't hurt the GOP in 2000

[edhopper]

They kept the House and only lost the Senate because Jeffers flipped Parties.

And the American people felt that impeachment was bullshit.

So if the GOP fails to deal with an impeachment the people feel is warranted, they will not turn on the Dem Party for doing the right thing.

I know others feel differently.

[dlk]

1. I Like House Investigations That Can Result in Criminal Indictments

There could even be jail time, my preference.

[edhopper]

3. That too

infact, they could impeach him in Novemeber of 2020 and let that hang out there for the GOP to deal with.

[wasupaloopa]

2. The case for impeachment I am hearing today is that it is the duty of Congress

and should not be part of a political calculation.

I am for impeachment because it will keep trump’s crimes before the people.

Soon the Mueller report will be old news and we will move on and trump will get off

[dlk]

4. That's a Legitimate Concern

Ongoing, public hearings in the House would keep Trump’s crimes front and center.

[uponit7771]

5. +1

[Generic Other]

14. The talking points and bots are out in force

All trying to tell us not to care. They are petrified. Why would anyone take the only threat we have off the table? Is this supposed to help Democrats in 2020? All I see is Trump crowing 24/7 "No collusion! Witch hunt! Innocent!" Is that something we are all willing to swallow two years from now?

[Instant Liberal]

6. 2000 was a LONG time ago

Many 2020 voters have no idea what happened then and our society and the GOP is much different. The Democrats are not as strong as they've been in the past and with the division within the party and the younger folks determined to be Independent, or different, just like all the different people it's a tenuous majority we have in the House. I would worry about losing seats in the Senate. Keep in mind that McConnell and Graham, many other Senate Republicans are up in 2020.

[artislife]

11. Maybe we are just spineless?! nt

[2naSalit]

7. Not because they didn't cheat or anything

right?

[mtnsnake]

8. Yeah, so let's let Trump off the hook because we're afraid of our own shadows

We stand a lot more to lose if we don't impeach the crooked fuck than we do if we impeach him, including our dignity.

And for the one millionth time, what happened after the Clinton impeachment does not mean anything close to the same thing will happen after Asshole is impeached. Different time, different circumstances, not even a close comparison.

For all you know, if we impeach Trump, the impeachment hearings that would follow just might cause us to gain seats in the House and win the Senate. Regardless of whether or not the asshole was removed, it's the hearings that would cause Trump irreversible damage.

[edhopper]

20. Do you think I was arguing

Against impeachment?

[applegrove]

9. But the GOP paid for it in the 1998 midterms for over-reach.

[edhopper]

12. Impeachment started in December of 1998

the GOP kept the House in the 1998 election anyway.

[applegrove]

17. I thought I saw someone on cbc tv say the opposite. Or maybe it was CNN.

That the GOP paid for their overreach at the polls? Somehow. Maybe it was before impeachment of Clinton... in the months leading up to it.

[Poiuyt]

10. Why Impeaching Trump Is 'Worth It'

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/opinion/clinton-impeachment-republicans-trump.html?register=email&auth=register-email

snip-

Furthermore, in the fall of 1998, at the first opportunity for voters to express their feelings at the ballot box after the House voted to begin an impeachment inquiry, the Democrats picked up five seats in the House of Representatives, an embarrassment that drove Newt Gingrich from the speaker’s office.

But consider what followed.

First, the Republicans went on to take or hold the White House in three of the next five presidential elections — including the 2016 race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

And while Democrats did gain a handful of House seats in midterm elections in 1998, the Republicans maintained control for eight more years, until disapproval of the Iraq war finally tipped Congress to the Democrats in 2006.

On the Senate side in 1998, the Republicans maintained their 55-45 majority. With the exception of a 17-month window in 2002 and 2003, Republicans controlled the Senate until 2006. In short, the Republican wave of 1994 endured for nearly a decade after the failed impeachment.

It’s true that Mr. Clinton was not removed from office, but Republicans used the fact of his impeachment as a cudgel first against his vice president, Al Gore, and later against his wife. While its impact can’t be quantified, it sure didn’t help either in their election bids.

Finally, and most important, the very myth that the 1998 impeachment hurt Republicans protects them today, when pressure to move against Mr. Trump is met with concerns about the political fallout. Clearly, we need to reconsider that myth.

[edhopper]

13. Thanks

that is a good article.

[Generic Other]

16. Ultimately, it's not about politics

We've gone beyond that moment. This is a Constitutional crisis. I don't care about anything else. We need to do EVERYTHING in our power to get rid of Trump. If we don't, we will look back on our reluctance as cowardice. The GOP will laugh at our ineffectual response.

[Cosmocat]

18. The country elected a morally corrupt psycopath

Over a decent, highly competent publc servant.

Rs get treated differently than Ds.

[Hortensis]

19. It hurt them VERY badly in the midterms. 2000 was later.