A political myth exposed

[SHRED]

Link to tweet

[TwilightZone]

1. Clinton's approval spiked after acquittal and remained high the rest of his term.

That's not a myth. Context is important.

Personally, I don't think the situations are comparable, in part because much of the public saw the Clinton impeachment for what it was, a solely political act. But, if you want to make the comparison, look at all of the information and not just the part that agrees with your assertion. If they're comparable, are you prepared for a spike in Trump's rating if he's acquitted? Or a second term because of it? Frankly, no one knows what would happen.

"After his impeachment proceedings in 1998 and 1999, Clinton's rating reached its highest point at 73% approval. He finished with a Gallup poll approval rating of 65%, higher than that of every other departing president measured since Harry Truman."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Bill_Clinton

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. Gore and congressional candidates RAN from Clinton and his record.

They should have dug in, maybe scolded Clinton a bit for the beej and the lie, but acted like grownups and embraced the accomplishments of the party.

[TwilightZone]

4. Agree entirely.

That was mind-boggling. Clinton was arguably the best political campaigner in his generation, and they chose not to take advantage of that plus basically ignore eight years of progress. I will never understand that decision.

[SHRED]

6. It was

A huge mistake.

[radius777]

8. Exactly, they got played by Repubs

who convinced Gore/Dem pols that Bill was toxic and that voters actually cared about a bj.

The politically smart thing to do would've been to stand with Bill, as most voters viewed him as a good president who lied about something involving his personal life that had no impact on the country.

[ecstatic]

7. So what? How did that help us? Gore lost. Democrats lost!

I promise you, that approach of sweeping trump's crimes under the rug is a losing strategy. I will vote democratic no matter what, but I will hate & never forgive our leadership if they continue down this "no impeachment" path.

[FoxNewsSucks]

2. Republicons won because

they stole it from Gore. Thanks to gerrymandering and voter suppression, they "won" House and Senate seats, along with state seats.

I don't think the impeachment helped them, and probably did hurt them somewhat. Just not with the Limbaugh-listening teabagger-types.

[jcgoldie]

5. Clinton would have won if he could have run in 2000

Obviously the situations of what Clinton did and Trump has done are very very different. But will public response to a failed impeachment be similar?

[myohmy2]

9. he's right...

...if the impeachment of Bill Clinton hurt republicans maybe we need some of that hurt...

...for the hell of it, let's impeachment trump and see if Larry's right...

...what do we have to lose?

...

[Trumpocalypse]

10. The GOP began the impeachment process

in the summer of 1998. In the midterm elections later that year, Democrats gained seats in Congress. This was only the second time the President’s Party gained seats in a midterm since the Civil war.

By 2000 impeachment was long forgotten and different issues were at play.