Republicans see Clinton's impeachment through rose-colored glasses

[babylonsister]

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-see-clintons-impeachment-through-rose-colored-glasses


Republicans see Clinton’s impeachment through rose-colored glasses
12/26/19 10:03 AM
By Steve Benen


If the point of the headline on Karl Rove’ latest Wall Street Journal column was to get attention, the editors succeeded. It read, “Clinton’s Impeachment Was Dignified.”

Those of us who remember the details of the impeachment saga surrounding Bill Clinton, and read Ken Starr’s report, can probably think of a variety of adjectives. “Dignified” isn’t one of them.

A week earlier, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), one of the House impeachment managers who encouraged the Senate to remove Clinton from office 20 years, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times and emphasized an even less defensible point.

Earlier this Congress, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, and Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, set forth criteria for undertaking an impeachment. They said that the evidence would have to be overwhelming and compelling, and, importantly, it would have to be bipartisan.

Looking back at the Clinton impeachment, I’m convinced we satisfied each of these. Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel, conducted a very lengthy and nonpartisan investigation…. Mr. Starr testified before our committee that the president might have committed impeachable offenses.

Sensenbrenner’s underlying point was that contemporary House Democrats failed because they didn’t convince House Republicans of Donald Trump’s guilt. It’s a difficult argument to take seriously, since for GOP lawmakers, nothing short of a signed presidential confession would’ve made a difference.

snip//

It’s amazing that we even have to revisit all of this. As we’ve discussed before, some younger news consumers may have limited memories of the era, but in the 1990s, most Republicans in D.C. woke up every morning with a fairly specific goal: trying to destroy the Clinton presidency. It was an era in which Tom DeLay ran a scorched-earth campaign against the White House. It was an era in which Newt Gingrich shut down the government because Clinton made him use the wrong exit on Air Force One. It was an era in which Dan Burton, the then-chairman of the House Oversight Committee, felt compelled to shoot melons in his backyard in the hopes of proving that there were murderers in the White House.

And it was an era in which Republicans’ hatred for Clinton led them to impeach the president as part of a partisan and undignified campaign. There’s no point in pretending otherwise.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. Clinton's impeachment was hardly bipartisan LOL

Rose-colored glasses, indeed

[Merlot]

2. Best LOL today!

Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel, conducted a very lengthy and nonpartisan investigation….

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. ................

[Midnight Writer]

5. Exactly. When Whitewater failed, they moved to Travelgate, Vince Foster gate,

on to fantasy death lists, Mena gate, and finally, after all of these investigations yielded absolutely nothing, they settled on a sexual dalliance between two consenting adults.

[magicarpet]

3. Ken Starr and his right hand man,...

.... "I like beer" Kavanaugh are two of the most impartial and non-partisan people on the planet.

They dug and dug and dug some more looking and searching for criminality on Clinton's behalf.

[live love laugh]

6. Republicans rode Clinton's back incessantly.

They were sickening and smarmy Ken Starr was unbelievably lewd and disgusting.