since Henry Hyde was kind enough to give us an opening.
I originally posted this as a comment to the first diary on dailykos on Hyde’s remarks yesterday. That diary had a factual error, which is noted in the expanded and corrected version below the fold. To me the difference between the two impeachment attempts is (1) the fact that the effort against Nixon was bipartisan, and (2) the clear vindictiveness of the effort against Clinton, shown to me by the invocation of the so-called death penalty in all 4 porposed articles, whereas it appeared in none of the articles against Nixon.
first, remember that Hillary worked as a staff lawyer for the Hosue Judiciary Committee. I’m sure that fact was well known to the Republicans. There are only a few people who were on Judiciary then who are still in Congress – Paul Sarbanes and Trent Lott in the Senate, Charlie Rangel in the House.
Second, the Articles of Impeachment voted out against Nixon, viewable here, were not as harsh as they could have been. The conclusion of each article was identical:
These articles do not include the so-called “death penalty” of “disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States” (Article I, Section 3, Clause 7).
All four of the Articles voted out of Committee against Clinton, which can be found, with the committee votes, here, do contain the death penalty, phrased identically as
To me the fact that the Republicans going after Clinton were prepared to deny him, in theory, a pension, a Presidential library, Secret Service Protection, – when NONE of that was proposed for Nixon who after all had done far worse, – makes it very clear that this had nothing to do with seeking justice, and everything to do with getting even.
Also worth considering — none of the four articles proposed against Clinton received a single Democratic vote, and two failed to muster a majority within the House as a whole because Republican crossed over to vote against them, those two going down by votes of 229-205 and 285-148 (I erroneously said these failed in Committee when I posted this as a comment. For full details on the full House votes on all four articles, you can go here
The first two articles against Nixon received 6 (out of 17) Republican committee votes, as well as all of the Democratic votes. These included several fairly Conservative Republicans, such as Caldwell Butler of Virginia. The final article of impeachment only received two Republican votes, and also lost two Conservative Democrats, Flowers (of Alabama?) and Mann (SC).
It is also well worth considering the difference in the Senate. When Nixon, knowing he would lost in the House, considered going on an fighting in the Senate, a group of Senate Republican, incluidng High Scott, the Minority Leader, and Barry Goldwater, went to see him. They told him he’d be lucky to get a dozen votes in his favor in the Senate, and I have seen sources where Godlwater is said to have told him that he (Godlwater) would not be one of those supporting him. Goldwater even called the Washington Post to tell them to ease off so that Nixon would resign.
To this contrast what happened with Clinton.
(NOTE to see the complete votes on the two charges, you can go here
On the perjury charge, the following Republican voted not guilty:
Chafee, R.I.
Collins, Maine
Gorton, Wash.
Jeffords, Vt.
Shelby, Ala.
Snowe, Maine
Specter, Pa.
Stevens, Alaska
Thompson, Tenn.
Warner, Va.
That charge received only 45 votes in favor of conviction. You will note that one of the Republican votes against conviction was Fred Thompson, who was minority counsel fo Senate Watergate Committee and thus had some udnerstanding of the relative seriousness of the two cases.
On the obstruction charge, the vote was a 50-50 tie, with the following Republicans voting against conviction:
Chafee, R.I.
Collins, Maine
Jeffords, Vt.
Snowe, Maine
Specter, Pa.
As someone who sat rapt in front of the TV during the Watergate hearings — whenever I could, hard because of work — it was foremost a truly serious, distinguished, thoughtful effort.
Its propriety was so earnest that it was heartbreaking, and I often found myself in tears as I saw those fine senators — both Republican and Democrat — work to uphold the oaths of their office as well as the integrity of the nation.
Thank you for this highly thoughtful diary, Ken.
An interesting fact I recently discovered: John Dean’s son was roomates (I think, at least college buddies) with Goldwater’s son.
And under that pretext, Dean went to see Goldwater a year before Nixon actually resigned. Goldwater knew the real dirt on Nixon way before his colleagues did.
And he didn’t care for how Dean was treated.
I thought that was an interesting historical tidbit.
John Dean was about 35 years old then. He was born in 1938. Was there another connection between Dean and Goldwater, or did he have a kid when he was 16?
John Dean was a HIGH SCHOOL roomate of Barry Goldwater’s son.
See how my mind plays tricks on me?
from Raw Story
The piece was removed from the ABC Chicago affiliate’s (WLS) website Friday because the network felt it had too much commentary by the author, a staffer says. The affiliate also took down a video which included comments from Hyde.
“It was much more commentary than was necessary,” a source inside ABC 7 Chicago told RAW STORY Friday morning.
Asked if the story was removed because the piece was editorialized, the staffer said “yes.”
The staffer said ABC News is currently “researching” the details of the story, and expected to repost it when the article has been revised.
“We are researching it,” the source quipped. The story has since been reposted in a different form.
The original said Hyde “made some surprising comments Thursday on the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton…”
“Asked if ‘the Clinton proceedings were payback for Nixon’s impeachment,” Hyde said, ‘I can’t say it wasn’t.”
The piece is now back on the website, but the focus and title has changed; it is titled “Rep. Hyde reflects on 30 years of office.”
The video, however, has not been replaced.
Raw Story then provides the original story …
This is truly amazing. Good work.