Senate '08: Gordon Smith and the impeachment of Bill Clinton
Kari Chisholm
- Over at Down With Tyranny, Howie Klein notes that Gordon Smith was one of the right-wing Republicans that tried to impeach President Clinton. A number of Clinton impeachers have already been ejected from public office; but there's more work to be done. Howie's got an ActBlue page where you can donate to the challengers in competitive races with Clinton impeachers - chief among them, Jeff Merkley.
Why should these lunatics who were willing to put their own blood lust ahead of the well-being of the nation still be in Congress? Many are in hopelessly red districts or states where there is little that can be done... but not all of them. ... Our best bet in the Senate-- although both James Inhofe and Mitch McConell could be vulnerable-- is Gordon Smith, who deceitfully paints himself as a "moderate" and "bipartisan" while pulling off stunts like this without Oregon voters remembering. This year, though, Smith is in deep trouble with the voters and he's running against one of the best candidates the Democrats have put up anywhere, Jeff Merkley. Bill and Hillary should go to Oregon and campaign with Jeff. Smith deserves it.
- Jeff Merkley has made it clear where he stands on the Wall Street bailout plan - "absolutely no blank check... it makes no sense at all."
- By now, you've probably seen the silly anti-Merkley ad from the NRSC - which has Merkley in a forest, apparently raising your taxes. Jeff Mapes calls the ad misleading. In particular, it's the old Republican trick of counting four votes on a single bill as raising taxes four times. Stupid.
- It sure does suck to be Gordon Smith. On Friday, he got dissed by Arnold Schwarzenegger - who begged off his mega-fundraiser by claiming he was busy with urgent state business. On Saturday, Schwarzenegger was SOOO busy that he was hanging out with Sylvester Stallone - and admitting to a reporter that he smoked pot with Tommy Chong. Seriously:
 |
More Recent Posts | |
Albert Kaufman |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
Kari Chisholm |
Final pre-census estimate: Oregon's getting a sixth congressional seat |
Albert Kaufman |
Polluted by Money - How corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America |
Guest Column |
|
Albert Kaufman |
Our Democrat Representatives in Action - What's on your wish list? |
Kari Chisholm |
|
Guest Column |
|
Kari Chisholm |
|
connect with blueoregon
2:05 a.m.
Sep 25, '08
[Full disclosure: My firm built Jeff Merkley's website, but I speak only for myself.]
Sep 25, '08
”Why should these lunatics who were willing to put their own blood lust ahead of the well-being of the nation still be in Congress?”
Ah, the blind loyalty of Clinton true believers!
Bill was impeached for lying under oath to a grand jury, one of only two presidents to so disgrace himself and the office of the president in our nation’s history. The members of Congress who had the courage to do what was right and face the political fallout will always be remembered as heroes.
Pity we have so few people like that in Washington today.
Sep 25, '08
What those 'heroes" did was trivialize impeachment. They turned our ultimate check on executive power into a partisan tool. And now we've got the world's most disastrous president and impeachment has never even been on the table.
Sep 25, '08
Neal Skorpen pretty much nails it here.
8:57 a.m.
Sep 25, '08
I agree with Buckman about Bill's lying. But Neal nails why Kari is right to characterize it the way that he did.
Trivia question: Who was the Republican Congressman who sang a ditty on the floor of the House Chamber lauding Ken Starr and sang to the tune and most of the words of "twinkle, twinkle little star" and was subsequently bounced out of office by the voters of his district?
That monumentally idiotic move by a stupid GOP Congressman shows why Neal is absolutely right, IMHO.
Nothing excuses Clinton's lying to America or under oath. But there is no way around the self-evident fact that the Republicans who Impeached him cared about the lies only to the extent that they could wring partisan advantage out of it.
9:31 a.m.
Sep 25, '08
No one died when Clinton lied.
5:50 p.m.
Sep 25, '08
Kari,
I distinctly remember Gordon Smith say something like this during impeachment: "These impeachment votes will be the most important decision I have to make during my entire senate career." And then he went off and played gratuitous witch-hunter, at least in terms of his votes. I wonder if someone can dig up old television clips of the true Gordon in his self-righteous mode back then in '98. Maybe it's old news, and yet maybe there is something there that reminds people what Smith is really like and that this new schtick of "I'm at the end of my rope" (on the war) and such are just phony colors.
Sep 26, '08
Small correction: The rabid-right-wing Republicans DID impeach Clinton, but he was acquitted by the Senate.
8:24 a.m.
Sep 26, '08
Acquitted by the Senate as a whole, yes. But that despite Gordon Smith rather than because of Gordon Smith.
9:21 a.m.
Sep 26, '08
Speaking of die-hard loyalists, only disingenuous focus on technicalities worthy of Clinton would exclude Nixon from inclusion with Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Nixon resigened because he certainly was going to be impeached and probably convicted, and it absolutely was impeachment as a check on executive power, unlike the Clinton impeachment.
"Remembered as heroes"? Doubtful. More likely the episode will be remembered as illustrating a period of declining quality of politics and policy, along with the Bush I presidency, the Clinton presidency as a whole, and Bush II, together with associated elections and Congressional politics.
<h2>It's been an era of mediocrity at best.</h2>