-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Impeached POTUS Clinton Defiant After Impeachment Vote Says nothing can make him leave the Oval Office PRESIDENT Clinton remained defiant after becoming the first US president for 130 years to be impeached when the House of Representatives voted that he must stand trial in the Senate over allegations that he lied under oath. He emerged smiling from the Oval Office in the White House arm-in-arm with his wife Hillary to address the nation and demanded an end to the "politics of personal destruction". He said: "We must get rid of the poisonous venom of excessive partisanship, excessive animosity and uncontrolled anger." The first of two articles of impeachment, accusing him of perjury before the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's grand jury, was approved by a majority of 228 to 206 on almost exact party lines. A second article, accusing him of obstructing justice by tampering with witnesses, was also sent for trial. The votes came at the end of a morning of high drama in Congress in which the Speaker-elect, Bob Livingston, stunned colleagues by resigning over his own sexual infidelity, and urged the President to follow suit. "I cannot do that job or be the kind of leader that I would like to be under current circumstances," Mr Livingston said. "I must set the example that I hope President Clinton will follow." He also announced that he would be leaving Congress next year. Two hours later Democrats staged an unprecedented mass walkout to protest at the Republican leadership's refusal to allow a debate and vote on censure as an alternative to impeachment. The White House was last night attempting to draw some comfort from the fact that two of the four charges levelled against the President were defeated. Enough Republicans joined Democrats to halt accusations that Mr Clinton committed perjury in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, and that he abused his executive power. But nothing could distract from the fact that the 42nd President of the United States will now go down in history as only the second to be impeached for what the American Constitution describes as "high crimes and misdemeanours". As the impeachment votes took place around lunchtime in Washington, the first missiles were hitting their targets in the fourth night of bombardment of Iraq, and President Clinton was closeted in the Oval Office receiving spiritual guidance from an American Baptist pastor. The President's consultations with the Rev Tony Campolo, who counselled him after he first admitted to his affair with Miss Lewinsky, were due to be followed by meetings with senior Democrat congressional leaders and an address to the nation from the White House. For a few hours yesterday morning the President's own woes were briefly eclipsed by the suprise announcement from Mr Livingston, which came just two days after a report in a Congressional newspaper forced him to admit he had "on occasion strayed from my marriage". Before his announcement, Mr Livingston had challenged the President: "You, sir, may resign your post." Democrats responded with a chant of "You resign! You resign! You resign!" but fell silent when Mr Livingston did just that. Strategists were determined to ensure that the vote against the President could be portrayed as overwhelmingly partisan. In the event they largely succeeded: only five Democrats voted for the best-supported article of impeachment, and five Republicans cast their votes against. The Senate trial will be presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Mr Clinton is expected to be granted 28 days from the formal opening of the process in early January in which to respond with his defence. The London Telegraph, Dec. 20, 1998 Impeached POTUS Some Dems Might Like to See Clinton Walk the Plank Do we need this baggage? ANALYSIS--Suddenly it seems perfectly possible that President Clinton could become the first president to get kicked out of office by the U.S. Senate. Fresh from the historic vote that gave Clinton a place of disgrace in history as the second president to be impeached, even his friends are now warning that the worst could be yet to come. "The president should not take the Senate for granted," warned Sen.-elect Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), adding Clinton made a megamistake by taking the House for granted. "I think predictions are unwise. Given what happened over the last month or two, anyone who says the president will definitely stay either has a crystal ball or is being a little bit rash." Adds Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), one of the most respected Democrats: "I don't think any of us can say now" what will happen in the Senate. Particularly after House Speaker-elect Bob Livingston's stunning decision to "set an example" and resign over private hanky-panky that didn't involve lying under oath - and call on Clinton to follow suit. The White House's awareness of the danger posed by Livingston's example was clear in its desperate plea for Livingston to reconsider and hang on - as Clinton is trying to do. Already, Senate staffers warn that - contrary to some reports - Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle has spread the word that he won't copy House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt and try to force Democrats into line behind Clinton. "In fact it could be that in the end it will be Republicans who want to keep Clinton in office so they can run against him in 2000 - and Democrats who want him out now. They don't owe him anything," says a Democratic strategist. "The public doesn't seem outraged. The stock market is doing fine. Democrats can say, "If we get rid of this guy it helps us in 2000 and gives us two years with Al Gore as president. What's the incentive to fight to save Clinton?" Republicans control the Senate 55-45 and it would take 67 votes to convict Clinton - or 34 to save him. But as of now, key senators privately say he can't count on 34 votes. So Clinton now faces three awful alternatives: *Resign in disgrace like Richard Nixon (aides and wife Hillary insist he'll never do it). *Go to trial, put all his dirty laundry on display, get humiliated - and risk being kicked out of office by a Senate conviction. *Find some way toward a bipartisan censure resolution in the Senate - but it will have to be very, very toughly worded and flatly state that he lied under oath. "You know things are really bad when we're talking about a censure resolution that costs him a lot of money and leaves him vulnerable to prosecution as the best outcome," says a Democratic strategist. All along, the White House has assumed that Americans are terrified at the thought of an ousted president, but with the stock market up, Christmas in the air and the Iraq war surreally moving ahead, those fears have faded. Clinton also faces big trouble in the Senate because it's a far less partisan place than the House, and Democratic senators - many disgusted by his behavior - won't automatically rally behind him as Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) did. The most respected Senate Democrats - Lieberman, Daniel P. Moynihan (N.Y.), Bob Kerrey (Neb.), Robert Byrd (W.Va.) - have all publicly denounced his behavior and warned against trying to turn Sexgate into a partisan fight. Indeed, it's hard to imagine which Senate Democrats would rise to Clinton's defense. Sen. Ted Kennedy (Mass.) might leap to mind - were it not for his own messy personal history. Also, once Clinton goes to trial in the Senate, the process will be far more solemn - no Barney Frank food fights, and the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court will preside in all his dignity. "There's something about the Supreme Court that gives an inherent sense of gravity and purpose. The senators won't be yapping like Chihuahuas as House members were and that will affect how people see it," says GOP pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrick. She puts the odds that Clinton will have to go at 50-50 - plenty of Democrats privately say the odds still say he'll stay in office, but "only 60-40, not 90-10," as one put it. Besides, in the Senate, the focus will be on lies, not kinky sex with Monica Lewinsky - and some legal analysts say Clinton's biggest worry could be obstruction of justice, not talking about when sex is sex. Consider one final wrinkle: Suppose the Senate does come to a bipartisan deal on a tough censure that forces Clinton to admit he's a liar. Then all through the 2000 campaign, Republicans can ask Veep Al Gore, the likely Democratic nominee, if he agrees his boss is a liar. No wonder many Democrats are starting to wonder if they wouldn't be better off if they dumped Clinton. The New York Post, Dec. 20, 1998 Sex, Lies, & Videotape How Larry Flynt Smote Bob Livingston Ruda Maxa's maximum dirt Larry Flynt enlisted the aid of top sex-scandal scribe Rudy Maxa to orchestrate the fall of Rep. Bob Livingston. "I consulted him and used his expertise to help guide me," Flynt told The Post yesterday. The Hustler publisher is a longtime pal of Maxa, best known for breaking the story of Congressman Wayne Hays' affair with "I can't type, I can't even answer a phone" secretary Elizabeth Ray in 1976. Louisiana Republican Livingston, slated to be the next House speaker, resigned yesterday in the wake of his shocking confession that he had "strayed" from his marriage on several occasions. He went public after he learned Flynt was working on a story about his extramarital dalliances. Flynt - who in October offered up to $1 million to anyone who could prove having an adulterous liaison with a high-ranking lawmaker - confirmed yesterday that Hustler is working on "sexposes" of other top GOPers. "We plan to reveal more names, hopefully around the first of the year," he told The Post. "But I can't tell you more until that time." Both Flynt and Maxa, once dubbed "the dean of Washington sexcapades," insisted yesterday that the veteran Washington reporter did not personally have a hand the Livingston dirt-dig. "Rudy and I have been friends for a long time, and I asked his advice when I started this," Flynt said. "But he did not actively work on this story. I have two investigative reporters and several ex-FBI and CIA personnel doing the work." Maxa, who has "retired" from covering scandals to host his "Savvy Traveler" show on public radio, was even more adamant. "I wish I could take credit for giving Washington the shakes, but it ain't me, babe," Maxa told The Post. "When Larry [first placed his ad], I had dinner with him ... and we talked about it in general terms, as friends," Maxa said. "But he certainly did not hire me, and I am not [part of the investigative team] in any real sense." That should make nervous pols breath a bit easier. A former reporter for the Washington Post and later a Washingtonian columnist, Maxa's 1976 story that then-Rep. Hays (D-Ohio) had put his mistress, Ray, on the House payroll sparked a media frenzy. In 1980, Maxa broke the tale of former Playboy model and lobbyist Paula Parkinson's golf-outing antics with then-GOP Congressmen Tom Evans, Dan Quayle, Tom Railsback and two others. In 1990, he co-authored an article in which call-boy entrepreneur Steve Gobie dished sexual tidbits about Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) and other gay members of Congress. Maxa's impressive resume once prompted his pal, Washington restaurateur Mo Sussman, to joke, "As long as there are sexual deviants in the world, Rudy Maxa will have a job." The New York Post, Dec. 20, 1998 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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