Different Times: Nixon, Clinton and Bush

June 7 2004
Counterbias.com
Doug Griffin

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” ~ Lord Acton

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Recently, famed writer Carl Bernstein actually called on the GOP to be what it claims to be: the custodians of morality and decency.  Bernstein, citing Republicans from the Nixon-era, called on conservative lawmakers to do the right thing and be stand-up human beings rather than continue playing partisan politics.

The problem is, the Republicans that impeached Nixon had backbone and some morals.  Times are very different now.  Today’s neo-conservative version of the Republican Party is seriously lacking in backbone and morals are certainly few and far between.

The writing was on the wall during the Clinton Administration.  That’s when many of the same Republicans that Bernstein has called on to do their jobs, began impeachment proceedings against President Clinton for lying under oath about his indiscretions with an intern.  The Constitution states that treason, bribery, “and other high crimes and misdemeanors” are grounds for impeachment.  Given that he held the highest office, I guess Clinton did commit a couple of high crimes – perjury and obstruction of justice.  This was the best interpretation that Republicans in Congress could come up with to feed their own party’s political greed?  The thinking seems to have been: “Let’s impeach Clinton.  Maybe he’ll resign and that will give us the White House in 2000.”

The real reason for impeaching Clinton in the first place was strictly political.  No news there.  Conversely, the only reason the Republican-held Congress won’t impeach George W. Bush is political.  It’s based on the neo-conservative need/greed for power.  Our elected officials, and George W. Bush, are only interested in three things: gaining power, hanging on to it once they have it, and gaining more of it… all three by any means necessary.  It appears that they give no more thought to the interests and the well-being of the American people than they would the interests and the well-being of a garden slug.  Al Gore said as much in a recent speech.  Gore basically calls on the entire Bush Administration to resign.  I heard Sean Hannity denounce this as lunacy.  What’s so crazy about calling for the resignations of public officials who have grossly mislead the public?  Obviously, Hannity is no different than any other right-wing media dweeb.  I find it difficult to believe that these people truly believe the words that are coming out of their own mouths.  It’s just that they’ve been doing it for so long, they’ve completely lost touch with reality.  Similarly to our legislators.

But, is this something new?  Absolutely not.  It has, however, been taken to a whole new level.  The impeachment of President Clinton and the lack of any discussion (from the GOP side) of impeachment of President Bush is proof that the Republicans have no morals.  Clinton lied (again, under oath – for you on the right) about sex.  No one died because of the lie.  But because he lied under oath about something that was truly nobody’s business, except the Clinton family, the man needed to be removed from power.  It’s an obvious no-brainer that when the country is enjoying peace and prosperity at unheard of levels and there’s a budget surplus rather than a deficit, if the president gets a blowjob and lies about it, we must impeach him.

The problem with the Republicans’ logic is that it is so obviously partisan, it is borderline criminal.  George W. Bush lied under oath when he was sworn in as president.  He swore to uphold the constitution.  So far, no good.  The Patriot Act burns him there.  Another failure to uphold the constitution is Bush’s assertion to add an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.  The president also has also lied under oath as Commander-in-Chief of the military.  The oath basically promises that only as a last resort will he put them in harms way and by no means as a matter of choice.  Was the war in Iraq a last resort?  Not by a long shot.  So many high-ranking officials in the military advised against such action.  As Colin Powell and many others said, Saddam was “contained.”  The war in Iraq is, by definition, a war of choice.  The intelligence used to justify it was faulty at best, an outright fabrication at worst.  Does dereliction of duty qualify as a high crime? 

George W. Bush made an oath to the American people and he has failed to live up to it… over and over and over again.  George W. Bush left this country defenseless as he vacationed in Crawford prior to 9/11.  George W. Bush sold this country out to Ahmed Chalabi because of his own bloodlust of Saddam Hussein.  Why listen to the senior military officials who advising that war in Iraq would become what this one has?  Why listen to those who advised that, should we undertake this fruitless desert endeavor, we would need a lot more troops to do it correctly?  Bush says he goes by his gut, or his instincts.  If memory serves correctly, George W. Bush’s instincts couldn’t find oil in Texas.  How, then, does he trust his instincts on global leadership?  More importantly,  how do we?  Additionally, how do we trust those who are charged with keeping renegade presidents in check yet turn a blind eye to his actions?

Don’t hold your breath, Mr. Bernstein.  Like I said, we are sure living in different times when the same legislators that impeached a president for lying about sex, refuse to impeach one for lying about going to war.  I guess you were a little confused as to what’s important in this country.  Democrats having sex: bad… Republicans waging war: good.