At 01:27 AM 6/20/01 EDT [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
><< They could not possibly have principled differences - your side of the
>political spectrum of course has a monopoly on virtue and everyone who
>disagrees with you is evil. >>
>
>But that's exactly what you and John seem to me to _be_ saying -- the GOP
>acted solely out of principle, with nary a single thought of gaining
partisan
>advantage or embarassing a political foe. A particularly hated foe, at that.
>
>I'm not suggesting that every Republican who voted for impeachment did so
>solely out of black-hearted evil. I'm certain some did feel morally
compelled
>to do so. I do take issue with the notion that it was the _sole_ motivation
>of _every_ Republican.
Fine. You Win.
Given that there are some Republicans who believe that Bill Clinton ordered
the shooting down of a passenger jet off the coast of Long Island to
deflect from his scandals, I have no doubt that some Republican, somewhere
was acting out of a misguided partisan calculus.
But I have no idea how you started debating this.
I entered this discussion to disprove a proposition made by Kristin Ruhle
that:
"Look at the Republicans who impeached Clinton; it was so absurdly partisan
that obviously the biggest reason for the impeachement was not the adultery
or the lying
.... but the fact he was a Democrat and they just didn't like him. But that
wasn't
what they *said*."
I think that it is abundantly clear from the context of this debate that we
are talking about the predominant viewpoint and motivations of the group of
people known as "Republicans." I can see no reference anywhere in this
discussion to arguing the position that *all* Republicans were acting on
principle, or even that *all* Republicans were acting out of partisanship.
I think that I have firmly established, however, that only an irrational
partisan could calculate a partisan advantage from impeaching Bill Clinton.
After all, by definition, the sole reason d'etre for a partisan is to win
elections - and the marginal risk of losing elections is much greater after
impechment than before, as perceived at the start of the impeachment process.
Thus, while a few partisans might have reached a calclulation producing a
partisan benefit for the Republicans, I think that in any group of
reasonable people, the vast majority would reach the opposite conclusion.
At any rate, the calculation of partisan advantage is certainly by no means
so overwhelming as to convincingly suggest that the thousands of
Republicans in the public arena that went on record as support impeachment
based on *principle* were lying.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
