-Caveat Lector- Makes ya feel like you're watching a "Rocky" movie, eh? No? >From wsws.org WSWS : News & Analysis : North America : Clinton Impeachment The Senate impeachment trial Democrats paralyzed as Republicans present their case against Clinton By the Editorial Board 16 January, 1999 In the first two days of the Senate impeachment trial, the House Republicans have established their line of attack--to portray Clinton's ineffectual attempt to conceal his relationship with Monica Lewinsky as a crime against the "rule of law." The aim of the Republicans is to ensure that the trial proceeds within the framework established by the conspirators who organized the entrapment of Clinton in the first place. The issue to be considered is not the right-wing cabal that underlies the impeachment trial, but whether or not Clinton committed "perjury" and "obstruction of justice." The opening statements of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, James Sensenbrenner, Asa Hutchinson and their cohorts were laced with charlatanry and deceit. In their hands, the politically-directed lawsuit of Paula Jones--which was orchestrated by the extreme right to destabilize the Clinton administration--has been repackaged as a "civil rights" case. Portraying Paula Jones as a champion of civil rights and justice for women, Sensenbrenner argued that the removal of Clinton was necessary to defend racial and gender equality. This pretense would be laughable were its purpose not so reactionary and menacing to the working class. It is all the more preposterous given the fact that--as Sensenbrenner and everyone else in the Senate chamber were well aware--one of the Republican prosecutors, Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott have been exposed as supporters of a white supremacist organization called the Council of Conservative Citizens. The Republican strategy can only succeed as long as the Democrats refuse to expose the political conspiracy behind the impeachment drive. Yet the White House and the Democrats have no intention of doing this and are therefore entirely on the defensive. In the first week of the trial they gave the Republicans an enormous political victory by voting unanimously for a bipartisan procedural resolution, thereby endowing the proceedings with precisely what the Republican plotters required--a cloak of constitutional legitimacy. Now they have accepted the Republican framework within which Clinton is to be judged. The White House strategy, such as it is, rests on opposing the calling of witnesses and arguing that the offenses alleged in the articles of impeachment do not merit Clinton's removal from office. This position plays directly into the hands of Clinton's enemies. It allows them to posture as the upholders of the truth and the law, and portray the White House as a guilty party desperate to avoid a full airing of the facts. The only effective and principled strategy for the White House would be to expose the fraudulent character of the Senate trial and denounce the impeachment drive for what it is--a political coup d'etat. If the Democrats were serious about conducting a struggle, they would use the Republican demand for witnesses as an opening to call to the stand a whole series of people who have been involved in the political conspiracy: Kenneth Starr, Linda Tripp, Lucianne Goldberg, the Paula Jones lawyers, right-wing publisher Richard Mellon Scaife, to name a few. But they reject this option out of hand, despite the overwhelming opposition of the public to the impeachment process. Clinton's entire record, from the Whitewater provocation to the present, has been an unending series of maneuvers and concessions. The one consistent thread has been the refusal of the White House and the Democratic Party to expose the machinations of the right wing and make an appeal to the American people to oppose their attack on democratic rights. This is what enables the Republicans to proceed and escalate their offensive. They are now demanding that Clinton testify before the Senate, laying yet another legal and political trap for the White House. At the same time they are holding secret strategy sessions between Senate "jurors" and the House prosecutors. The Republicans want to extend the trial as long as they can. They calculate that the longer it continues without any resistance from the Democrats, the more public opposition will erode. Whatever the outcome of the impeachment trial, whether it ends in Clinton's acquittal, conviction or resignation, the very fact that these proceedings are taking place testifies to an unprecedented political crisis and breakdown of democratic institutions in America. A cabal of neo-fascist politicians, professional right-wing conspirators and gutter journalists has been able to entrap an elected president and leverage a sexual encounter into an impeachment and trial without any significant opposition from within the political establishment. This is a political fact with the most far-reaching implications. Every major political crisis ultimately reflects profound social tensions and antagonisms. The impeachment crisis is no exception. It is an expression of the underlying social polarization in America, which has produced a political system thoroughly alienated from the broad masses of the people. Under such conditions, the most reactionary forces are able to exert enormous political power, grossly disproportionate to their actual base of popular support. They exploit the political disorientation and disorganization of the broad masses of working people. These are the conditions which have given rise to the present spectacle in the Senate. The Democrats speak in private about the neo-fascistic politics of the Republicans who are spearheading the drive for Clinton's removal. The Irish Times on Friday reported an extraordinary statement by Democratic House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, who recently spoke to a group of feminist leaders about the impeachment campaign: "This is not about politics," he said. "This is about God. The Republican Party has been taken over by religious zealots. They don't care what happens politically. They hate this guy. And they want to take him down even if it hurts them." What is the political significance of this statement? The Democratic Minority Leader is aware that both houses of Congress are controlled by extreme reactionaries who are not beholden to traditional bourgeois-democratic political norms, but are committed to the break-up of the existing constitutional system and the establishment of a right-wing authoritarian regime. But Gephardt and the Democratic Party as a whole refuse to alert the American people about the nature of these forces. The Democrats have not only proven themselves incapable of opposing the right-wing assault, they are complicit in it. All of their efforts are concentrated on concealing from the American people the threat to their democratic rights. The media collaborates in this cover-up. Significantly, Gephardt's comments were not published in the American press. The critical issue facing the working class is not the defense of Clinton, but rather the defense of its democratic rights against an attack on the traditional institutions of bourgeois democracy from the right. The working class must oppose this assault, but it can do so only on the basis of an understanding that the offensive against democratic rights is an expression of the crisis of the entire social and political system. It is not a matter of relying on the Democratic Party or seeking to revive the corrupt institutions of capitalist rule. The history of the twentieth century abounds with the tragic consequences of such a policy. The political conspiracy underlying the impeachment drive poses the necessity for the working class to build its own mass party to place society on truly democratic and egalitarian, that is, socialist, foundations. See Also: The Senate impeachment trial: The legal framework of a right-wing witch-hunt [15 January 1999] The Impeachment of Clinton [Complete WSWS Coverage] Top of page Readers: The WSWS invites your comments. Please send e-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1998-99 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved ~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From Irish Times Friday, January 15, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'A hound dog' who underrated Christian right ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clinton supporters would do well to recall the past, writes Elaine Lafferty The US: That the President of the United States should be standing trial in the ornate 19th-century chamber of the US Senate defending himself against allegations of lying about oral sex is beyond comprehension. Not just the average person's comprehension. That such a state would come to pass was beyond the powers of prognostication of the most sophisticated political pundits, consultants, observers, lawyers, professors and, not least, the American public. The business of chirpy, eager and all-too-willing Monica bouncing around the Oval Office was by any account a messy and unfortunate visual, and Mr Clinton's half-truths, evasiveness and finally outright lying before the cameras were wrong and immoral. But this man and his policies were supported then by a solid 60 to 70 per cent of the American people. Said one man-in-the-street: "We knew he was a hound dog when we elected him." That same percentage of people in public opinion polls continues to support Mr Clinton today. So how did this happen? How did the opposition Republican Party contest the will of the American people and proceed with an attempt to remove a president? When the conventional wisdom, and even criticism, is that politicians mindlessly follow the polls, why have the Republicans so disregarded public opinion? It is confounding. Surely it has cost them, and many believe the party itself is committing suicide. A Gallup Poll last weekend showed half of all Americans disapproved of the Senate Republicans' handling of the impeachment matter. Asked what issues were important, Americans put impeachment at No 10 on the list. The answer to how it could have happened can be found in the utterances of no less a politician's politician than the House Minority Leader, Richard Gephardt. Mr Gephardt, a Democrat who longs to be president himself and a man who carries no affection for Mr Clinton, met women's group leaders several weeks ago. They, coincidentally, are no fans of Mr Gephardt; he is too cautious, too bland, too middle of the road. Declarative sentences are foreign to his tongue. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, said Mr Gephardt tried to explain what was going on. "He said: 'You have to understand. This doesn't make sense to any of us because we all think in political terms. This is not about politics. This is about God. The Republican Party has been taken over by religious zealots. They don't care what happens politically. They hate this guy. And they want to take him down even if it hurts them. It is a kind of thinking we don't understand'." Ms Smeal said Mr Gephardt added that he felt a similar situation had occurred in Iran in the late 1970s, and that most people there had also misjudged the intensity of religious fundamentalism. Still, there remains the question of how a minority could have forced their views on religious issues so definitively. For that, we have to look at the glum matter of the American election. Since 1970, the voter turnout in non-presidential elections has fluctuated between 37 and 40 per cent. In November just 38 per cent of Americans voted. Contrast that with other countries. As of 1995 voter turnout in 14 European countries was above 70 per cent. That such a small number of voters control government in the US led to a theory espoused by the Christian Coalition in the early 1990s called The 15 Per Cent Solution. A simple idea, it is merely that with low voter registration and turnout, a mere 15 per cent of the population can control the outcomes of elections. And in fact, that is what the Christian Coalition has done, slowly and steadily, through the 1980s and 1990s. Building on the steady growth and involvement of the religious right in electoral politics, Patrick Buchanan, a former Nixon speechwriter, a conservative writer and frequent presidential candidate, stunned the 1992 Republican convention with a bold speech. "There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America," he declared. "It is a culture war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself." It was indeed a speech that would have seemed more apt emanating from Tehran rather than Texas. The problem, as the Democrats and Mr Clinton now see, was that the pundits failed to take Mr Buchanan as seriously as they should have. By 1994, a survey by Campaigns and Elections magazine found that the Christian right dominated Republican organisation in 18 of the 50 states. By 1996 the leaders of the Christian right were warning Republican Party leaders they would face election opposition in their districts unless they ceded wholeheartedly to the Christian Coalition's agenda: firm opposition to abortion even if the mother's life was in danger; taxpayer-subsidised funding for private school education in Christian schools; opposition to government funding for the arts. Paul Weyrich, a seminal figure in the Christian right, issued these warnings to Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, now leader of the Senate, and Tom Delay, a congressional leader who strongly advocated impeachment, during a private meeting in August 1996, according to a reporter from Ms magazine. This same cast of characters now forms part of the core group leading the campaign to convict Mr Clinton. His opposition to almost all aspects of the Christian right's political agenda has landed him in the spot, almost as much as his ill-advised dalliance with Ms Lewinsky. Those who would count their chickens now, who would say Mr Clinton is in no danger because the Republicans cannot muster the two-thirds majority required to convict him, would do well to recall the past. It is by underestimation, by the pundits and the public, that the Christian right has been able to accomplish so much. In fact, they have just begun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Front | Ireland | Finance | World | Sport | Opinion | Features | Letters Crosaire | Simplex | Dublin Live | Back Issues | Contacts | Feedback | History ------------------------------------------------------------------------ � Copyright: The Irish Times Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From Irish Times Friday, January 15, 1999 'Little nuggets you have not heard before' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'A special measure of wisdom' and 'non-partisan patriotism' watched the senators and patient spectators at the 'trial of the century', writes Joe Carroll <Picture>The US: It was four minutes after 1 p.m. Washington time when Chief Justice William Rehnquist intoned: "The Senate will convene as a court of impeachment." In his Supreme Court across the East Lawn from the Capitol, the Chief Justice insists on strict punctuality. But senators are more relaxed, and being four minutes late was not bad. Then came the chaplain, the Rev Lloyd Ogilvie, who prayed that the 100 senators would get "a special measure of wisdom" to try their President with "non-partisan patriotism". The President was not standing in the dock because there is no dock and he was across the Potomac in Alexandria, Virginia, addressing police about crime prevention. A nice irony there as the Republican prosecutors, or "managers" as they are quaintly called, were busy accusing William Jefferson Clinton of "egregious and criminal" conduct, such as perjury and obstruction of justice. The senators were settling in for an impeachment trial which will go on for weeks and possibly months. They are going to find it an ordeal. The Decorum Guidelines for Senate Trial says they should be in attendance "at all times" during the proceedings. Usually there are only a few senators in the chamber for normal business. They have to "refrain from speaking to neighbouring senators" and must turn off their cellphones and beepers. And no surreptitious reading of novels or newspapers. Reading materials should be confined to those "which pertain to the matter before the Senate". There is plenty of that. Every senator has been supplied with the 60,000 pages of documents which make up the official record. Some of the senators are pretty old. Strom Thurmond is 96 and has orange hair. He arrived looking sprightly enough. Senator Ben Nighthorse-Campbell - he of Indian blood and with his striking pony-tail - moved around the chamber chatting before the call to prayer. Senator Edward Kennedy lounged at his school desk which is the traditional seating in the chamber. Senator Max Cleland, who lost his legs and an arm in Vietnam, whizzed into the Senate in his wheelchair. A pair of crutches was stacked in the corner for a Senate aide. After the prayer, and a "Hear ye, hear ye" from the Serjeant-atArms, the Senate majority leader, Trent Lott, moved Resolution 17 to approve "appropriate furniture and equipment". This was unanimously approved, so the curved black plastic-surfaced tables for the prosecution and the defence at the front of the chamber and the video monitors for evidence were legalised. Outside in freezing rain, patient Americans queued for the 50 seats in the public gallery. The spectators at the "trial of the century" were rotated every 15 minutes by the ushers. "It's crazy. That 15 minutes better be great," said Mr Al Sitterson, who had been standing in line outside since 5.30 a.m. It's not as though he was going to see Monica Lewinsky in the witness box. Instead, he got 15 minutes of Congressman James Sensenbrenner jnr from Wisconsin delivering what he himself modestly told reporters would be "a blockbuster of a speech" and with "little nuggets you have not heard before". In the taxi back to the office, the driver was listening to the "blockbuster" but was finding it "boring" as he manoeuvred through the icy streets. And that was just the first hour. There are 47 more hours to come from the curved tables, and then any senators who are still standing or sitting have 16 hours to pose written questions through the Chief Justice. After that things might liven up with Monica, Linda, Betty, Vernon et al on the witness stand. No explicit sex talk will be allowed to spare the senators' blushes. But it should still be better fun than the Sensenbrenner blockbuster. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Front | Ireland | Finance | World | Sport | Opinion | Features | Letters Crosaire | Simplex | Dublin Live | Back Issues | Contacts | Feedback | History ------------------------------------------------------------------------ � Copyright: The Irish Times Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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