Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about a consensual blowjob.

[politicaljunkie41910]

If Bob Mueller can't find any criminality in the Attorney General (Sessions) meeting with Russians at least 5 times and lying about it, I give up. America is Fucked.

If the president can hire his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to pretty much run the White House, assist in West Wing hirings and appointments to top level White House and Federal Government appointments, and they themselves can't even qualify for a Classified Security Clearance, that just about half of the Federal Government work force and 100% of those people working at the White House, who are not named Trump or Kushner, has to pass for an extensive background check to even step inside of the White House, then America is Fucked.

FTR, the average Joe Citizen usually passes this application the first time. I did it with no problem every 5 years when I had to update mine, over a federal career spanning 27 years. Ivanka and Jared had to resubmit their forms multiple times, and even those re-submissions contained errors numbering close to 100. If Ivanka and Jared are the best representation of the Trump and Kushner gene pool, America is Fucked.

If Sally Yates, can be fired from the Federal Government for reporting that Michael Flynn was talking to the Russians and lying about it, America is Fucked.

If Bob Mueller, former head of the FBI, can't make a conspiracy case against Lying Trump, his Lying family, his Lying Cabinet members, Lying Devin Nunez, Lying Sarah Huckabee, Lying Melania who was working in the US on a Visitor Visa, and lied about it, and has since help her parents and sister secure US Citizenship in record time, so that they can remain in the US, then America is Fucked.

If Lying Trump is the 'Be Best' that the GOP has to offer, OR if the Dems can't win the Presidency unless we stoop to the level of Lying Trump, OR if our Party can't eventually get behind ONE candidate once the Primaries begin, (because they are going to come fast and furious) and not repeat our mistakes of 2016, America is Fucked.

I apologize in advance for my profanity, but I've had enough of the Trump lies over the past couple of years and thought there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. I no longer have that sense of optimism based on recent posts that Bob Mueller may not be our saving grace against Trump after all. It appears that EVIL has triumphed over GOOD and if there isn't a correction soon, there doesn't appear to be much room for optimism in the coming months, as far as our Government and our Nation is concerned.

[marble falls]

1. Bill Clinton was not impeached. And it wasn't about the BJ, it was comitting perjury about ...

the BJ.

wikipedia:

As a result, four charges were considered by the full House of Representatives; two passed, making Clinton the second president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson in 1868, and only the third against whom articles of impeachment had been brought before the full House for consideration (Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency in 1974, while an impeachment process against him was underway).

The trial in the United States Senate began right after the seating of the 106th Congress, in which the Republican Party held 55 Senate seats. A two-thirds vote (67 senators) was required to remove Clinton from office. Fifty senators voted to remove Clinton on the obstruction of justice charge and 45 voted to remove him on the perjury charge; no member of his own Democratic Party voted guilty on either charge. Clinton, like Johnson a century earlier, was acquitted on all charges.

[Codeine]

2. He was impeached. He was not convicted.

You’d think at this point people on DU would understand the difference.

From your post;

As a result, four charges were considered by the full House of Representatives; two passed, making Clinton the second president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson in 1868, and only the third against whom articles of impeachment had been brought before the full House for consideration (Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency in 1974, while an impeachment process against him was underway).

[WillowTree]

3. President Clinton was, indeed, impeached. It says so right in your own post.

He just wasn't convicted by the Senate.

[madinmaryland]

4. The OP said he was impeached for lying (purgery) for a consensual BJ.

Maybe the OP changed it.

[Major Nikon]

6. Wrong on both counts

Clinton was impeached and did not commit perjury. If Clinton had committed perjury, Starr would have criminally indicted him for perjury. Instead Starr spent $100 million on a taxpayer funded investigation and couldn’t so much as charge either Clinton for as much as a parking violation.

[calimary]

8. No matter how you slice it, Bill Clinton had to face consequences.

Even for so marginal an offense as lying about a blow job with a consenting adult.

The CONS would have trump get away with all manner of high crimes and misdemeanors up to and including giving aid and comfort to an avowed enemy.

[Major Nikon]

9. I don't choose to slice it that way at all

Clinton lied to the public about a consensual adulterous affair that had absolutely no bearing on his ability to govern. Most people didn't give a shit. Clinton's approval ratings immediately after his impeachment were far higher than Saint Ronnie ever achieved in his entire presiduncy.

Whatever consequences he had to face were between him and his wife.

[calimary]

10. Fair enough, my friend.

Yes. Clinton lied. Okay. But indeed, your point is well-taken. I tried to assert that, too, but mine wasn’t as on-point as yours is.

It was about SEX. which is a great way for the CONS to grab the pearl-clutchers and bedroom busybodies by the throats (and farther down). And that’s all they had - that they could make stick.

Other than that, Ken Starr couldn’t find SQUAT.

And you’re also right that most normal people who don’t hang on titillation for dear life didn’t give a hot rock about it. Most of us clearly saw what an embarrassing sham the whole thing was. Which was why it didn’t hurt President Clinton’s poll numbers at all. Quite the opposite. BOTH Bill’s AND Hillary’s favorable zoomed skywards. Besides, most of us also realized that where it counted (as in, what kind of job is the President doing for the country? For the people? For what the people need for their President to do on their behalf?) Bill Clinton was doing an excellent job, regarding the economy and in international relations. And as President Obama also did, he cleaned up an economic mess that a Bush left behind.

I remember reading in overseas newspapers and in unofficial, unscientific verbal commentary from people who’d traveled overseas and heard it from the locals: they were laughing at America for being such prissy little prudes. Impeaching an effective and increasingly popular President for a single sexual peccadillo.

Not that Bill Clinton was pure as driven snow. I’m not claiming any such thing. He had feet of clay too. But I’d take those feet of clay times a gazillion compared to the vermin we have in there now. I’d even take dubya over what we’ve got now. I’d take BOTH Bush presidencies over what we’ve got now. Hell, I‘d even take freakin’ Nixon over what we have now. And I’m old enough to remember a lot of that era - back when I was starting to wake up, that is.

[Major Nikon]

12. It's important to remember that what Clinton did wasn't perjury

Perjury isn't just lying under oath as people do that all the time. Perjury is lying under oath on a question that is material to the case that's before the court. The judge that presided over Clinton's deposition referred the case to the bar and not to the DA. The reason was because Clinton was technically an officer of the court and at least in the judge's opinion should have been held to a higher standard. It had nothing to do with perjury.

Meanwhile one of my senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison, voted for Clinton's impeachment as a US Representative, but later said she hoped Scotter Libby wouldn't be caught in a "perjury trap", after committing actual perjury in a criminal case. You can't make this shit up.

[calimary]

14. Funny, that ol'double standard. IOKIYAR.

It’s OK If You’re A republi-CON.

Oops - guess I should fix the acronym usage here, ‘eh? IOKIYAr-CON.

[BootinUp]

17. Yep

[snowybirdie]

5. Don't despair

Things will turn around quickly once we have a decent person leading our country agsin. AND WE WILL! I firmly believe my lifetime of experiences has given me trust that we can and will rid ourselves of his ilk. Stand firm and ignore the purists that couldn't see your point beyond a minor error. Hate it when they do that.

[ProudLib72]

7. If evidence is brought before the Senate, America is Fucked

Because 99.999% of the rethugs are just as guilty as the Rump and will do absolutely nothing whatsoever.

[DFW]

11. And THAT, as the Bard would say, is the rub

As much as Trump deserves impeachment, the surety that a trial in the Senate would acquit him, and allow him to crow that he had been unfairly accused, and duly acquitted as the innocent man he had been all along.

Either Mueller comes up with evidence so solid that even Republicans can't ignore it (and they would swear the sky was green if you tossed enough money their way), or any impeachment--guaranteed to succeed in the House--is doomed to Trump getting acquitted in the Senate. Our question is--do we want to impeach him as he deserves to be, KNOWING that he will gloat and do the happy dance when the Senate Republicans inevitably acquit him?

Our only hope is that Mueller comes up with something so solid, and so detrimental to other Republicans if they continue to support him, that such support will be fatal to any Republican Senator's re-election effort in 2020. Then, and ONLY then, will Trump finally get to set a presidential precedent: being the first to be removed from office after an impeachment trial.

I fear Godot will show up first.

[NewJeffCT]

13. It depends

If the vote to impeach in the House gets enough Republican votes because of overwhelming evidence, at least some Republicans in the Senate may start looking out for their own interests.

Plus, as somebody told me years ago, a huge majority of Senators in both parties have at least some hope of being president in the future. If Trump is gone, it puts them one step closer to the White House: Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz (revenge for insults to Ted's wife and father), Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse, Marco Rubio (revenge for Little Marco), Rand Paul, Susan Collins, etc

I'm not saying it will happen, but it's possible

[Smackdown2019]

15. Trump will be impeached!

Trump will be impeached; as for his sentence from the GOP Senate, all depends how close to election.

I have this feeling that a rabbit is giggling in Mueller's hat and waiting to pull out from it. My guess it's a fat rabbit that has hold every trickery, corrupt, and violation of the laws of this great nation.... it take three days to diagram the implications of trumps guilt.

Outrage would be heard from around the world; EXCEPT Russia...

[watoos]

16. Trump's #1 reason that he should be impeached,

is not criminal, it is that he is unfit to perform the duties of the office of president of the United States.

Republicans are hoping that Barr derails Mueller, derails the SDNY, the bastards are all traitors. Mueller's report needs to come out to the public in its entirety, fuck redactions, pull a Pentagon papers episode if need be, the time to be nice and go by the book are long past. We need to do whatever it takes to expose all of the traitors.

We need a strong presidential candidate, fuck working together, screw bipartisanship, look what Republicans did to us when they had total control, they wouldn't even let them meet in the committee hearings. I plan on voting for the toughest Democratic candidate that gets in the race, we can't afford to make nice, when we do, we lose.

Senate Democrats better damn well get behind the AOC/Markey Green initiative if McConnell brings it to the floor for a vote. United we stand, divided we fall.

[onenote]

18. More accurately: Bill Clinton was acquitted.

Which is why I dislike using the Clinton impeachment effort as a measure of what should/will happen with Trump.

[Perseus]

20. As the headline says, one was because of a blow job, the other one is treason

I would hope that when the orange buffoon is tried for treason that impeachment, followed by indictments, followed by jail and who knows what would be a no brainer.

The comparison has to do with the size of the crimes, Bill Clinton's being one that was more personal and did not represent a danger to the country, while so much of what the orange buffoon and his minions have done does put the security, the economy of the country and the world in jeopardy. One was sexual, personal, the other one is treason, so why is it that the orange buffoon, his family and repub accomplices are not in jail? It is a very fair question.

[onenote]

22. The answer to your "fair" question is easy and obvious:

It's because Mueller hasn't finished his work.
The Clinton impeachment process didn't start until after the Starr Report was done. And even though Starr identified 11 potential grounds for impeachment, the repub controlled house judiciary committee only advanced four impeachment articles and the full house only passed two of those.

My point is that it's risky to count one's chickens before they hatched. Despite what some folks here at DU think they know, and despite what various pundits, talking heads and other self-interested "experts" claim to know, no one outside of Mueller's circle knows exactly what evidence he has. Moreover, most of those opining on Trump's level of culpability also don't know as much about the relevant legal standards and to what extent the actual evidence in hand meets those standards.

I'm not saying its inappropriate for folks to speculate -- just recognize that speculation can easily lead to disappointment.

[Perseus]

19. My sister lives in Europe, and she asked the same thing

She came to visit and asked the same exact thing "Why is it that Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about a consensual blowjob and this monster, who has done so many wrong things in the open, has not been put behind bars already?"

Europe, the World is wondering why the orange buffoon, his family, and many other repubs are not behind bars, so much of what they have done so far translates to treason...What The F^&*^ is going on?

[world wide wally]

21. Not to mention putting children in cages and...

Oh yeah! LYING!