Clinton impeachment was retaliation for Nixon, says retiring congressman

[kskiska]

April 21, 2005 — Republican Congressman Henry Hyde made some surprising comments Thursday on the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton. He now says Republicans may have gone after Clinton to retaliate for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. Hyde is stepping down after this term.

Hyde's comments came as he talked with ABC7 political reporter Andy Shaw about his 30 year in Congress.

In an exclusive interview, Hyde delivered a big dose of candor and some reflective second guessing. He said, among other things, he might not try to impeach President Clinton if he had it to do all over again.

(snip)

Andy Shaw asked Hyde if the Clinton proceedings were payback for Nixon's impeachment.

"I can't say it wasn't, but I also thought that the Republican party should stand for something, and if we walked away from this, no matter how difficult, we could be accused of shirking our duty, our responsibility," said Hyde.

more…
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/042105_ns_hyde.html

[bushisanidiot]

1. Well, duh. They set him up just so they could take him down..

it's the politics of personal destruction.. Bill clinton, gray davis, gary condit, al gore, john kerry, gary hart, tom daschle... the repuke hypocrites are proud of lying about innocent dems and watching them go down.

they'll be laughing all the way to hell.

[Piperay]

35. Max Cleland

too. :-(

[tritsofme]

42. Gary Hary set himself up...

And I initially supported him in 88.

He challenged reporters to follow him around...they did...and they found out about his monkey business.

I don't feel sorry for him at all.

The rest are good examples though.

[coreystone]

55. 1984! He was at a hotel in Vermont and I checked Senator Hart out...

of the hotel on an early morning after he did some stumping in New Hampshire for the 1984 Primary. Facts seem to becoming less important around. BOY! I sure do HATE Fox News for the "objective approach"! Please verify before you "certify"!

With all respect!

:-)

[tritsofme]

58. Hart's scandal came out in 1988

He ran in both in 84 and 88.

I'm not really sure what you're trying to express in your post...

[coreystone]

60. Yes he challenged them in 1984 originally, after that it was of no...

consequence!!! "He challenged reporters to follow him around...they did...and they found out about his monkey business."

IN 1984!!!!!

:-)

GOOGLE SEARCH!!

:-)

[cybildisobedience]

78. It was 1988.

He withdrew from the presidential race after his affair with Donna Rice was exposed by two Miami Herald reporters who hid in the bushes outside his townhouse. One of them, if I recall, was Tom Feidler, who rose up the ranks of the Herald and still carries water for the GOP.

[calimary]

51. Does anybody know how to preserve the video clip referred to

at the bottom of the story? It says the clip will be available for only five days. Would be nice to have in our archives. I would like to have those words to jam down certain individuals' throats from time to time when they start getting reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally high-n-mighty and holier-than-thou.

[Helga Scow Stern]

79. Add California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to the list of effective

Dems brought down in the same old way.

I just saw the DVD, The Hunting of the President. It makes pretty clear the Republican agenda.

Is Ken Starr burning in hell somewhere? (I heard he got a job at Pepperdine.)

[katty]

89. Ken Starr is in Malibu @Pepperdine U teaching

he is alive and doing well, his reward from some top $ Repubs in So. Cal--but he did have a bit of tussle get this appt at Pepperdine--CA was always pro-Clinton and it is ironic that the biggest entertainment donars, Barb Streisand, et al live in Malibu Colony practically across the street (Pac Coast Hwy)from where Ken Starr is teaching today.

[Branjor]

2. Nixon wasn't impeached.....

he resigned.

[saltpoint]

6. The House had moved on impeachment of Nixon. Three --

-- articles, I believe did pass; a fourth failed.

Info here:

http://watergate.info/impeachment/impeachment-articles.shtml

[tritsofme]

59. The Judiciary Committee may have passed the articles

But he wasn't impeached by the full House, though it would have been inevitable.

[robbedvoter]

96. He was convicted - then pardoned by Ford.

[MnFats]

8. you're right of course. impeachment was inevitable...

...but a bunch of GOP senators, including Hugh Scott and Barry Goldwater, went up to the White House and all but demanded that he get the hell out of office before he destroyed the GOP.

There were commentators at the time who predicted the Republican Party would be over due to Nixon, and they had a case: donors dried up like never before. Mainstream Republicans at the time didn't especially want their money going to pay burglars and hush money to criminals.


But goddamn it, you just had to know that there have been a lot of politicos in Washington walking around with a woodie over Nixon's ouster....

[saltpoint]

9. Agree. Scott & Goldwater may have saved a lot of folks'

careers. I wonder if they would have made that effort if they knew the party was going to fall into the hands of assholes like Jesse Helms, Rick Santorum, and Tom DeLay, etc.?

Democrats did AWFULLY well in Congressional elections the next round after Nixon's resignation.

[peacetalksforall]

28. Amazing isn't it - there were honorable members of the Republican

Party - they don't have anyone like those old Republicans - they are all afraid today. The cabal/pnacers became impossible to deal with no matter how despicable the act, how traitorous to our conuntry, plus theft of votes, theft of money, bodies and limbs dropping everywhere.

[Ysolde]

40. Oxymoron

Honorable? Republican?

Not any more; and with the combination of corporate cash and religion, there won't be again.

[nytemare]

73. I know many republicans who voted for Kerry and don't like this

neocon business. Seems like a new brand of corporate and religious fascism. Hands off governing, no more. Hands are only off the corporations' wallet, except when they are putting more money into it.

[katty]

90. Yes, he was 'told' to Resign or else...

so he went on the air and said bye bye to America, very nice and tidy.

[davidinalameda]

3. he's just pissed that his "youthful" indiscretions

got out

if he knew that his past would have stayed secret, he would have done it all over again

[saltpoint]

4. Hyde will return in the next life as a bus seat.

The Watergate scandal and the Lewinsky affair are not comparable transgressions.

Bill Clinton committed adultery with a young adult woman from California and fibbed about it.

Richard Nixon mobilized arms of the federal government to act against its own citizens.

If Hyde is unable to make distinctions as dynamic as that one, his karmic destiny will be manifest in a future Greyhound seat.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Perfect karma for Henry Hypocrite Hyde

[Karma]

19. Cosmic Karma has ruled: Henry's Hide Is Grass !!!

[Jose Diablo]

47. Gives new meaning to the word NaugaHyde, eh? n/t

[AuntiBush]

23. LOL "Bus Seat"

Good one. Or maybe a Cockroach!

[saltpoint]

26. "Cockroach" works for me, although it's kind of --

-- insulting to cockroaches...

:thumbsup:

[baby_bear]

24. A seat in the BACK of a bus...

...in Alabama or perhaps Mississippi?

b_b

[calimary]

33. No. Not NEAR good enough for this shit-head. How about a seat

in an Appalatian outhouse? Or maybe the floor of the chamber just UNDER that same seat? How about a bedpan in a leper colony - or in an AIDS hospice - filled with dying, ulcerated people he haughtily condemned and judged with his high-and-mighty religion when he had the power to do compassionate things to help them and ease their suffering and yet refused to do so? How about the sole of the shoes of the guy who sweeps up after the elephants at an old, poorly-run circus in downtown Cairo? After all, elephants are his party's symbol, and elephants - like he and his - never forget.

Well, henry, neither will we. And neither will St. Peter.

[WhiteTara]

66. well I hope he has a lot of riders with IBS

who fart all over him.

[Megahurtz]

81. The first three lines of this post

are the main talking points in answer to Henry Hyde's immature childish statement.
Republicans have so many skeletons like this in their closets that they have to go to the gutter in attempt to divert the negative attention off themselves for all of the horrendous major crimes they commit against their own citizens.

[WI_DEM]

5. Let's see we shouldn't have gone after Nixon who

ordered a major coverup of a crime, bribed people, and lied about it...but Bill Clinton having a little nookie on the side--that is impeachable.

[MetaTrope]

7. Oh right

Fuck they say. Clinton's impeachment was vengeance for H.W.'s one-term wonder, and setup for the neocon junta. Nixon didn't figure into it one bit.

[jaysunb]

13. much closer to the truth

n/t

[ovidsen]

41. Stop! You're BOTH right!

Clinton was pilloried by neocons as revenge for BOTH Watergate and HW's defeat.

[catzies]

91. They're both right, and so are you, and welcome to DU, ovidsen!

Love your avatar and sig. :hi:

[ovidsen]

101. Thanks!

DU is my escape to sanity. I recently moved to SC, you see.

:banghead: this place is glow in the dark red.

[Spiffarino]

104. Not only that

...he also was attacked relentlessly because they couldn't beat him in a fair fight.

Cowards, every one.

[Rose Siding]

11. Sorry Hank. No excuses for you

How humiliating for him to resort to the logic of honor killing.

[aquart]

12. I know. Knew it then. Little piggy minds, they have.

Henry? May the evil you do come back to you, from every place it has gone, from every one it has harmed.

May the evil you've done, come home.

[Inland]

14. Who exactly would have accused repubs of shirking duty if they

didn't impeach Clinton? Why, really stupid, craven or crazy other repubs. That's what worried Hyde: he wasn't concerned about duty,or nation, or anything except getting a primary challenge from Scaife money, Delay hatred, and the crazed Hate Clinton crowd.

You are a dick, Hyde. Go give yourself a youthful indescretion.

[bluestateguy]

15. That fat disgusting pile of shit

He'll burn in hell for what he did, so will all the other impeachment "managers".

[snippy]

16. First of all, it was "the Republican Impeachment of President Clinton."

No one should ever refer to it without saying the "Republican Impeachment." During and after the the Republican Impeachment of President Clinton I sent hundreds of postcards and letters saying the following:

During the Republican Impeachment of President Clinton; Henry Hyde, Bob Barr, Tom Delay and most of their Republican colleagues defecated on the constitution, then masturbated with it, and then tried to lick it clean.

I think I will send Henry "the Coat Hanger" Hyde some more postcards.

[peacetalksforall]

31. You are so right...I never heard that before - Repub Impeachment of

Clinton - it is much more accurate that way. Thanks - I'll adapt it.

[calimary]

36. Or perhaps "the republi-CON PERSECUTION of President Clinton."

It was PERSECUTION. Nothing less. Flat-out, world-class, USDA prime PERSECUTION. For no good reason other than sheer piss-ant, sanctimonious, trumped-up revenge. As false as they themselves are. No wonder they went for it like sharks to chum.

As one of the Korean characters in one "M*A*S*H" episode curse: "may the seat of his pants turn into scorpion."

[AlGore-08.com]

17. So what was the theft of the 2000 election payback for?

Which Republican driven from office in disgrace required "payback" in the form of denying Al Gore the White House? Which Republican doing the perp walk required "payback" in form of smearing Gray Davis, Bob Kerrey, Jesse Jackson, Max Cleland, Tom Daschle, Gary Condit, John Kerry, John Edwards, Howard Dean, Air America and even high school kids who oppose the war?

I call bulls*t.

They didn't give a rat's *ss about Nixon. They voted to impeach Clinton because they thought they could grab power that way. That is there only motive for doing anything. They are anti-American fascists, period. Ann Coulter is their poster girl for a reason.

[glitch]

18. World War II. They've never gotten over it. nt

[Demeter]

77. And FDR

The Gop has NEVER forgiven that class traitor Franklin.

[MajorFlaw]

20. "they thought they could grab power that way" would appear sufficient

for the 2000 election, as well. What is the point of having friends on the SCOTUS if you don't use them every now and then.

[lovuian]

21. This was abuse of Independant counsel It was a Republican

sham to discredit all the great work Clinton did!!!

It didn't work!!!

[TacticalPeek]

22. Flash! I can't say the sun will not rise tomorrow.

Congressman Asswipe, what an ancient indiscretion!

[peacetalksforall]

25. I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT. There were hints that came out of their mouths

during the process. Tit for tat. They couln't have the only President in modern times that was nearly impeaced or worse forced to resign. I used to write this over and over.

But, there was something more as well. There was some kind of rift between the Bushes and the Clintons and I can't quite get it to come together. Can anyone contribute? It wasn't just the Hillary participation in the Nixon legal situation. Something more - ?????

[Vickers]

27. Adios, fatboy, your decisions made you a footnote to Clinton's life

How does that feel, you traitorous piece of shit?

[Piperay]

29. I believe it

I know many repukes who have come right out and said to me that they are still pissed about Nixon and feel that a rightful election was overturned cause he was forced to resign.

I'm glad the office holding repukes are finally admitting it (at least one of them is).

[Rainscents]

30. What's up with Hyde? Why is he not running for congressman in '06?

[tritsofme]

37. He's 81 years old...nt

[calimary]

32. So let me get this straight - "the republi-CON party should stand for

something, and if we walked away from this, no matter how difficult, we could be accused of shirking our duty, our responsibility." Which means their "duty" and "responsibility" according to this is to be the worst, most vindictive, most SORE LOSERMAN, bitter, petty, piss-ant, grudge-holding, two-faced, hypocritical, Pharisaical, lying, cheating, character assassin rat-bastards on the planet. Wow, henry. I always suspected this, but nobody ever vouched for it before you did, just now.

Rot in HELL, you pompous asswipe. It was more important to hold grudges and seek revenge than to rise above it and do the correct thing. MOST Christ-like, don't you think, Mr. Holier-than-thou? You FUCKER. Rot in the LOWEST LEVEL OF HELL.

[NJCher]

49. an elephant never forgets

Which means their "duty" and "responsibility" according to this is to be the worst, most vindictive, most SORE LOSERMAN, bitter, petty, piss-ant, grudge-holding, two-faced, hypocritical, Pharisaical, lying, cheating, character assassin rat-bastards on the planet.

My thoughts exactly, LOL. You do have a way with words.

What is to be gained by this admission from HH? These people are so limited. So limited they strain the definition of "people" by referring to them as such.


Cher

[joeybee12]

34. I've been saying this for years--was all about revenge..those tiny minds

just couldn't sleep until they got back at someone.

[readermostly]

52. Exactly!

I've always suspected Nixon was the reason. Now we have confirmation.

[FlemingsGhost]

38. Nixon deserved jail. Alas, we'll likely let BushCo. walk, too.

God Ble$$ America.

[Selteri]

39. And I'm sure when in 2006-7 when the impeachment of Bush

is going headlong toward them they'll claim it's an attempt at payback for Clinton.

And I'm positive that either there will be an impeachment of Bush or there will be a lot of problems from hte next election being fixed. One way or another, things will happen.

[calimary]

43. If you're talking strictly payback, my friends, I don't think there are

lifetimes enough to settle things with these pricks. There just may not be enough revenge in the whole world to mete out justice to these "people" in parity for what they deserve.

[Ysolde]

44. You know...

that's one thing that I would expect SOMEONE to start clamoring for. Clinton lied about consensual sex; Bush lied about WMD (over 1500 American dead). These Repukes are nauseating. They have no morals, no values, nothing except lust for power.

I just pray that we get to watch the impeachment the The Shrub and not another stolen election.

[calimary]

48. Don't shortstop it. Impeachment AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE.

Forcibly, if necessary. I would like Joseph Wilson AND his wife to be able to witness the frogmarches their enemies so richly deserve.

[AlCzervik]

45. What i get from this is-If his own affair wouldn't be used against him

he would indeed do the exact same thing. Bye Bye henry, don't let hit you where your god split you.

[intheflow]

46. Congressman admits squandering taxpayer $$ for petty grudge.

It's not like we didn't have a reason to impeach Nixon. :eyes:

And obviously, it's not like they had a reason to impeach Clinton. I tell you, Republicans are MASTERS of wasting tax dollars.

[librechik]

76. don't forget others were involved--it was in fact a conspiracy

not theory

[ailsagirl]

50. Nixon had only himself to blame!! Where does the notion of

retaliation enter?? Shouldn't Nixon have been responsible for his dirty dealings? That reasoning of theirs makes no sense to me. No one pinned anything on Dickie that he wasn't responsible for.

Their logic is crazy-making!!!!!!!!!

[leesa]

53. What a bunch of petty thugs! So Nixon commits a crime and they can't

just "walk away from" his impeachment for his crimes!
Republicans are simply immoral.
Does he think this sounds rational?? So they stand for avenging legal action against criminals??? THAT'S what these thugs stand for?

[ailsagirl]

56. That's what I was saying, leesa-- it makes no sense.

They are, beyond a doubt, the most irresponsible, reprehensible, contemptible, lying bunch of bastards I've ever come across.
:mad: :puke:

[IowaGuy]

54. The phony asshole piously claimed....

at that time "It will go down in history as the Republican parties finest moments"...Guess he missed that one.

BTW, Trent Lott freely admitted at the time it was payback time for Nixon. These people have proven thru their own actions and incompetence their total lack of credibility on anything. Hollywood could not come up with anything as farcical as the Republican party.

[CanSocDem]

57. Don't sweat it....

Nixon NEVER recovered his credibility. Watching Bill Clinton tour the world is like witnessing 'the second coming'.

[d_b]

61. True.

Clinton was a bad husband at best and lied about something that was nobodys business.

[SharonAnn]

64. If every man who lied about extramarital involvements got

impeached (or fired), we'd have nothing going on but that for the foreseeable future.

As a woman who's worked many years in the professional and managerial ranks, I've observed a lot. One of the things I've observed is that sometimes power spills over into sex. Sometimes when people get power they think they're entitled to sex. And in the business world there's a lot of it. You just learn to ignore it as best you can.

[countmyvote4real]

62. So far, at the time of this post, you win.

While there is some hyperbole in a “second coming” for Clinton, that language really rattles their cages. First of all, it’s language largely owned by the RR. Much more fun from the “watch them squirm” factor: “Which Clinton is most fearful?”

Welcome to DU. Please feel free to say and be prepared for those already free and saying.

[Rex]

63. Hyde can suck monkey balls

For one thing Clinton didn't have to QUIT the office of the presidency. See all Clinton got was a blow job, then an unsanctioned tea-bagging from Congress. Nixon, on the other hand, broke several laws and tried to hide the bombing of Cambodia and God knows what else.

Hyde is seeing his mortal end coming soon and fears Hell. To bad he bought a first class ticket years ago!

:evilgrin:

[NVMojo]

65. What a sick fucker!! And it was all on our dime!!! Damn them all!!!

[daleo]

67. History will treat these worms the way they deserve. n/t

[SKKY]

68. It's funny, all they really did was enhance his reputation throughout...

...the world and endear him to even more Americans. It would seem the republicans also learned a valuable lesson that they later applied to Bush.

[orleans]

69. i knew it---you knew it---and now everybody is gonna know it!

[sandnsea]

70. Payback???

I'd much rather he'd said "we're just partisan rat bastards" then for it to have been for something as childish as PAYBACK. Good lord.

[pearl]

71. History

My favorite quote from the impeachment.

"History will hunt you down and condemn you for your craveness"
a history professor to the craven abuse of power by
Henry Hydes judiciary committee.

Welcome to history you fat bastard!

[nascarblue]

72. Republicans and Bush Sr. took down Nixon NT

[Megahurtz]

83. Bush Sr. has pulled

a lot of dirty shit on the sly over the years. This guy is one evil fuck.:evilgrin:

[DirtyDawg]

74. Listening to Hyde...

...as he waxes on about his political career - as if any of us really give a shit - reminds me of the old story of the guy that was engaged in a 'coming to Jesus' moment with his evangelical preacher. The guy, in bearing his soul and past transgressions proclaimed that he had had sex with another woman out of wedlock - the preacher cries, 'tell it all brother!'...the guy goes on to profess that in his youth he had had sex with another man - 'tell it all brother!...finally, the guy, really into it now, calls out, 'when I was even younger, I had sex with a goat!'...Preacher: 'Brother, I don't believe I'da told that.' Repigs everywhere are saying, 'I don't believe Henry should have told that.'

[warrens]

75. That fucking asshole

The whole pack of these self-righteous pigs make me want to puke. I was hoping Hyde was going to run because this time, he had no chance. Illinois dems were ready to go after him hammer and tong, and he knew it.

Hypocritical scumbag. Clinton still has a family, unlike the guy who was married to Henry's floozy.

[blueheeler]

80. Dang!! Link is dead

The link is dead and when doing a search with google of the site, I cannot find it!!

[Sydnie]

85. Try this link

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/042105_ns_hyde.html I have it on my screen right now.

[blueheeler]

92. Got it,

Thanks!!:patriot:

[drdtroit]

82. Rot in hell Henry Hyde

Along with the rest of your GOP butchers.

[AlCzervik]

84. They pulled the story.

[calimary]

86. Do you still need it? I saved it for my own references.

PM me if you want it. I'm not sure I'm allowed to repost it here, in its entirety.

[AlCzervik]

87. i kept a copy and i can't explain why but i printed it out

when you posted it last night.

[Sydnie]

88. I saved the web page as an html file on my system

since I still had it up on my screen. Anybody that wants a copy of that page, just pm me with your email address. I'll send it to you.

[Algorem]

93. This has to be evidence of rats deserting sinking ship,because Henry

Hide-the-salami(old Leno joke)never said anything like this before?

[calimary]

94. Either that, or he feels compelled to pull a Lee Atwater.

Perhaps his age and his state of health (which can't exactly be pristine - at 81) have him thinking about the next level, as it were, and how it's probably a good idea to start tidying up a little bit so your books are all squared away by the time the Grim Reaper visits. Trying to get in under the wire, aren't ya, henry?

[cajunrevenge]

95. the selective memory in this thread is amazeing

Clinton ahd no one to blame but himself, the attempt to minimize teh situation was more of the story than the actual story. If he came out and admitted it at the start and said he was sorry thee would have been nothign close ot what happened. It was never realyl a question of if he should be punished but how he should be punished. Demorcats wanted it to be censure and republicans wanted it to be impeachment. When it cmae time for the removal from office vote most republicans voted against it. Now they may have only voted agaisnt removal becuase that would have made Gore president and it wouldnt have changed anything. I loook at it this way, would we really wanted Bush removed from office if that meant Cheney would be made president? Other than the symbolisim it would probably only make things worse.

Now I would say most politicians have flaws in their past/present to some degree, power and opurtunity is hard to pass up. I would sya 90% of politicians have done somethign that would get them booted from ofice if exposed, its just a matter of who gets exposed and how the public perceives it.

[4_Legs_Good]

97. LMAOe

[robbedvoter]

98. Nice try. A "sorry" is all they wanted. Too bad original post is an

admission to the contrary. If in this day and age you still think sex is a crime/misdemeanor, your very sense of reality is selective (lies for war? torture? nah, they are all fine as long as there's no blue dress!)
Sorry you don't get any - actually, you shouldn't.
P.S. What's "amazeing"?

[cajunrevenge]

100. I do believe he lied about it under oath

Without that they wouldnt have been able to touch him.

[Spiffarino]

102. Thanks for the Republican talking points

Read NewsMax much? :eyes:

On edit: Or maybe I should say "teh Republican talking points."

[The Doctor.]

99. Read this on another site where 'theys ain't so fond of 'Bill''...

And their counter is that, "Well... Nixon resigned though - so how can this be 'retaliation'?"

It's like kindergarten out there.

[Spiffarino]

103. Henry Hyde: Hypocrite, Philanderer, Serial Asshole.

To paraphrase the pResident, "Who cares what he thinks?"