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Flashback to 1998, we have video clips of Dem lawmakers Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Jerry Nadler , Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Jackson Lee, Danny Davis, Gregory Meeks, Jim McDermott , Harry Reid
Top Dems, including Biden and Nadler, called Clinton impeachment ‘lynching’
In 1998, Nadler said, “There must never be a narrowly voted impeachment or an impeachment substantially supported by one of our major political parties and largely opposed by the other. Such an impeachment would lack legitimacy, would produce divisiveness and bitterness in our politics for years to come and will call into question the very legitimacy of our political institutions.” “The impeachment of a president is an undoing of a national election. And one of the reasons we all feel so angry about what they are doing is that they are ripping asunder our votes. They are telling us that our votes don’t count.” “It is in fact a peaceful procedure for protecting the nation from despots, by providing a constitutional means for removing a president who misuses presidential power to make himself a tyrant or otherwise to undermine our constitutional form of government. To impeach a president, it must be that serious.”
In 1998, Joe Biden said: “This is their president we are talking about. The President of the United States does not serve at the pleasure of the legislature, does not serve at the pleasure of Joe Biden, does not serve at the pleasure of Henry Hyde, does not serve at the pleasure of the Congress, as a prime minister does in a parliamentary system. The American people don’t think that they have made a mistake by electing Bill Clinton and we in Congress had better be very careful before we upset their decision, and make darn sure that we are able to convince them if we decide to upset their decision that our decision to impeach him was based upon principle and not politics.”
“He is elected directly by the people of the United States of America, and the election of a president is the only nationwide vote the American people will ever cast and that’s a big deal.”
Nancy Pelosi in 1998 said: “Today, the Republican majority is not judging the president with fairness but impeaching him with a vengeance. In the investigation of the president, fundamental principles which Americans hold dear — fairness, privacy, checks and balances — have been seriously violated and why? Because we are here today because the Republicans in the House are paralyzed with hatred of President Clinton. Until the Republicans free themselves of that hatred, our country will suffer.”
Maxine Waters called Clinton’s impeachment “a Republican coup d’etat” saying “Bill and Hillary Clinton are the real targets, and the Republicans are the vehicles being used by the right-wing Christian coalition extremists to direct and control our culture.”
“I am greatly disappointed in the raw, unmasked, unbridled hatred and meanness that drives this impeachment coups d’etat, this unapologetic disregard for the voice of the people.”
Jackson Lee asked: “Have the accusations of obstruction of justice against the president to warrant impeachment? No. Have the accusations of abuse of power against the president been proven to warrant impeachment? No.”
Democrat Rep. Jim McDermott compared Clinton’s Impeachment in 1998 to lynching: “We’re taking a step down the road to becoming a political Lynch Mob… We are going to find a rope, find a tree and ask a bunch of questions later..”
Democrats cheered Clinton on the day he was impeached on Dec 19, 1998. “When he [Clinton] finished he walked slowly up the Democratic side of the aisle, Democrats applauding him and hugging him as he moved along,” the New York Times reported. “The Republicans remained fixed in their seats.”
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Maxine Waters Full Transcript
Mr. Speaker and members, how must our American soldiers feel to have their commander-in-chief under attack while they are engaged in battle? They have the right to feel betrayed and undermined. Today, we are here in the people’s House debating the partisan impeachment of the president of the United States of America, while the commander-in-chief is managing a crisis and asking world leaders for support. This is, indeed, a Republican coup d’etat.
Mr. Speaker and members, Americans all, the Republicans will couch this extremist, radical anarchy in pious language which distorts the Constitution and the rule of law.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are the real targets, and the Republicans are the vehicles being used by the right-wing Christian Coalition extremists to direct and control our culture.
The rule of law has been violated in denying the president notice of charges, by the abuse of power in the collecting of so-called “evidence” and the denial of the presumption of innocence.
President Clinton is not guilty of the trumped up charges presented in these four articles of impeachment. Yes, Bill Clinton is guilty of certain indiscretions in his private life. However, he did not commit high crimes and misdemeanors.
Rather, the president is guilty of being a populous leader who opened up government and access to the poor, to minorities, to women and to the working class.
President Bill Clinton is guilty of not being owned by the good old Southern boys or the good old Eastern establishment.
President Clinton is guilty of being smart enough to outmaneuver the Republicans in the budget negotiations, electoral politics and the development and implementation of the people’s agenda.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am an African-American woman. I’m accustomed to having to fight and struggle for fairness and justice.
Ken Starr, I know and recognize abuse of power when I see it. You are guilty.
However, I am greatly disappointed in the raw, unmasked, unbridled hatred and meanness that drives this impeachment coups d’etat, this unapologetic disregard for the voice of the people.
My Republican friends, what you do here today will long be remembered and recorded in history as one of the most despicable actions ever taken by the Congress of the United States of America.
I dare the Republicans of this House to allow themselves to move just one inch, and give me and my colleagues the opportunity to vote for an alternative. I dare you to be fair. I dare you to allow us to vote for censure.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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FLASHBACK: What Dems Said About Impeachment In 1998 Comes Back To Haunt Them https://t.co/aSWC7YzPum
— HYGO News (@HygoNews) December 12, 2019