Gingrich: Clinton Impeachment Over Lewinsky Scandal 'Was a Mistake'

Newsmax ^

[DIRTYSECRET]

Gingrich said the impeachment of Bill Clinton argued that the proceedings became overly focused on sex instead of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Gingrich said the effort was undermined because it became publicly associated with Monica Lewinsky rather than the broader legal issues surrounding sworn testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit.

Ken Starr's investigation later expanded to include allegations surrounding Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky and testimony tied to the Paula Jones lawsuit.

The findings led House Republicans to impeach Clinton making him the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.

"Is he allowed to commit felonies?'" Gingrich said. But by allowing it to be about sex, it trivialized it."

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: billclinton; paulajones; sexualharassment

[DIRTYSECRET]

Hindsight is 20-20. Gingrich was right. Would our rank and file let the gop get away with not impeaching him? BJ ran circles around us and our people were angry. We overdid it by not knowing enough Americans didn't care. It set us back.

[ClearCase_guy]

Clinton should have been impeached.
But the Republicans got played by smart politicians on the Democrat side. The Democrats made it all tawdry and all about sex. And that’s why we lost. If the Republicans had been smarter, they would have kept the focus on serious legal issues.

[dfwgator]

I agreed back then.

So what? We’d end up most likely with President Gore for eight years.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

He never says the impeachment was a mistake. He said it was a mistake to let people think it was over Lewinski.

I thought Newsmax was better than this.

[Biblebelter]

Ken Starr was a church lady.

It takes a lot more than that to get take down the Clinton Crime Family.

[Bob434]

Good point. Thanks for clarifying that point. Sloppy reporting on their part

[alloysteel]

There was SO much more to form a solid basis for impeachment against William Jefferson Clinton, in terms of malfeasance of office and treasonous actions that exposed the United States to threats from foreign sources. Oh, he was a slick talker, and would have done well as a personal injury legal counsel (ambulance chaser) providing “justice” as it applied to the defendant, or as a used car salesman, glibly explaining away the “defects” as a failing on the part of the complainant.

But Herself was always the brains of Team Clinton. And Herself steered Billy in so many ways, he was virtually a robot.

[OakOak]

Is it me, or does New Gingrich live in 1980?

Have Calista get you a Calender.

[chajin]

We’d end up most likely with President Gore for eight years.

I have always thought that the smartest move politically would have been to resign in the spring of 1999, handing the White House over to Al Gore, and then concentrating on the Clinton Foundation to look like he was doing an act of repentance. Gore would almost certainly have won in 2000, and then re-elected in 2004 after 9/11.

So why didn't he? My guess is his wife--Hillary knew if he resigned, that would have made it unlikely that she would ever get the nomination, and what she wanted, still wants more than anything in this life, is to be President Hillary. She would have become POTUS too, if it hadn't been for some guy whose name rhymes with Bump, Gump, Hump, Mump, Pump, and Stump, among other rhymes.

[Alberta's Child]

It set us back.

How so? I’m not sure there were any lasting political ramifications from that clown show.

[Toespi]

This was thirty years ago and the morality meter was far more conservative than today. Clinton should have been impeached for both, sexual activities in the White House with a government employee, as well as the lying and coverup.

Fast forward to today, just insert the name Donald Trump instead of Bill Clinton. He would be gone within a week.

[captmar-vell]

It wasn’t a mistake, it was Ken Starr covering up the illegal transfer of Clinton bagman Bernard Schwartz and Loral Corp missile technology to China while pretending to be ‘going after’ that corrupt slug Clinton for something Starr knew would distract from the real crimes (treason) from ever seeing the light of day and go nowhere.

This method is used often.

[Leaning Right]

Gingrich is right. Bill Clinton is a piece of garbage. But he did nothing unconstitutional. He did not put the Republic at risk. Just because you can impeach, doesn’t mean you should impeach.

If I recall correctly, Clinton was willing to accept a public censure from the House. That would have been justified, and very humiliating to him.

But, no. The House wanted more. And so they ended up with nothing.

[bigdaddy45]

The Republicans overreached. He was never going to be removed from office, and an impeachment vote gave the Democrats an easy out to vote “no”.

Censure however... that would have been the strategic move. It would have been very very difficult for Democrats to vote to censure their leader, but at the time, it would have been difficult to vote NOT to. It would have put the Democrats under the spotlight unlike impeachment, which at the time put Republicans under the spotlight for supposed “overreach”.

[Codeflier]

That set in motion the current state of the Democrat party. It is the fuel for their Trump hatred and constant desire to impeach him. It created moveon.org and other groups that used their initial funding and mission to push for Marxists policies we see being implemented today.

I’d say there were profound ramifications to that impeachment attempt.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Alberta- It cost us House seats and momentum.

**But the Republicans got played by smart politicians on the Democrat side.**
That’s always been the case. Let’s hope it’s over.

**So what? We’d end up most likely with President Gore for eight years.**
It was the late Lyn Nofziger who stated “If we can’t beat a sitting president Al Gore we’ve got no business being in business.”

[alternatives?]

I don’t think Gore would have won the second term. The 9-11 attacks would have been all on the Democrats.

[ComputerGuy]

You make a good point.

[DIRTYSECRET]

I remember the late senator Oren Hatch going easier on him. He suggested Clinton just show some contrition and the people would forgive him and the nation could move on. Clinton was having none of it and it drew out more anger on the right which wasn’t forgiving. It all upped the ante.

This reminds me of the Pete Rose gambling affair. He wouldn’t admit to wrongdoing and took it to his grave. What brings me to this comparison is both Clinton and Rose in some circles were considered black. O.J. never fessed up.

[stanne]

Just in time to take away from the massive wins MAGA is having at the polls. Why is Gingrich such a publicity hound? He got duped.

And yes. Newsmax is creepy

“.The Contrast: Trump then ignored the Newsmax correspondent to take a question from a CNN reporter, quipping to the crowd: “Can you believe it? I’m taking CNN over Newsmax