What happened was the leadership’s lack of morality.
A good part of it yes it was. But that wasn't all. It was a willful abandonment of the Constitution by quite a few Congressmen and senators which unfortunately brought us to a national crisis because they refused to impeach a president unfit for office and I'm not talking just about his sex life. Checks and Balances failed because congress failed to uphold their oath. Not just the DEMs but a large number of GOP also. That issue has yet to be resolved.
I'll not go into it but the power play for Newt's job as speaker has some rather strange twist even as related to the 1996 convention. His personal failures gave them the ammo they needed to get him to step down I'm guessing.