Just one scandal was fatal and that was Watergate. For that one Nixons big accuser was Howard Baker the Republican leader in the Senate. Both the Republicans and Democrats went after Nixon and they got him. It hurt Republicans at the polls too. That is the only time it has happened.
What has brought presidents down is not trying to fix the economy when it is bad. Hoover refused to use government to fix the depression and he was dumped big time for FDR by the voters. FDR talked about fixing the economy.
FDR came to office proposing all sorts of schemes to fix the economy. But the economy did not get fixed for nearly 10 years. That did not keep FDR from getting reelected twice. Roosevelt the Democrat proposed and Senator Taft the Republican fought him at every step of the way. So the situation was this. Roosevelt and the Democrats were trying to fix the economy. Taft and the Republicans were trying to stop him. The people supported Roosevelt and the Democrats. If the Republicans had given FDR everything he asked for, and the economy has stayed bad, FDR would have been a one term president. Rule number one... Never get in the was of a President trying to fix the economy. The people frown on it.
Then Good old Jimmy Carter could not help blaming the economy on the peoples malaise. That cost him his job. Reagan had a plan to fix it and Jimmy said it was the peoples fault. Bye bye Jimmy. The man who wants to fix the economy wins.. every time.
Bush Sr. didn't even talk about the economy in 92 and said there was no long term problem. Clinton said its the economy stupid and I will fix it. It really did not need fixing, but the promise to fix elected Clinton.
Dubya has been saying since the campaign of 2000 that we were going to have problems with the economy. The Democrats said no way. Now the democrats agree we have a problem but say they won't pass Dubya's plan to fix it. Today's Democrats are replaying the Taft role against Dubya's FDR act.
It gives Bush the best of all worlds. If the economy improves then Dubya gets the credit. He is the only one trying to fix it. If the economy stays bad or gets worse then it is Daschles fault. He and the Democrats are hard at work keeping Bush from fixing the economy.
Those 35 thousand Ford workers, todays John Deere plant an lots more see Dubya as a man trying to fix the economy. Each day they become more aware that the Democrats are trying to stop him from fixing the economy.
There is only one winning hand to play against a president in a bad economy if he is trying to fix it. The out of power party has to propose an economic plan the president can't accept. They have to promote it around the clock. That puts the president in the position of being the president not trying to fix the economy. That changes the question to who really wants to fix it. That one the congress might win.
The stages of Daschle stragegy go like this
"Bush is lying There is no problem."
"Well not much of a problem. Bush is exagerating"
"It doesn't need fixing. Bush is overreacting."
"Bushs fix is all wrong. His fix won't work"
"It needs a much smaller fix. Bush wants too much"
"We'll only pass part of the fix. We know best"
"The economys real bad elect us Democrats to fix it."
That is where Daschle is heading. What does that make Daschle?
It should be another factory speech too.
And ... the saddest part of all was the fact that the impeachment committee dismissed all the charges against Nixon. Talk about Witch Hunt!! And ... guess who was "counsel" during this witch hunt - you guessed it - Hillary.