IMPEACH NOW
KRISTOL, WILLIAM
IMPEACH NOW by William Kristol "GET ON WITH IT." Sound advice about impeaching the president from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the Democratic senator from New York. "Listen," Moynihan continued, in a...
...Richard Gephardt, the House minority leader, asserted last week that whether to impeach and convict a president is the second most important decision Congress is called on to make—second only to deciding whether to go to war...
...Why...
...And it's hard to believe Newt Gingrich really does...
...The full House should act immediately thereafter...
...Over the last seven months, the independent counsel has done the type of work that the Rodino committee itself undertook in 1974...
...In a grave matter like this," says Sen...
...If support among Democrats erodes, President Clinton will perhaps do the right thing and resign...
...Then get it over to us [in the Senate], and let us decide...
...Furthermore, as in the run-up to the Gulf War, we have had many months of public debate and speech-making...
...You get that report from Starr, let the Judiciary Committee in the House decide whether . . . there have been impeachable offenses, and let the House vote...
...Al Gore for president...
...Gingrich, of course, is bending over backwards to appear "statesmanlike," after a year of to-ing and fro-ing about how to handle the president...
...But such an inhalation need not take months...
...The Judiciary Committee should vote articles of impeachment within a month...
...But shift responsibility it did...
...Only then would the matter reach the House floor...
...The committee should then debate and vote on articles of impeachment, sending them to the full House...
...Fine...
...And the best way to do that, in turn, is to get on with it...
...And it's certainly not in their long-term interest, which is to show they are a morally serious and politically courageous party that can lead the nation...
...William Kristol is editor and publisher of THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...we have nothing more important to do in the nation's interest...
...But we know he won't go easily...
...It therefore falls to Congress to act energetically to restore a strong executive— through the constitutional means of succession...
...Because delay would leave the country weakened for an unnecessarily long time...
...Indeed, some of us argued that it should have, rather than shift responsibility to the independent counsel...
...Instead, Speaker Newt Gingrich seems determined to move at a snail's pace...
...Gingrich's position, though it may appear "responsible," does not constitute statesmanship...
...As of now, however, House Republicans aren't following the senator's advice...
...The only way to do that is to make clear to him how little support he has...
...This president cannot be importuned or be-seeched to resign...
...He'd like to postpone any significant action until after Election Day, made nervous by polls showing that the public is still hesitant about impeachment...
...Yet a go-slow approach may in fact not be in the short-term partisan interest of Republicans...
...Listen," Moynihan continued, in a television appearance three days before Kenneth Starr sent his report to Congress, "we can have this all behind us in six weeks' time if we just get on with it...
...Gingrich was a strong advocate of such deference, saying in April that Congress's job was only "to prepare to receive a potential report...
...Most important, of course, a lengthy process is not in the interest of the country...
...It is, rather, a simulacrum of statesmanship...
...The speaker pointed out that it took Peter Rodino's Judiciary Committee many months of labor before voting articles of impeachment in 1974...
...And the Senate—if Clinton is still refusing to leave office— should proceed expeditiously with its trial...
...But, he cautioned, impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee would not begin until next year, and an actual committee vote on impeachment probably wouldn't come until June...
...From January 1998 until last week, Congress deferred to the independent counsel, allowing him to uncover the facts...
...The notion that what is now needed is a dawdling, redundant process in the House is absurd...
...And Republicans, he said, should above all beware of looking hasty or impetuous in dealing with Bill Clinton...
...And as long as the cloud of impeachment hangs over the president, we cannot have an energetic executive...
...But the Gulf War debate, widely regarded as a high point in modern congressional history, took only days...
...The House could have held hearings as early as February...
...Certainly...
...Given the present situation, it is precisely a false judiciousness and an unwarranted commitment to a stately and "deliberate" pace that is irresponsible...
...Energy in the executive, as Hamilton noted, is a key component of good government...
...So Starr did the work, and he did it well: meticulously, scrupulously, even bravely, given the onslaught against him...
...Then, the House should debate for another couple of weeks and vote on impeachment before adjourning in late October...
...But due reflection hardly requires months of national paralysis, vacillation, and impotence...
...Does anyone honestly believe that congressmen will be able to cast a more informed vote next June than next month...
...He told fellow Republicans last Thursday that there could be a resolution to start an impeachment inquiry before the House adjourns in October...
...Moynihan doesn't...
...Then, if it wishes, the committee can interrogate Starr and the president's lawyers...
...The truly statesmanlike thing to do under the circumstances is to address the question of Clinton with dispatch...
...The Senate would then prepare for its trial...
...Gingrich has observed that we should "take a deep breath and allow the facts to lead us...
...I don't...
...All the relevant facts and arguments will soon be available to every member of Congress...
...That is correct...
...Robert Byrd, the old West Virginia Democrat, "a little pause to reflect" is in order...
...The fact is it should take the Judiciary Committee no more than a couple of weeks to review Starr's report, including its supporting documents, as well as any White House rebuttals...
...He must be shown the door...
...Gingrich's Rodino comparison is particularly inapt...
Vol. 4 • September 1998 • No. 2
