Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Oct. 27, 2000 / 28 Tishrei, 5761

Michelle Malkin

JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


My impeachment referendum

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- NOBODY CARES about impeachment. The American people have moved on. They will vote on the issues, not on the past.

So says conventional wisdom.

But when I walk into the voting booth on Nov. 7th, I will vote for a Democrat for the first time in my life thanks to a single issue: Yes, impeachment. My congresswoman, seven-term incumbent Republican Connie Morella of Maryland, joined President Clinton’s lackeys in 1998 and voted against all four impeachment articles. Despite the wealth of evidence before her, from Clinton’s videotaped lies to the stained blue dress, Morella rejected Article I, accusing Clinton of perjury before a grand jury; Article II, accusing Clinton of perjury in a civil lawsuit; Article III, accusing Clinton of obstruction of justice article; and Article IV, accusing Clinton of abuse of presidential power.

For these votes alone, Morella deserves to be booted out of office. The mainstream press praised her "maverick" votes, but they were acts of cravenness, not courage. When the majority of her party was willing to stand up and do what was right and unpopular – isn’t that what leadership is? -- Morella tucked tail and ran. In a fawning Baltimore Sun profile, Morella explained that her full acquittal of Clinton on all charges came down to "my country, my conscience and my constituents."

Not to mention her cozy office, television appearances, taxpayer-subsidized mail privileges, fund-raising cocktail parties, and all the attendant perks of entrenched incumbency.

"I searched my conscience as a grandmother and mother, in terms of what does this say to parents who are raising children," Morella explained. The message is loud and clear. It says to me that Morella cared more about focus groups than about the rule of law. It says she was more willing to stand by a Democrat president -- who lied under oath, lied to his family, lied to his Cabinet, lied to the nation, attempted to persuade his staff to lie under oath, and used the people’s house and resources to escape the consequences of lies piled upon lies -- than by her own fellow Republicans who performed their constitutional duty against the prevailing tide of moral relativism.

Morella said her "stomach troubled me all day. It was churning," before she cast her straight votes to acquit the prevaricator-in-chief. I would be sick to stomach, too, if I had to explain those calculated votes 50 years from now to my grandchildren. As Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts said at the time of the proceedings: "What's popular isn't always right. Polls would have rejected the Ten Commandments. Polls would have embraced slavery and ridiculed women's rights. You say we must draw this to a close. I say we must draw a line between right and wrong."

Four other House Republicans up for re-election this year slinked over to Clinton’s side. Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut joined Morella in casting straight votes against all four impeachment articles, as did New York Reps. Peter King and Amo Houghton. Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana voted against three of the four articles. In the Senate, liberal Republicans Olympia Snowe of Maine and Jim Jeffords of Vermont cast straight votes against both conviction articles and Slade Gorton of Washington split his votes to convict.

Beltway prognosticators consider most of these anti-impeachment Republicans – Republicans In Name Only -- to be "safe." One vote, they say, won’t make a difference. At the same time, some GOP loyalists argue that it’s better to put aside grudges and vote for the party straddlers than to risk giving the majority to the Democrats. I beg to disagree. When it comes to Clinton apologists, I’d rather cast my ballot for an unabashed donkey than a cowering RINO who can’t be counted on when fundamental issues of truth, morality, and law are at stake.


JWR contributor Michelle Malkin can be reached by clicking here.

Up

10/25/00: Gore’s Good Daddy Gambit
10/23/00: Tribulations of a dubious 'tribe'
10/20/00: Pharmaceutical butchers of Beijing
10/16/00: How the West was seized
10/12/00: Fight the anti-pesticide pests
10/10/00: Moochers at the multiplex
10/05/00: Pay for your own day care
10/02/00: Not every senior demands a handout
09/27/00: Racial hype at the Olympics
09/25/00: Watch the other Washington
09/20/00: Textbook case of media arrogance
09/18/00: New York: Land of medical pork
09/13/00: Voices from the womb
09/11/00: No cure for generational pain
09/08/00: Notes on a West Coast wilding
09/06/00: Race matters at Washington Post
09/01/00: For those who labor 24/7
08/28/00: There's something about Rudy
08/25/00: A conservative case against Napster
08/22/00: Death Row Marv mocks justice
08/18/00: The party of Maxine Waters
08/14/00: "Make-A-Wish" shoots down dreams
08/10/00: Who will stop Bill Lann Lee?
08/07/00: Emily Dickinson's lesson for rude drivers
08/03/00: Leave the slogans behind
07/31/00: Hey, GM: Build cars, not quotas
07/28/00: Stop milking The Juice
07/24/00: Silencing Jeff Jacoby
07/21/00: Score another one for TV execs who want to keep us brain-dead
07/17/00: Can somebody say McStupid?
07/12/00: Beware of Ugly Building Syndrome
07/10/00: The miracle of a lead pencil
07/07/00: Partying on the people’s dime
06/29/00: When "Indians" exploit their own
06/23/00: Kids in a public school daze
06/21/00: Fed up with Fannie and Freddie
06/19/00: D.C.'s gag order for Christians
06/16/00: Dads, daughters, and PETA's spoilsports
06/13/00: Tune out Eminem's pitiful "poetry"
06/07/00: "Pained" Dem leader Torricelli deserves to feel some; Why hasn't he?
06/05/00: Tom Green's hidden health-care lesson
06/01/00: Farming out the pork
05/30/00: The perils of medical quackery
05/26/00: Awarding medals by race is a disgrace
05/22/00: Have Simon & Schuster execs lost their minds!?
05/17/00: Sports plebes vs. plutocrats
05/15/00: Whitewashing Red China's record
05/12/00: Our mothers' hands
05/08/00: Focus on the real Waco
05/05/00: An Internet victim's sad story
05/03/00: Phony pooh-bahs of journalism
05/01/00: Zoo tragedy triggers dumb reaction
04/24/00: Ecoterrorists on the loose
04/19/00: Beware of Elian's psychobabblers
04/17/00: The truth about Erin Brockovich
04/13/00: In defense of an armed citizenry
04/10/00: Playing hardball with taxpayers
04/06/00: Read W.'s lips: More new spending
04/04/00: The liberal media-in-training
03/31/00: Sticking it to the children
03/28/00: Declaring war on HOV lanes
03/22/00: Clinton and the Echo Boomers
03/17/00: Is Bush a Liddy Dole Republican?
03/13/00: Katie and the politics of disease
03/10/00: Maria H, Granny D, and the media Z's
03/07/00: Bubba Van Winkle wakes up
03/03/00: Double standard for day traders?
02/28/00: Sluts and nuts --- and our daughters
02/24/00: Zoning out religious freedom
02/15/00: The Baby Brain Boondoggle
02/10/00: Buddhist temple untouchables
02/08/00: CDC: Caught Devouring Cash
02/04/00: Hillary's poisoned poster child
02/01/00: Corporate welfare on ice
01/28/00: The silly sound of silence
01/26/00: The Old Media meltdown
01/20/00: The pied pipers of KidCare
01/18/00: Our imperious judiciary
01/14/00: Tune out Columbine chorus
01/12/00: Dying to be an American
01/10/00: Time for smokers' revolt?
12/30/99: Reading, writing, PlayStation?
12/27/99: Fight money-grubbing mallrats
12/23/99: Christmas for Cornilous Pixley
12/20/99: Who will help the Hmong?
12/16/99: Shame on corn-fed politicians
12/13/99: EPA vs. the American Dream
12/09/99: Look behind the Pokemon curtain
12/06/99: Amateur hour in Seattle
11/30/99: Stop the Ritalin racketeers
11/23/99: Welfare for a sports fatcat
11/19/99: Jeb Bush's political ploy of the week
11/16/99: Ben & Jerry serve up junk science
11/12/99: A monumental waste of our veterans' resources
11/10/99: Tax-and-spend schizophrenia
11/05/99: Spooky Guy Haunts the Capital
11/02/99: Mourning the loss of the last Liberty Tree
10/27/99: AOL goes AWOL on parents
10/22/99: The persecution of Harry Potter
10/20/99: Don't doctor the law
10/14/99: The trouble with kids today
10/12/99: Pro-animal, pro-abortion, anti-speech?
10/07/99: Beltway press corps needs more skunks
09/30/99: ESPN overlooks athlete of faith, grace, and guts
09/27/99: Personal freedom going up in smoke
09/15/99: Farewell, "Miss" America
09/10/99: Will George W. work for a color-blind America?
09/03/99: Feminization of gun debate drowns out sober analysis
08/27/99: America is abundant land of equal-opportunity insult
08/10/99: Protect the next generation from diversity do-goodism
08/04/99: Sweepstakes vs. state lottery: double standards on gambling
07/21/99: "True-life tales from the Thin Red Line" (or "Honor those who sacrificed their lives for peace")
07/21/99: Reading, 'Riting, and Raunchiness?
07/14/99: Journalists' group-think is not unity
06/30/99: July Fourth programming for the Springer generation
06/25/99: Speechless in Seattle
06/15/99: Making a biblical argument against federal death taxes

© 2000, Creators Syndicate