THREAD: You will be shocked to learn that the New York Times Editorial Board felt very differently about impeaching a Democrat President.
Here are some quotes from the NYT's editorial in 1998, before 5 Democrats voted to impeach Bill Clinton.
Here are some quotes from the NYT's editorial in 1998, before 5 Democrats voted to impeach Bill Clinton.
"The vote against him will be almost 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻, meaning that the Republican victory will meet the arithmetic requirements of the Constitution but will not carry its magisterial authority. ...
"History, in our view, will condemn the Republicans for using their constitutional powers as an instrument of 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.
That instrument was intended as a scalpel for the cutting out of cancers, not for the excising of unsightly pimples. …
That instrument was intended as a scalpel for the cutting out of cancers, not for the excising of unsightly pimples. …
"[U]nder the present circumstances of a polarized 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆-𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲, it would assault the Constitution as well as public confidence in that most precious American asset, the orderly, quadrennial surrender of power from 1 Chief Executive to another…
"If the Republicans remove him by simple force of numbers, the debate over whether this was a political 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗣 will continue for decades and could become a bigger threat to civic stability than Mr. Clinton's mendacity.
"A basic principle for impeachment ought to be that Presidents stay in office unless the case against them is so strong that it persuades 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰—& their representatives in Congress—on the grounds" for impeaching
