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I suggest we cull from the republican's speeches all relevant arguments and present in their own words the case for honesty in
government. can they not deny their own quoted words.
here are some examples;
all from the Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999. (Clinton Impeachment)
"In times of war or national
emergency it is often necessary for the President to
call upon the nation to make great economic and
personal sacrifices. In these occasions, our
President had best be trustworthy--a truth teller
whose life of principled leadership and integrity we
can count upon".
<snip>
The President of the
United States is the most powerful person in the
world because we are the strongest country
economically and militarily, and in the appeal of
our idealism for liberty and freedom of conscience.
Our President must be strong because a President
personifies the rule of law that he is sworn to
uphold and protect. We must believe him and trust
him if we are to follow him. His influence on
domestic and foreign policies comes from that
trust, which a lifetime of words, deeds, and
achievements has built.
Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana)
---
By his words and deeds he has
undermined the rule of law in America to the great
harm of this nation. By his own words and deeds,
he has undermined the truth-finding function of the
judiciary, at great harm to that branch of our
government. By his words and deeds, he had done
great harm to the notions of honesty and integrity
that form the underpinnings of this great republic.
<snip>
The President is the Chief Law Enforcement
Officer in the land. He or she should be the
ultimate example of a law-abiding citizen, not one
who willfully and repeatedly violates the law when
it serves his or her narrow interest. The unlawful
actions by the President will have the long term
effect of reducing compliance with the law by
others if the President can get away with it.
The Constitution states that impeachment and
removal is to occur when the President, Vice
President and all civil officers' commit `treason,
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.'
<snip>
We seem to have forgotten that all of our
prosperity would be impossible without the rule of
law, and without a cultural predisposition to honor
and uphold the law. Reducing the administration of
justice to opinion polls debases our country.
Putting pocketbook concerns over standards of
right and wrong impoverishes our culture. If we do
not sustain the moral and legal foundation on which
our system of government and our prosperity is
based, both will surely and steadily diminish.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas)
----
The President's false statements did not
result from inadvertence or confusion.
<snip>
The Senate's precedents on
perjury as an impeachable offense are clear.
Moreover, there is simply no basis in the
Constitution to apply a less demanding standard of
the President than has been traditionally applied to
federal Judges. A single provision of the
Constitution creates a single standard of
impeachment for all `Officers of the United States,'
Judges and the President alike. To be sure, the
Constitution specifies that federal Judges `shall
hold their offices during good behavior.' Art. III,
sec. 1. However, this clause has always been
understood as establishing life tenure, as opposed
to a relaxed standard for impeachment, and no
Judge has ever been impeached or removed for
`bad behavior.' In sum, the notion that the
President--with his infinitely greater effect on the
culture, for good or ill--would be held to a lesser
standard than one of 800 federal Judges has as
little basis in common sense as it has in the
Constitution's text.
<snip>
In addition, the scope of `high crimes and
misdemeanors' is informed by the two crimes
specifically enumerated in the Constitution as a
basis for impeachment, treason and bribery. Both
these crimes, in common with perjury and
obstruction of justice, threaten the proper
functioning of government--either directly in the
case of treason, or indirectly, by undermining the
government's integrity, in the case of bribery.
<snip>
Not every high
crime and misdemeanor is created equal, but all
require removal under the express terms of the
Constitution.
<snip>
The Constitution
is unequivocal that the President shall be removed
upon conviction of a high crime.
<snip>
Chief Justice Jay
warned of the dangers of diluting the importance of
oaths: `f oaths should cease to be held sacred,
our dearest and most valuable rights would
become insecure.' If the President of the United
States--our nation's leader and the man surveys
still identify as the most admired in America even
after all this--can commit perjury and obstruct
justice without any immediate consequence, it is
difficult to see how oaths will continue to be held
sacred. We can either abandon all perjury
prosecutions or acknowledge that the President is
above the law. Those are the choices: lawlessness
or hypocrisy. Either option carries grave risks that
oaths will `cease to be held sacred.'
Removing the President, by contrast, will not only
reinforce the importance of oaths; it will
demonstrate the importance of personal
responsibility and accountability. Rather than
signaling that some in society are too talented or
important for the normal rules to apply, removing
the President will teach that actions have
consequences, no matter who you are. We have
an opportunity either to set a good example for our
children or to enshrine the `Clinton defense' and
the `Clinton exception' to the importance of telling
the truth. We need to send a message that the
grand words that grace the Supreme Court--equal
justice under law--mean what they say.
The President's failure to honor his oath has
necessitated this entire proceeding. Although some
might see a vote to acquit as expedient, I will not
further damage the sacredness and vitality of oaths
by disregarding my own.
Statement by Senator John Ashcroft (R-Missouri)
--------
I will have no part in the creation of a constitutional
double-standard to benefit the President. He is not
above the law. If an ordinary citizen committed
these crimes, he would go to jail. Many senators
have voted to remove federal judges guilty of
perjury, and I have no doubt that the Senate would
do so again. Those who by their votes today
confer immunity on the President for the same
crimes do violence to the core principle that we
are all entitled to equal justice under law.
<snip>
Alexander Hamilton's famous description of
impeachable offenses in Federalist No. 65:
`ffences which proceed from the misconduct of
public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or
violation of some public trust.'
<snip>
The President broke his oath to tell the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him
God. He likewise broke his oaths to take care that
the laws be faithfully executed.
<snip>
The young have a right to learn a way of
discriminating right from wrong, the posed from the
authentic, the excellent from the mediocre, the
brilliant from the philistine, the shoddy from the
workmanlike. When no one with experience
bothers to insist--to insist--on such discrimination,
they rightly get the idea that discernment is not
important, that no one cares either about such
things--or about them.
<snip>
We must remind our children that telling the truth and
accepting responsibility for wrongdoing are virtues
with currency. Our nation's future depends on how
earnestly we fulfill that shared duty.
Statement by Senator Bill Frist (R-Tennessee)
-----------
He violated his oath of office and failed to fulfill his
responsibility under the Constitution, which
provides that the President `shall take Care that
the Laws be faithfully executed.' Judge Griffin Bell
has correctly noted, `A president cannot faithfully
execute the laws if he himself is breaking them.'
The President has undermined the fundamental
principle that we are a nation ruled by laws and not
by men. There is no way in good conscience that
we as a nation can have a lawbreaker remain as
President of the United States when his conduct in
office has included the very same acts that have
resulted in the impeachment of Federal judges and
have sent hundreds of people to prison. Ours is a
nation of equal justice under the law.
Statement by Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio)
---------
The issue is abuse of power.
Did the President abuse his power and therefore
violate the Nation's trust in him? We must
remember that trust is the only true currency
elected officials have.
Perjury and obstruction of justice are not just
federal crimes. When committed by an elected
official they are abuses of power. When committed
by a president they constitute an abuse of the
highest power. The standards and expectations for
America's elected officials cannot be calibrated.
When elected officials bring down those standards
and expectations and violate the people's trust . . .
they rip the very fabric of our Nation. There is then
a dishonoring of the spirit that is the guardian of
American justice.
<snip>
How can parents instill values and morality in their
children? How can educators teach our children?
How can the rule of law for every American be
applied equally if we have two standards of justice
in America--one for the powerful and the other for
the rest of us?
What holds this Nation, this society, this culture,
together? Yes, laws are part of it. But it is really
the strong moral foundation anchored by values
and standards--the individual sense of right and
wrong, personal responsibility, accountability for
one's actions. This is what holds a free people
together. Respect for each other--not because a
law dictates that action--but rather because it's the
right thing to do.
<snip>
Every American must know actions
have consequences. Even for presidents. All
Americans must have faith in our laws and know
that there is equal justice for all. The core of our
judicial process is the rule of law.
Americans deserve to always expect the highest
standard of conduct from their elected officials. If
that expectation is defined down over time, it will
erode the very base of our democracy and put our
Republic in peril. That is the point of the
Impeachment Clause of our Constitution . . . to
protect the Republic. The Impeachment clause of
our Constitution is there to ensure the fitness of an
individual to hold high office.
Statement by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska)
----------------
These are just from the Senate, I did not yet check the House transcripts.
There should be an abundance of additional material there.
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